… Winter officially begins. According to the Portland news, the season begins at 9:47 this morning, but according to a Seattle television station’s Web site, which draws on information from the U.S. Navy, Winter begins this evening at 11:02. I’m not sure if it should be called Winter 2009, or Winter 2010, or Winter 2009-2010, which sounds kind of clunky. At any rate, Winter, for me, calls for endless layers of clothing, thick socks and slippers, oatmeal for breakfast, cinnamon tea in the afternoons, soups and stews galore and lots of white lights and white candles, powered up earlier and earlier in the afternoon as we creep toward the most night-like day of the year, which I believe is today. I used to dread the descent into darkness but over the past several years I’ve come to really enjoy it.
