Here’s a Few Fun Facts surrounding our Winter Solstice
Did you know ……
In Latin, ‘solstice’ translates into ‘sol’ meaning the sun, and ‘sistere’ meaning to stand still.
“For only one brief astronomical moment in time, the sun stands completely still.”*
*In reality, the sun never stands still. If it did, from our perspective, that would mean the earth suddenly stopped orbiting and rotating. Not desirable!
Did you know ……
The winter solstice is often called midwinter, the longest night, or the shortest day. It refers to a moment in time in which the period of daylight is at its shortest. In the Northern Hemisphere, this always happens between December 20 and 23. On this day, the 23.5 degree tilt of the earth’s axis of rotation engulfs the North Pole in continuous darkness or twilight.
Did you know ……
Yule is an ancient pagan season rooted in Norse, Germanic, and Celtic traditions, originally celebrated around the winter solstice. It honored the rebirth of the sun, the endurance of life during deep winter, and the protective power of fire and community. Yule symbolically bridged darkness and the gradual return of light. Today’s modern holiday customs, such as candles, feasting, evergreen decorations, and gatherings, have been influenced by those Pagan rituals of the past. And today, the blending of Yule’s myth and cultural memory appeals to those seeking grounding rituals, nature-based practices, and a deeper connection to seasonal cycles.
For more fun facts about Winter Solstice, check out these past posts shared on December 21, 2022 and 2024.
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Thanks to all for following my creative adventures over the past year(s). Your thoughtful comments and likes are truly appreciated. I’m looking forward to another full year of learning and sharing information about our fascinating natural world. As always, thanks for coming along!
Wishing everyone all the best this winter season and brilliant sunshiny days in the coming year.
Zentangle patterns: Spanders, Footlites, Diver, Lewe, Fifolia, Sprave, Qurtuba, Cloudy Day, Fission, Icantoo, Marbles, Soutache, Strutz, RowRow, Ping, FITA (Flies in the Air), Ease, Antique, Barberpole, ArcFlower, & Arrow Tree
Did you notice World Ampersand Day was more than a week ago? No worries! Although September 8th is the official day for this World celebration, such a fun & functional, curly & quirky little character, know as the “Ampersand,” deserves a party every day of the year! Don’t you agree?
The Symbol we use today for the ampersand is more than 2,000 years old! Designed by an Ancient Roman scribe around 63 CE, it served as the shorthand version of the Latin word “et,” meaning “and.” This ingenious calligrapher created the Symbol by combining the letters “e” & “t” into a single ligature or glyph, for the purpose of saving valuable time, space, & parchment while writing the voluminous & tediously-penned documents of the day.
Observation #1: if you refer to my drawing, top left, you’ll see how the evolution of the ampersand symbol changed over the course of a few thousand years, beginning with Figure #1, the 2,000 year old design.
Observation #2: unless the old Roman cursive “et” included exaggerated negative space before, after, and/or within, I’m uncertain how the symbol in Fig. #1 saved space? What are your thoughts?
The Word “Ampersand” didn’t emerge until the early 19th century (1837) as the shortcut to the commonly used phrase “and per se and.” Now that phrase-to-pronunciation of “Ampersand” may seem intuitive, the eventual slurring of the four words follows a more complex explanation that’s pretty interesting. Based upon a traditional English custom that involved spelling out loud, “any letter that could also be used as a word in itself (“A”, “I”, & “O“) was referred to by the Latin expression per se(‘by itself’), as in “per se A” or “A per se A” or “A by itself = A.” Following that tradition of verbal spelling, the single Ampersand glyph was verbally spelled aloud like this: “and per se and,” “& per se &,” or (much more helpful) “& by itself = and.” This clarification of “& by itself” was necessary so as not to confuse the more extended forms of the “&” in use, such as “&c.” which is one of the abbreviations for the Latin phrase “et cetera,” which, of course, means “the rest.”
Today’s Stylistic Ampersand Symbols
Today, it seems there are hundreds and hundreds of unique ways of symbolizing the Ampersand. A quick internet search of font styles reveals a different twist on the symbol for each font. Can you imagine what an extensive search of fonts would uncover?! But there’s one criteria that must be met, somehow, in designing each “&” …… it must be a ligature (a combination) of the letters “e” & “t” into a single glyph (character), & if not readily recognizable, the artist must be able to demonstrate the presence of both letters, no matter how abstract.
