Take a Hike on the Shortest Day of the Year

This year the Winter Solstice is on Sunday, December 21st. This day has the distinction of being the shortest day of the year and also the longest night of the year. In Wisconsin, once we pass the 21st, we have the pleasure of seeing each day get a bit longer as each night grows a bit shorter.

I have always loved Dr. Seuss’s take on the passing of time:

“How did it get so late so soon?
Its night before its afternoon.
December is here before its June.
My goodness how the time has flewn.
How did it get so late so soon?”
Dr. Seuss

The University of Madison – Arboretum is offering a special hike on the late afternoon/evening on Sunday. You can join the staff for a walk, presumably to watch the sun set. The hike is from 4:00 to 5:30 pm. However the weather forecast is predicting a fairly heavy cloud cover and light snows on Sunday, with highs about 17˚F, so you may not see much of a sunset. But if you bundle up – don’t forget your long underwear, mittens, and a snug hat – you’ll still have a great time. Dusk is a great time to see animals and birds, so be sure to keep your eyes and ears open.

The Arboretum is located just north of the Beltline (Highway 12) off the Seminole Road exit. There is a second entrance to the Arboretum, near St. Mary’s Medical Center, located at the intersections of North Wingra Drive and South Mills Street. A map from Google maps shows both entrances.

For further information, contact the Arboretum’s staff at (608) 263-7888 or check the Arboretum’s website.

On Sunday, Bo Mackison will be celebrating the return to lengthening days – every daylight minute counts. She plans to be at the Arboretum to take some wintry photographs. You can also see more of her winter photography in the Winter Gallery at Seeded Earth Photography website.

Photograph “Winter Freeze” © 2008 Bo Mackison, all rights reserved.

A Lazy Midsummer Hike in Door County

The meadows are sprinkled with white, yellow and purple wildflowers at mid-summer in Door County, the northeastern tip of Wisconsin. (For you newbies to Wisconsin geography, if you pretend to make a hand print with your left hand, the print rather resembles Wisconsin and your thumb is Door County which juts into Lake Michigan.) We went for an easy hike through the Ephraim Preserves on the edge of the village of Ephraim. The trail circles the Andersen Lake (really more of a marsh than a lake) and meanders through meadows and hardwood forests.

Queen Anne’s Lace, often a flower that is everyone’s favorite, is also a rather madly spreading lady and when coming head to head with natural plants, she is often victor. Therefore she has earned the label ecologically-invasive, though most everyone enjoys her beauty. I particularly like to capture the plant not in bloom. I, more than once, have tried to pluck a “dark” spot or “insect” from the flower’s center, before remembering that is one of her trademarks – a tiny dark floret in the very center of all her white finery.

— Bo Mackison loves to capture the beauty of wildflowers in Wisconsin with her camera. More wildflowers photos from Door County can be viewed in her gallery at Seeded Earth Photography.