Today's Daily Double is... the shortest day!

Winter solstice today. I am observing it from Miami, where it barely registers, the sun just clocks out a little early and nobody mentions it. But my body still keeps bay time. Back home this is the day the dark wins, light gone by ten till five, dock lines creaking in the cold, Mt Tam a black shoulder against whatever's left of the sky.

The thing I like about the solstice is not the darkness, it's the pivot. Tomorrow the light starts coming back, one minute at a time. You won't notice for weeks, and then some evening in February you'll be standing on the dock at 5:30 and it won't be dark yet and you'll feel rich for no reason you can name.

Al's family is doing warm loud Christmas things in the next room. I miss Lady, who is out west being a very good girl who does not know a solstice from a Tuesday. Back to the noise.