Used to be ……
Did you know the Ampersand used to be the last letter of the English alphabet? It’s true! The “&” was added as the 27th letter in the alphabet in the 19th century &, as such, was taught to children learning their ABCs. Primers written for ‘little folks,’ some novels, & even nursery rhymes recognized the “&” as an official character. One especially popular nursery rhyme, Apple Pie ABC1, finishes with the lines “X, Y, Z, and ampersand, All wished for a piece in hand.” But sometimes good things come to an end. By the late 19th century, the “&” was accepted as a ligature it truly is, rather than a letter, & lost its place in the alphabet.
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Celebrate every day by having fun with the Ampersand:
Use lots & lots of ampersands!
Substitute “&” for “and” in everything you write
Think of syllable replacements in words such as: &roid, c&elabra, b&
Send friends whose names contain “and” a special note — &y, &rea, Alex&er, Br&don, Gr&ma
Design new styles of ampersands being sure they represent the letters “et”
Count the number of ampersands in my drawing2
Well, Flambé doesn’t know about you, but she certainly had lots of fun learning about the Ampersand, & is kicking-off a campaign to have it restored as the 27th letter of the alphabet. After all, we lost Pluto as the 9th planet in the solar system, the Ampersand has almost been around as long as Pluto, & most importantly the “&” has the shape of her long lost best cat friend & lover, Cognac, who’s been on a planetary exploration for years, and has probably reached Pluto by now. Kat says, “Let’s bring back the Ampersand! All in favor, say, “and & and & and & and …..!’”
As always thanks for stopping by, & for voting because Flambé believes all voices must be heard on the issue of the deported Ampersand.
1“ApplePie ABC” is a simple rhyme written to teach children the order of the alphabet by relating the various ways children react to an apple pie. After the first line, A was an apple pie, the rest of the letters refer to verbs.
“A was an Apple pie; B bit it; C cut it; D dealt it; E eat it; F fought for it; G got it; H had it; J joined it; K kept it; L longed for it; M mourned for it; N nodded at it; O opened it; P peeped in it; Q quartered it; R ran for it; S stole it; T took it; V viewed it; W wanted it; X, Y, Z, and &, All wished for a piece in hand”.
Note the absence of two letters; the vowels I & U. When the rhyme was originally written (sometime in the 18th century), there was no differentiation between the capital letters I & J, & between U & V. But in 19th century versions, when the I & U were accepted as distinct letters, the rhyme was updated to include these two lines:
“I inspected it” & “U upset it.”
2 Spoiler Alert: Flambé & I each counted twice & agree …. you should come up with a total of 29 Ampersands in my drawing. If you also agree, Bravo! If you found fewer than 29, try again! If you found more than 29, send a message PDQ, letting us know how many there actually are & that we must’ve been sniffing too much catnip to count higher than 29! Then I’ll have Kat begin the scavenger hunt anew!
Zentangle patterns: Spanders, Footlites, Diver, Lewe, Fifolia, Sprave, Qurtuba, Cloudy Day, Fission, Icantoo, Marbles, Soutache, Strutz, RowRow, Ping, FITA (Flies in the Air), Ease, Antique, Barberpole, ArcFlower, & Arrow Tree
And many thanks to Lynn Mead for sharing her Tree of Life Labyrinth pattern. Super fun to give a whirl! The easy to follow directions can be found on tanglepatterns.com posted 08/14/2021
Today, May 16th, just so happens to be National Love a Tree Day! It’s the official day to celebrate all of life’s joys brought to us by the trees we share this planet with. Whether you love reading in the shade or taking a bite out of a fresh fruit pie, National Love a Tree Day encourages y’all to get outside and enjoy a tree.
