“Most people are on the world, not in it – have no conscious sympathy or relationship to anything about them.” – John Muir
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” – Henry David Thoreau
Happy solstice. Light returns.
Fun fact: Thoreau’s cabin in the woods, on Walden Pond, was actually on Ralph Waldo Emerson’s land and only a half-mile walk to the main road into town (Concord). Thoreau was not a hermit or a recluse; he regularly went to town to visit family and friends.
So, if a shack on a friend’s back lot was good enough for Thoreau to learn from nature, I suppose my suburban back yard and neighborhood will be good enough for me.
We’ve had a warm first day of winter. Mid-60s and sunny. Jason and I toasted the return of light with our friends Pat, Steve and Pam via the Internet this evening. Online video chat has become the norm now. Once the pandemic is over, I’ll have to get used to meeting in person again. Or maybe I won’t …
On our end of the chat, we sat on our patio with a fire blazing in our fire pit. Pam asked if we did that a lot – the last time we all raised a glass virtually, Thanksgiving evening, Jason and I were out here with a fire, too.
I would sit outside by the fire every night if I could. But relaxing is a luxury, and building a fire is a commitment.
I took a few photos of the Great Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter, because why not? I was extremely lazy though and did not even set up a tripod.