I’ve only just now had enough time to get to the computer for longer than fiften minutes, so I wanted to wish you a warm holiday season from this borrowed computer in downtown Manhattan. Thanks for your friendship over the years! It’s weird to think that you are quite close, globally, right now as I write this. All the best.

Miguel

Leslee – Good point about the bright nights. I do actually think of winter as a season of light, both because of the frequent snow cover and the lack of leaves. The moon is as high as the sun in July, making the nights even brighter. Then because the sun is so low during the day, we get those fantastic deep blue skies.

Now in Michigan – the sun sets an hour later out here on the western edge of the eastern time zone, so, waking in Boston, I got a longer day yesterday than expected for the solstice. I guess I’d have to continue to move westward to continue the trend. I’ll make up for it by having my shortest day on the 26th. Anyway, hope you enjoyed your visit.

Lucy – Thanks. Glad you liked.

Peter – That’s not the whole poem, though – I left off the final six lines. It’s a good prayer all ’round. The book’s from White Pine, and it’s worth buying if you can find it online. (If I ever resume my Poetry for Naturalists series, I’ll be sure to include it.)

David – Coyote. You can almost always get the the title of the photos by mousing over them, and/or clicking through.

In one set of coyote tracks I looked at yesterday, new prints were laid precisely on top of old prints.

Beth – Thanks. It was good stuff. We followed it with one or two others. :) And Chris gave his beer drinker’s seal of approval to the large qarrtsiluni mug, because the handle is big enough to get one’s whole hand through. So it’s a good dual-purpose beer and coffee mug.