A Changing Landscape
We all know many tree species live many many years; some live to be several thousand years old. According to the U.S. Forest Service, about 766 million acres of forest land exists in the United States today, a number that’s held steady since 2012. But the nature of our forests has changed over the last 400 years, due to changes in management practices and demand. Population growth, rural and urban development, along with a variety of land uses (like conversion of forests to agriculture use) resulted in a steady decline of forested acres between 1630 and 1910; a decline from 1,023 million acres to 753 million acres or 46% to 34% of the total land area in the U.S. Since that time until the present, where people choose to live and how the land is used has been constantly changing. While some urban forests increase, other areas see a decline. Tree planting programs improve landscapes but human activities and population growth continue to impact these ecosystems.
We All Benefit from Trees
Trees provide more than just beautiful landscapes and a shady canopy on a sunny day. They play a significant role in reducing erosion and moderating the climate as well as give us oxygen. Large quantities of carbon are stored in their tissues as trees remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. They provide habitat and structure for strong ecosystems.
How to Observe National Love a Tree Day
This is a good day to plant a new tree native to your area, or spend some time enjoying the beauty of the trees, Take time to learn how to care for the trees you have, too, whether you live in the mountains or the desert. Write down all the reasons trees are important to you. If you have a favorite tree, or a tree you’re not familiar with, begin a little research project about that (or those) species, and journal about your findings.
Put down that can of chips or box of square crackers and show your love for one of the most versatile snacks ever …… the Pretzel! Whether you like the snap of crispy twists or prefer them soft and chewy, grab your favorite and join the National Pretzel Day celebration today, April 26th.
Pretzel historians offer a few origin stories, but usually share the most likely and often told legend from the Roman Empire. Apparently in 610 A.D., an Italian monk wanted a way to reward his child students for memorizing their prayers. Instead of baking loaves of morning bread, the Monk twisted thin strips of the dough into symmetrical loops by intertwining or knotting the two ends before folding them back on each other (today’s familiar “pretzel loop”). The shape he made was said to resemble a child with his arms crossed in prayer. The Monk called his invention ‘pretiola’ meaning ‘little rewards’.
From then on, these soft ‘little rewards’ became popular in Austrian bakeries and in all of Germany, and so on throughout the world.
Not being satisfied with baking only soft pretzels, in 1850, Julius Sturgis bought a hard pretzel recipe from a local tramp (wonder why a tramp would have such a recipe? Thoughts?). After baking and baking, and perfecting the recipe, it was clear to Julius the hard pretzel was a success. The pretzel’s popularity quickly spread, inspiring many other bakers in central Pennsylvania to make their own versions of the hard pretzel. But the original ‘Sturgis’ hard pretzel was a keeper. In 1861, the Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery, located in Lititz, Pennsylvania in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch Country, became the first commercial pretzel bakery in America.
Naturally, die-hard fans of the warm/soft pretzel weren’t won over by the overwhelming appeal of the hard/crispy version. With the soft pretzel market still alive and growing, by the 20th century soft pretzels became very popular not only in Philadelphia, but in Chicago and New York as well.
The Pretzel of Today
How many shapes and flavors of pretzels can you think of? Here’s my lists …….
Hard pretzel shapes: traditional loop, thick and thin; stick shapes, both thin and in thick rods; twisted, clockwise and counterclockwise; round rings with and without knots; thick stumpy bite-sized nuggets, filled and unfilled; chip shaped and waffle shaped.
Hard pretzel flavors: salted, cinnamon sugar, peanut butter, peanut butter and jelly, honey mustard, cheese, honey wheat, honey butter, ranch, ranch and jalapeño, garlic, sea salt caramel, sour cream and onion, and buffalo wing.
And for soft pretzels …… it’s all about the dipping sauces and coatings: Of course there’s yellow mustard, garlic mustard, melty cheese, melty beer cheese. But there’s also chocolate dipped, aioli, truffle hot sauce, buffalo ranch, cinnamon sugar, and marinara.
Can you add more?
Pretzel Fun Factz!
Pennsylvania is the center of American pretzel production for both hard and soft pretzels, producing 80% of the nation’s pretzels.
Today, the average Philadelphian consumes about twelve times as many pretzels as the national average.
Philadelphia opened a privately run “Pretzel Museum” in 1993.
The annual United States pretzel industry is worth over $550 million.
The average American consumes about 1.5 pounds of pretzels per year.
How will you celebrate National Pretzel Day 2025? Here’s a few ideas …..
Enjoy a bag of your favorite hard pretzels, and gift one to a friend.
