Sunset, Monday, 21 December 2009

William Theodore Van Doren. Painted at Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on watercolor block, 16 x 20.

I watched this solstice sky develop as I was walking back to the house, having been lying prone under my car in a snowdrift, trying to clear ice out of part of the clutch. 

Laura and I started dating on the winter solstice, December 21st, 14 years ago. We became engaged exactly one year later, on the next winter solstice, and were married the following June 21st, which was the summer solstice. A midsummer night’s wedding and a midwinter night’s dream.