Welcome Winter Solstice

December 22. I look forward to this day every time I come
home from work in the dark at 6 p.m.

From this day forward there will be just a bit more daylight..

Forget about the 25th. Had the old solstice celebrations,
with pigging out and dancing around decorated trees, been
allowed to continue, I would heartily join in. But the church,
unable to wrest this holiday from the people, moved the date
of Jesus's birth, and so we have the hybrid with Santa and
his reindeer and sleigh hovering over the manger. Let us
keep the Holy midnight watch with hymns and chanting
and prayer, then rush over to the 24-hour Walmart to
max out our plastic.

And forget about Daylight Shifting Time. Or savings. If it's
being saved, I'd like to know where so I could withdraw
a few hours.

Supposed to be a mild winter this year. Lowest temperature
so far has been 22. The greens I planted haven't grown very
big, but continue to survive and have provided me with
several meals so far. The seeds cost $3, the cost of the labor
carrying water from the creek to keep them alive not
recorded. But they taste better, and I believe they are more
nutritious, than those available in the grocery stores. With
the prices of food skyrocketing, gardening can become an
economic necessity. Shall we all have victory gardens, as in
victory over hunger?

By prepaying my winter's supply, propane has cost me the
same per gallon as last year, but I have read there will be a
steep price increase next year. I think about using some
electrical heat, but I'm afraid the cost of electricity will also
escalate.

Shorter days and shrinking dollars.

And economists say the housing foreclosure crisis
reverberates, causing a credit card crunch, more defaults and
a higher rate of overdue payments.

But the rich continue to receive tax relief and the Department
of Defense recently signed a contract potentially worth
750 million for an Atlanta advertising agency to create ads
that will entice young men into joining the U.S. Marine Corps.