Visit your local bakery or even the mall to sample their selection of warm soft pretzels.
Try a game of “Toss the Ring” with ring-shaped pretzels.
Go on a pretzel scavenger hunt.
Host a pretzel and beer party for your neighborhood.
Bake a batch of soft pretzels for the party and have everyone bring their favorite dipping sauce.
And now ………
Curiously, Flambé has been following my post with fascination. Always hungry, could it be she’s developing pretzel cravings? What baker, in their right mind, would ever scent a batch with eau de fish? If a pretzel maker thought mackerel flavored twists would ever be popular, they might just be crazy (or not?). Becoming more famished by the minute, Kat insisted on explaining her ‘irrational’ excitement in a “Blitz” poem (a style created by Robert Keim.1). She felt this poem style not only suited all the twists and turns found in a properly-constructed pretzel loop, it best expressed the twisting and turning pathway her mind took to explain herself and help us “get it!” What do you think?
1 Shout out to Michele Lee, My Inspired Life blog post dated 04/05/2025, for sharing her amazing Blitz poem and providing the rules to create one too. Thanks Michele!
As always. Thanks for stopping by!
Here are the guidelines for the Blitz poem, created by Robert Keim:
Line 1 should be one short phrase or image (like “build a boat”)
Line 2 should be another short phrase or image using the same first word as the first word in Line 1 (something like “build a house”)
Lines 3 and 4 should be short phrases or images using the last word of Line 2 as their first words (so Line 3 might be “house for sale” and Line 4 might be “house for rent”)
Lines 5 and 6 should be short phrases or images using the last word of Line 4 as their first words, and so on until you’ve made it through 48 lines
Line 49 should be the last word of Line 48
Line 50 should be the last word of Line 47
The title of the poem should be three words long and follow this format: (first word of Line 3) (preposition or conjunction) (first word of line 47)
You don’t have to be a cat lover to celebrate National Cat Herders Day. The only requirement is to know someone or even be that someone who’s attempted to accomplish a complex task by controlling the uncontrollable, organizing the disorganized, or bringing to order a disorderly cast of characters, akin to like trying to herd cats*. From parents and teachers to project managers and team leaders, this humorous observance pays tribute to those willingly and persistently taking on the challenge of controlling difficult or chaotic situations. Show the love and appreciation for people in your life, and quite possibly yourself, who take on any impossible or frustrating task with patience and humility.
Zentangle patterns used: Choir, Ease, Windflower, KittyKitty, Fragment oA6, Apichu, Budlite, Cat-kin, CD Joy, Cloudy Day, Raindotty
*The origin of the phrase “like herding cats” likely came from the opening scene of Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979). In this scene, shepherds are discussing sheep and the topic strays to cats: “Can you imagine a herd of cats waiting to be sheared?”
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**A fish manikin is a form carved from wood or foam by taxidermists used to mount a trophy fish. Flambé’s school of striped manikins all looked like trophies to her! If only she could’ve herded her cat kin into an attentive and cohesive group long enough to teach them her sure-fire plan for breaking up that school of fish …….. maybe, just maybe she would’ve had a striped manikin to Mount on the wall of her den!
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***A clowder is a real thing! It’s what “they” call a group of cats. Honest. But then being naturally curious like my sidekick, Flambé, I wanted to know how many cats are needed to make a clowder. Here’s what I learned:
“Three or more cats make up a clowder, which makes sense. After all, three is a clowd—er, crowd. Jokes aside, this is mainly because the word “pair” covers pretty much any group of two, and if a cat is by themselves, then they’re just … a cat.”
But that doesn’t explain how these feline groups are ever formed ……. after all, wouldn’t that be a frustrating endeavor and quite nearly impossible …… exactly like Herding Cats?
I’ll let you be the judge, but please let me know!
Chaos Never Dies Day is an annual holiday observed on November 9th that reminds us that chaos and disorder are natural and inevitable parts of life. The day encourages us to embrace the chaos and find humor, creativity, and resilience in the face of uncertainty and unpredictability. It’s a time to let go of perfectionism, embrace imperfection, and enjoy the ride.
Flowing from Flambé’s depiction of the chaotic world that lives between her pointy ears, emerges 16 simple continuous line shapes. Can you find them all?
