The Days of the Long Nights

The sun sets at 4:23 in New London today. Which is actually one whole minute -- and one whole hell of a lot better -- than last night, when the sun set on the shortest day of the year at 4:22.

My Mom loves the Winter Solstice because it's the beginning of the days getting longer, which makes Mom anticipate Spring. And yes she prefers to ignore that it's the first day of Winter.

The other great thing about this time of year is the sunset is smack in the middle of the afternoon, so there are plenty of opportunities to photograph it:

December 20, 3:59 p.m.

My friend Renee loves these long nights. It reminds her of hanging out with her friends in their 20-something days. They loved to get dressed up and hit the town but they found it depressing to be all dolled up when there were still hours of daylight left. But when it was 5 and already dark? Oh yeah....

I just took a very informal poll. A one-man poll. A one-Mistah poll. He is, after all, the only person in my living room. "Mistah, is there anything positive you can say about these long nights and short days?" "You don't get sunburn."

You see that? Another positive.

So yes, these are the Days of the Long Winter Nights, which is great, apparently, if you're a photographer, a party girl, a Spring-anticipator, or a skin-protector.

Or a vampire.

Of course I'm a dressed-down, summer-loving, camera-less, sun-worshiper

And now if you'll excuse me I've got to go sauté some garlic.