This is my favorite holiday of the year. The light returns! A happy Winter Solstice to you. We can all agree that celebrating light is a wonderful thing.

May your own world continue to brighten.

Holiday lights against a pink sky

Linking to Through My Lens Monday, Blue Monday, Ruby Tuesday 2, Tuesday’s Wordless Wednesday, Wordless Wednesday, Little Things Thursday, and Skywatch Friday. Thanks so much for visiting here, and hope to see you again soon. Please sign up at upper right for notifications of new posts.

Tonight is the year’s longest night in the Northern Hemisphere. In Seattle, today was only eight hours long. But now the light returns! Today is Winter, but we move onwards every day towards the Equinox, and Spring.

The shortest day of the year means the darkest times are behind us.

Also linking to Through My Lens Monday, Tuesday’s Wordless Wednesday, Wordless Wednesday, Little Things Thursday, Skywatch Friday, Weekend Reflections, Pink Saturday, and Your Moment Sunday. Thanks so much for visiting here, and hope to see you again soon. Please sign up at upper right for notifications of new posts.

This is the sight that greeted us New Year’s Day morning in our backyard, south of Seattle WA.

No wind creates a beautiful snow scene

Also posting on Our World Tuesday, Tuesday’s Wordless Wednesday, Seasons M-F, Water World Wednesday (snow), Wednesday Waters (snow), Wordless Wednesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Skywatch Friday, Photo Friday, Scenic Weekends, The Weekend in Black and White, and Pink Saturday. Thanks for your visit here first!

The light returns! Happy Solstice to my dear readers.

The sun’s light returns at the Solstice, and we rejoice.

Linking up to Our World Tuesday, Monday Mellow Yellows, Outdoor Wednesday, Wordless Wednesday, Photo Friday, Skywatch Friday, Scenic Weekends, and Pink Saturday. If you see only one photo here, please click on the words Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above for a few more.

My sister Jo Sanders is travelling in India. Here is her blog post about the Taj Mahal, with much about its shimmery effect and its extraordinary architecture.

Dawn view of the Taj Mahal

See Our World Tuesday, Monday Mellow Yellows, Ruby Tuesday 2, Outdoor Wednesday, Wednesday Around the World (WATW), Skywatch Friday, Photo Friday, Scenic Weekends, Pink Saturday, and Saturday Show Off. Thanks so much for your visit and hope to see you here again very soon.

An exciting skyscape for you on this first morning of 2014. May this be the very best year of your life so far! Thank you to all the loyal and appreciative readers of this blog. Your unfailingly positive and insightful comments have been one of the true blessings in my life. Yay, blogging!

Dawn breaks over Mt. Rainier in Washington State

Joining Skywatch Friday, Scenic Weekends, Outdoor Wednesday, Monday Mellow Yellows, Pink Saturday, Mandarin Orange Monday, Orange You Glad It’s Friday, Thursday Challenge (Clouds), Wordless Wednesday and Saturday Show Off. Thanks for visiting here, and don’t forget to click on Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above to see the latest several pretty pictures.

I had to get up before dawn yesterday (ugh!) but was so rewarded by the clouds and colors on Mt. Rainier at the viewpoint near my house. What a lucky weather event in this fog, clouds and rain we’ve been having.

Mt. Rainier at dawn on a fall morning

Linking to Scenic Weekends, Outdoor Wednesday, Skywatch Friday, A Piece of Heaven, Pink Saturday, Mandarin Orange Monday, Orange You Glad It’s Friday, Saturday Show Off and My Romantic Home. Thanks for visiting and please drop by again soon.

I so rarely get up really early (I am NOT a morning person) that it was just a fluke that on Friday when I had to, there was Mt. Rainier with snow on top, just visible from our backyard, all lit up with a peachy glow. It helped the early hour, believe me.

Photo memes this week: My Romantic Home, Pink Saturday, Scenic Sunday, Thursday Challenge (Orange), Wordless Wednesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Skywatch Friday, A Piece of Heaven, and Mellow Yellow Monday. Click on Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above if there is only one photo below. Thanks for visiting, and come back soon!

For me, the solstice is a key day to my emotional equilibrium. With the solstice night at about 16 hours long in this latitude, daylight is crucially important. Once the solstice arrives, the days lengthen again, so all is positive and improving.

I took this photo in my back yard on Tuesday morning, the solstice. One of the only benefits of the shorter days is that I actually witness the dawn light on some days. Can you tell I am not an early riser?

Visit Skywatch Friday for more skies seen round the world, Blue Monday and Scenic Sunday as well. This one is straight out of the camera, too. And Happy Solstice to you, a couple of days late.

As usual, if there’s only this one photo below, click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the rest of them.

Santa came a bit early and I got a Canon Powershot S90! Here’s a very appropriate photo of the dawn, taken yesterday morning in my backyard, as my first post with the new camera. The only benefit of the days starting so late is I get to see the actual dawn sometimes. Have you guessed I am not naturally an early riser?

It’s going to take me awhile to get comfortable with the manual control features (which were part of the reason I got it) of the new toy. And it’s very small, no bigger than the 3-yr. old Canon point-and-shoot it replaced. Another plus is it does REALLY great in low light indoor situations without a flash, which I prefer in most cases. But so much to learn! I prefer things simple but I am pledged to master this.

Can’t wait to see what it does in the garden with flowers. For that I must wait.

For more skies of happiness and inspiration around the world, visit Skywatch Friday. And have a great holiday.