The darkening

Seasonal changes like leaf color, snow and spring melt  are straightforward and easy to understand, even if one never experiences them personally.  Other aspects of seasonal changes are more subtle and must be experienced to be appreciated.  One of these is the darkening of the daylight hours. 

Today, the sun didn't clear the horizon until about 6:30, and yesterday it was gone by 4:30.  In another month, the daylight time will be another 45 minutes or so shorter.  As if this were not enough, the sun is so low on the southern horizon that the sunny days (which are a distinct minority this week) have become dull, and the gray days are positively dim.  So dim, that despite being mid-day, my camera tells me it must use a flash to take a 'properly' lighted picture of the woods behind my house.  And today, covering all this dimness is a fog that obscures any thing more than 100 feet distant.  

At least all of this gives me a new appreciation of the way ancient peoples celebrated the arrival of the winter solstice.