(If you’d like a little help finding these shapes, the answers can be found at the end of this post. But only peek after you’ve given the illustration a thorough looking over.)
Of course, Kat has embedded herself within the chaos; her discovery makes for 17 total shapes.
Flambé’s thoughts on Chaos to Creativity OR an attempt to interpret her scratched lines on paper, in the above illustration.
A few of my elementary thoughts about Chaos and Chaos Theory
Now that Flambé has delighted and (most likely) confused you on the Nature of Chaos, allow me to reflect on my first exploration into the fascinatingly mind bending subject of Chaos Theory. Having never given much thought to the Theory, per se, I’ve always pictured “chaos” as something hectic and uncontrollable. A state of unruliness, mayhem, or disarray liken to natural disasters, mob pandemonium, mass shootings. Sound familiar? We’ve all likely been witness to an unfathomable situation and declared our world to be in “complete and utter chaos!” But there’s more, a lot more to Chaos Theory, where it is encountered and how it affects us.
When my reference list of lesser known Annual Days revealed November 9th is celebrated every year as “Chaos Never Dies” day, I was appalled. I mean, really; who wants to live in a world of ever-present and everlasting chaos?
But from the description of this Day, it appeared there was a positive side to chaos, piquing my curiosity. Anything that can make us laugh and inspire creativity has to be awesome! So began my last few weeks of intense study and pouring over countless YouTube videos to learn about Chaos Theory.
The more I read and viewed educational videos proclaiming to explain Chaos Theory in easy-to-understand language, the more confusing it seemed. The language was English, but the concepts seemed abstract to me …….. well, they were just plain chaotic! (This caused me to laugh!). It would be easy to spend a lifetime trying to “get it.” I’ll just have to keep learning!
So far, I learned about many familiar and new terms associated with Chaos Theory. These include the Butterfly Effect (highly central to Chaos Theory) which shows the connection between disorderly and highly organized things, like how the flap of a butterfly’s wings can lead to a string of events that can form a hurricane! It’s complex, but emphasizes (among many things) that we can’t know the consequences of seemingly simple systems due to unpredictable variables. That leads to Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, Feedback Loops, Fractals, Probabilistic and Deterministic modes, etc.
Are you still with me?
In a nutshell, Chaos Theory “provides a scientifically quantifiable but simultaneously poetically suggestive way of looking at how almost everything in life is connected to everything else.”
We live in a “chaotic” world, and how we react and/or adapt to its unpredictability and complexities matters. But as someone (?) once said, “Embracing unpredictability sparks creativity.” What does Chaos spark in you?
The images of all Continuous Line drawings and their order of emergence.
World Smile Day is an annual celebration of the simple yet powerful act of smiling and spreading joy to others. It was created by commercial artist Harvey Ball in 1999 to honor the iconic smiley face he created in 1963. On this day, people are encouraged to perform acts of kindness and make others smile, both in person and through social media. World Smile Day is celebrated on the first Friday in October.
Unbeknownst to me …… until right now! Hitting me like a ton of rocks, I just learned that every second Sunday in September each year marks a worldwide celebration known as
International Rock Flipping Day
Today is a day to encourage people to explore and learn about the natural world by flipping over rocks to see what creatures and other organisms live underneath them. Participants share their findings and observations with others to promote curiosity and appreciation for the environment.
If no one was at home, tell me about your flipped rock(s)!
Bring out your Inner Child!
I don’t care what town you’re born in, what city, what country. If you’re a child, you are curious about your environment. You’re overturning rocks. You’re plucking leaves off of trees and petals off of flowers, looking inside, and you’re doing things that create disorder in the lives of the adults around you. – Neil deGrasse Tyson
A few more …..
As with other phases of nature, I have probably loved the rocks more than I have studied them. – John Burroughs
If it weren’t for the rocks in its bed, the stream would have no song. – Carl Perkins
The problem is not scientifically illiterate kids; it is scientifically illiterate adults. Kids are born curious about the natural world. They are always turning over rocks, jumping with two feet into mud puddles and playing with the tablecloth and fine china. – Neil deGrasse Tyson
Of the dozen or so celebrations taking place annually on April 17th, you might think that combing both National Bat Appreciation Day and National Haiku Poetry Day in one blog post makes no sense at all. But if you’ve ever spent even a bit of time witnessing a bat ‘out flight’ at dusk, you’d agree with me that their near-silent hunting maneuvers are sheer poetry!
