winter solstice & snow angels

Last night I set the alarm for 3:15am. The peak of the lunar eclipse was hitting at 3:17am and I wasn't about to miss out on seeing a total lunar eclipse on the winter solstice. Trudging out in the backyard in my pjs, I hoped that I might be able to find the moon and its bright orange glow amidst the street light glare. Unfortunately my next-door neighbor decided to leave his back porch light on, which diminished the drama of it all, but I did see the moon and it was pretty neat. Floating in the cloudy night sky like a big ball of glowing embers.

Winter has arrived with a vengance here in coastal Virginia and we are anticipating a white Christmas this year (possibly with 20 inches of snow if you listen to our farm manager at the museum). I'm not a huge fan of snow - driving it in; shoveling it; trudging through it after it is dirty and slippery. But I am a huge fan of snow angels. Looking back through last December's photographs, I came across this one - taken at work during a romp in the snow with a coworker (to take pictures for our work Facebook page, so totally work-related). It made me smile and remember why winter is pretty wonderful sometimes.