Shortest Day of the Year

Today I was surprised to find out that it was time for winter solstice, the shortest day of the year (I don't always keep myself well-informed on these things. Stay tuned for good stories about me not paying attention to the weather forecast and leaving my house to find 6 inches of snow on my car. That hasn't happened yet, but some things are just a matter of time, friends) . Now, it's been a while since we had the luxury of those summer days when the sun shone in the afternoon and the skies didn't get dark until 6 pm. Recently it has been dark outside when I leave my work building at 4:30 pm. Today, I looked out the window at 2 pm to see a dusky sky. I cried a little, but not enough so that anyone saw.

My co-workers told me that in Japan it is a custom to eat Japanese pumpkin for winter solstice. Also, many people eat lucky foods, such as rice (I had that for lunch!), bread, or mikan- a kind of Japanese mandarin orange. Some people also put some sort of orange in their bath water, which is supposed to be good for the body. My co-workers asked me what we do in America for winter solstice and I said that people look out the window and say, "Oh hey, it's winter solstice today." Then someone else says, "Oh, yeah. Cool." and that is the extent as far as I know.

After leaving my workplace and going home in the dark, dark afternoon, I came home to work on packing and getting ready for my winter travels (within Japan). I briefly left my house at about 8:30 to give my friend a ride to the train station only to find that the weather had turned severely windy and it was raining pretty hard. I pulled out my trusty umbrella only to find that it was not trusty enough. Let's just say that within about 15 seconds, after the merciless wind had hit it from 3 different angles, it was an umbrella no more. Or rather that it is the most bent up of any umbrella I have ever seen. I think even Eeyore gave me a sympathy sigh as I abandoned the umbrella and went on with my evening.

Now, to finish packing and rest a little. I leave pretty soon for some fun holiday plans!