THE SHORTEST DAY

 The winter equinox - which makes me think of all the "druids" at Stonehenge in midsummer - on the wrong day as recent thought suggests they would have been celebrating mid winter with the end of the old year and the beginning of the new.

So it is a time of  weather inversion and mist in the fields and the bay. This shifts with the tides and rises as the day warms so that we may be clear first thing but then spend some time wrapped in fog.

But not all greyness is shroud like - plants with grey foliage wait for the sun to back light their leaves.

Back lighting when the sun is low gives the garden a different  atmosphere, whether being old hydrangea flowers or through the trees (those that were not blown down).

And despite frosts which lend new meaning to shape and tone there is both plant survival - the parsley - and the signs of a new year in daffodils breaking the surface, as are the snowdrops.

So the tree disaster from the storm will take some time to resolve - her are a few more photos. You can see from the cross section of the sawn trunk the amount of ivy that was weighing the tree down. Ivy, great  as a wildlife habitat but. . 

I cannot leave you with that though so here are the colours of the liquidambar and a view of the garden when the sun is actually shining.

No matter your creed or culture I wish you a very enjoyable midwinter and New Year - whenever the latter begins - the 22nd of December, First of January - the Gregorian New Year is the one we all celebrate on the night of December 31st and continuing into New Year's Day. ... 

Then there is the Lunar New Year. ... 
Hindu New Year. ... 
Kha b' Nisan. ... 
Nowruz- Persian New Year. ... 
Songkran. ... 
Al Hijri – Islamic New Year. ... 
Rosh Hashanah.
Whatever, I hope the next one is better for everyone.