What I love most about winter solstice is that it spells the beginning of the end of what I so often think of as weak and insipid light. There are still a few dim days ahead but by the middle of January, the ambient light will be noticeably brighter than it has been.
I met up with a friend at the Winter Solstice Seed Mandala event this past weekend. I wrote about the seed mandala a couple of years ago in the past tense; it hadn’t happened at that point since before COVID. Happily, Albuquerque Open Space started it up again last year. Of course it has changed, the same way so many things have changed since COVID.
There weren’t as many seeds as there were pre-COVID, nor were they as colorful as they used to be. The event appears to have somehow morphed from a family-friendly kids’ day to primarily an adult activity. And, perhaps partially because of the first two changes, a lot more ground was left bare than in the past.
It was a brilliant public art project nonetheless.1 When we first arrived, only a circle and a few lines had been drawn in seeds. By the time we came back, about two hours later, numerous areas outside the circle had been created. The zia symbol2 above was one of them, and the inverted triangle, star, and circle above that photo made up another.
I thought, when I wrote last week’s post, that Mother Nature was done with fall and its leaves — but I was wrong. In between our two visits to the seed mandala, my friend and I walked in the bosque and saw numerous areas where fallen cottonwood leaves were completely covered with large frost crystals. I’d never seen anything quite like it before, so of course I had to take a few photos.
Hope you enjoy this shortest of days.
Plus it provided many meals to the various birds migrating through the Rio Grande Valley.
The Zia is New Mexico’s state symbol, appropriated from Zia Pueblo.
I'm so happy to see the seed project back again - the birds must LOVE this art display.
The frosted leaves - well what can be said other than - PERFECTION.
How creative your unique pics are, as always!