Solstice and the Big Red Dog

It’s December 21st and I feel something strange today.

I feel all the merriment approaching, but today is all about the natural world.

I am captivated by this occurrence, with the interest in astronomy I’ve always held, but of which was never meant to turn into more than that.

🙂

I am in awe at the earth and it’s rotation and found the information on the below website truly fascinating.

Today marks the beginning of winter here in the northern hemisphere, Winter Solstice.
For everything you might want to know about this phenomenon, because I never did study astronomy after all – go

Here!

Today the north pole will see no light and the south pole no night. I guess, as a child, this is how I could imagine Santa’s home. He would take off in total darkness, his red suit and the gleam of the white snow under foot.

Maybe some day I will get to witness, in person, the feeling of Solstice in either the north or south pole. I know that many people have trouble with the amount of darkness around this time of year, adding to feelings of depression, but it’s important to note that without night there can be no day, eventually.

I guess we here in the northern hemisphere cling to the fact that from here on out the days will slowly be growing longer, a thought necessary to get us through the coming winter days.

This planet of ours is endlessly mystifying and wondrous to me.

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THIS WEEK IN LITERATURE:

Norman Bridwell, creator of the Clifford the Big Red Dog books dies at age 86

Last spring it was the author of another one of my childhood-defining books, Spot, who died.

Now another dog to live on through the magic of children’s literature.

One of my favourite books to be found in the school library or the one in my town was Clifford The Big Red Dog. I loved him for the two most obvious and simplistic reasons: he was big and he was red, but wasn’t that what they were going for with the name?

🙂

I loved his huge red presence on the page. He went on adventures with his friend, Emily Elizabeth, the female version of Winnie the Pooh and his pal Christopher Robin.

Bridwell was rejected multiple times before Clifford would go on to entertain and educate children, like myself, for fifty years.

I hope the character of Clifford will go on to draw young children into his bright red world for years to come.

Check out his books here.