National Bat Appreciation Day
A holiday celebrated each year to promote awareness about bats and their importance in maintaining healthy ecosystems.
National Haiku Poetry Day
An annual celebration to honor and promote the cultural significance of Haiku, a Japanese form of poetry.
Dedication
This post is dedicated to my good friend, Holly Silva, who finds bats fascinating. She suggested for my first celebratory day in April, I tackle bats. (Not literally of course!) Like Holly, I’ve always been in awe of bats, having seen many ‘out-flights’ of the tiny insectivorous myotis bat and little brow bat. And then there’s fruit bats! Oh my …… so hard to resist sharing my story of an amazing fruit bat ‘out flight’ Roy & I witnessed in the Australian Outback, Bats in OZ!
Bats in OZ
Talk about right place/right time scenario! We had finally arrived at a well known hot springs south of Katherine after a long, hot, dry day through central Australia. Mataranka, a beautiful series of natural pools surrounded by hundreds of eucalyptus (gum) trees. It was late in the day and we were luxuriating in the hot water, when we noticed everyone there before us was leaving. It was a mass exodus; suddenly we had the springs to ourselves. Five minutes later that we noticed the water rippling around us. We figured a freak storm had appeared out of nowhere to offload huge raindrops in just this spot. Then the “rain” became more intense, the noise became cacophonous, and day turned into night.
When we first arrived at Mataranka, our focus was on the inviting pools of water nicely shaded by the gum trees. We never looked up into any of those tall, branchy trees … we were happy to have the shade. Now, soaking in the hot water while getting pelted by “rain,” we wondered if we should haul ourselves out, recalling that the locals must’ve known this storm was about to happen (as it did every night); maybe it wasn’t safe for some reason? So wondering how big the storm cloud was we glanced up at the sky through the tree branches. That’s when shock and awe grabbed us! Hundreds and hundreds of tree branches which must’ve been straining under a great weight minutes ago were sighing relief as thousands of fruit bats (aka flying foxes) dropped from their roosts to take flight. Wing membranes spread wide, their sheer numbers blocked out the fading sun. We were speechless! Gaping in awe at the spectacle, our mouths quickly snapped shut …… you see, that “downpour” wasn’t rain at all! All of those big, beautiful bats were pooping out guano as fast as they could! Another ah-ha moment struck us (along with copious quantities of guano) as we made a hasty retreat out of the water, grabbing our clothes and sun hats, and laughing uproariously while beating feat back to the safety and cover of the rental car!
As fast as the “storm” of bats appeared, they were gone, flying off to feed for the night on a Downunder spring bounty of fruits only they knew about. Stuffed by sunrise they would return to the Mataranka community roost to rest and digest before once again taking flight while pooping on the heads of foolish tourists tomorrow at dusk!
The Post
For this post, while exploring bats’ importance in the ecosystem, to science, and while recalling all of those Australian flying foxes I was curious about why and how bats hang upside down, the types of bats and their diets, and what adaptations Vampire bats have causing them to crave a diet of blood. Much of this rabbit-trailing led to myths and misconceptions about bats, then back to New Mexico’s most famous ‘out flight’ of the American Free-tailed Bat every spring, summer and fall evening from Carlsbad Caverns. While learning, several Haiku poems materialized reflecting bat behavior.
Nighttime brings darkness A near silent “whoosh” above Bats! Winged wonders hunt
It would’ve been easy and fun to fill up the rest of my journal with bat facts and more Haiku, but because the celebratory date of both National Bat Appreciation Day and National Haiku Poetry Day has now come and gone, I had to stop. Maybe you’ll want to answer a bunch of your own questions about bats? Maybe you’ll want to write your own Haiku about bats in honor of this style of poetry?
Mosquitoes beware! Cauldron of bats overhead …. Echolocation!
Share your bat stories and Haiku, and let me know if this inspires you to dig deeper into the fascinating world of bats!
a curious nature 