Solstice Greetings To All

Happy Winter Solstice, everyone! Today gives us sunlight for the shortest amount of time all year. Our ancestors were very grateful for more light each day, and celebrated the solstices and the equinoxes.

Through The Lens Of Siriunsun's Camera

Through The Lens Of Siriunsun's Camera

Jasmine Blossoms

 

It's a pair of Jasmine blossoms I have growing. This plant loves the hot Kansas summer days and western, afternoon sun, yet also accommodates lots of water. It was torn up by a huge hail storm, once, yet grew back when given the chance. The flowers are very fragrant, with a very calming scent. Every home should have at least one jasmine plant.

Insight

Sun Dogs

This phenomenon is called "sun dogs", scientifically known as parhelium, or parhelia. It happens when flat, hexagonal ice crystals in high, cold cirrus clouds refract the sunlight. The ice crystals act as prisms, bending the light through each crystal with a minimum deflection of twenty-two degrees. If they are randomly organized, the reflections will "dog" the sun as a halo, but since the ice crystals usually sink in our atmosphere, they align vertically, refracting the sunlight horizontally. This creates the effect seen above, in this picture taken on a very cold morning somewhere between Beatrice, Nebraska and Marysville, Kansas. Yours truly had never seen sun dogs before moving to Kansas. Thankyou for sharing the picture, Cindy.

Alban Eiler

Ostara

Remember to treat each moment of increased Sunlight like the precious Gift that it is.