Happy Winter Solstice

 

 

Today, December 21, is the winter solstice.  After today, the days start getting longer!  For centuries, people everywhere have been celebrating this joyous event, because it means winter has reached its apex and spring is on the way.  (I think there's a big holiday or something right around the corner.)

For us boat-dwellers, the changing of the seasons carries a lot of weight.  I bought my boat and started working on her back in July.  Throughout July, August, and September, the scorching heat of summer was pure hell.  I survived by installing my Shadetree awnings over the boat, having a fan perpetually blowing on me, and guzzling ice water by the gallon. 

Then fall finally arrived, and throughout all of October and November, we were blessed with absolutely glorious weather nearly every day!  I think we went the whole two months with, like, zero rainfall.  My biggest regret was that I had so many boat projects to get done that I had little time to go out and enjoy the weather.  But at least I got a whole lot accomplished.

But all good things must end.  December arrived, full and determined to even up the score after a marvelous fall. 

The worst aspect of wintertime while living and working on a boat is NOT the cold.  (I AM on the Gulf Coast, after all - it doesn't get THAT cold down here.)  Yeah, it gets cold, but warm clothes and lots of blankets help with that.  No, there are two bigger wintertime bummers:  the constant wetness, and the short days.

Everything is wet, wet, wet.  When I get up in the morning, the inside of boat is covered with condensation.  My day starts off with wiping it all down with a towel.  But then what do you do with the wet towel?  Hanging it out on the lifelines to dry doesn't work well, even if the sun is out.  And if you think the INSIDE of the boat is wet, you ain't seen nothing yet; on the outside of boat, everything, everything, everything is soaked. 

Rain, which also happens a lot, is no fun at all.  The wetness gets to you.

The other bummer is the short days.  Many boat projects require light - as in sunlight.  I already spent the morning wiping away the night's dew.  I now have only a few hours of daylight to get stuff done. 

And so, I rejoice that the Winter Solstice has finally arrived.  There is (sun) light at the end of this tunnel.  Oh, and don't fall into the trap of calling this day the "First Day of Winter", as the weather reporters on broadcast media tend to call it.  If anything, it's the winter mid-point.  Or you could even accurately call it the LAST day of winter because now the days are getting longer.  Better still, call it by its proper name:  the Solstice.