Midwinter

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,

Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;

Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,

In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

I'm not sure what the hymnwriter was thinking about when he penned this Christmas song. December 25 is hardly midwinter. Today is! :)

Okay, it may not be the shortest day of the year in terms of sunlight (that's Dec 24th), or the coldest day of the year in terms of average temp (that's Jan 12th), or even the "most depressed" day of the year (Jan 24th), but dog-gone it... the first day of February is definitely the bleakest day, about as deep into Winter as one can get.



It's much the same as August 1 is the pure height of Summer, May Day the middle of Spring, and November 1st the heart of Autumn. Regular readers will note that I've gone over this ground before, so no need to explain. Suffice it to say that if we can make it through today, this week, this month... it only gets nicer. :)