No time, no time

As mentioned earlier, I’ve been involved in several different pursuits at this point and have had little time to devote to the blogarino, and even this one is going to be quick. But you know, that special day has rolled around again, the explanation for why I have been so pressed for time, and the celebration that it’s only getting better from here on in (for six months, anyway): yes, it’s the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year! From the bigoted standpoint of northern hemispherans, anyway – Australians and Patagonians are not going to relate, and may be doing exactly what I was doing six months ago (and refused to make note of then,) which is trying to forget that the days are now going to be getting shorter.

small cluster of unknown flowers blooming in December, Duke GardensLike before, I’ve attempted to feature a photo taken on either a previous winter solstice or a summer solstice, but like before, I have very few photos actually taken then – it seems I never get out on those days. And looking at the conditions of the sky right now, I’m not taking anything today to use for a later, post, either. So we go back to last year and just a few days before, on December 19th, one of the photos taken during an outing to a botanical garden but not used when I posted about it ten days later (sheesh.) I have no idea what these flowers are, but they were indeed in bloom in December. And in fact, I might have had some recent ones to post here, but somebody had to cancel out on a trip there scheduled for this past Saturday. Not looking in any particular directions, here…

unidentified butterfly on unidentified leavesBut while I’m logged in and have been poking through the image folders, let’s go with another, this one from January of this year, one month past the solstice during a trip to the Museum of Life and Science. This particular shot has a hidden meaning to it, because it is the exact same spot and plant featured three years ago, one that I happened to like. I just wasted too much time trying to identify the butterfly, so I’m letting it go – the day’s too short for that kind of thing. I’ll let someone in Botswana figure it out – they’ve got the time.