Happy Winter Solstice Eve

Tomorrow is the Winter Solstice - the shortest day of the year.  After tomorrow the days should start getting longer and the night's shorter.  For those of you who follow nature based religions - Happy Winter Solstice.  For those of you who like longer days - Happy Winter Solstice.

I think I'll spend the shortest day of the year in contemplation.  Maybe I'll sit outside on the deck.

Or maybe not.

The snow is still coming down up here.  This morning at 7 am I measured the snow depth at 6 inches.  It's still coming down steady (I measure weather for CoCoRaHS - somewhere there is a post about this).

Fortunately The Husband and I got the heated birdbath set up last weekend.  The birds really appreciate water during the winter.  For most people setting up one of these is easy - plug it in.  But we don't have an outdoor outlet.  Not one.  So we had to fix the outlet in the garage (I did the electrical work), drill a hole in the garage wall (the windows are long since painted shut) and run an extension cord.  Not the best solution but it should do for this year.

The Dogs appreciate the fresh snow fall.  Jasper thinks it's edible and Piper thinks it is the best thing she has ever seen.  She's a Keshound mix.  She's been running and jumping and even rolling in the snow.

I managed to beat the snowplows this morning so I was able to get this shot of my Sedum.  It's planted in the hell strip so it is now buried under the plowed snow.

My Mexican Feather Grass (Nassella tenuissima aka Stipa tenuissima) is also now buried but it's just under the fresh fallen snow. 

This is Rosemary Arp.  It's supposed to be winter hardy.  This just looks wrong.

This, however, looks just right. 

While my garden is mostly new and not that mature my neighbor's Miscanthus probablyis looks fantastic under the snow.

Here's dreaming of a white Winter Solstice.