Solstice

Just this past week, I was honored with an invitation to submit photos taken on Solstice for an on-line photo show that has been created by and for photographers as a way to celebrate the day.

So this morning, I bounded out of bed, well before daylight, to make sure I could caffeinate enough to rise to the occasion when the sun came over Taos Mountain. I actually got out there a
wee bit too early, so I spent some time
crawling around on my stomach (yes, in the snow...what I won't do to try to get a good shot) taking photos of things from that perspective. One such shot is this photo of the little plants that seem to have come to our mountain the same time the aspens were brought in and planted. They never seem to flower, but are out in abundance near the aspens all summer.



Just these last weeks, we had some more solar panels added to our system. Our other panels are now 10 years old, and while they still function fairly well, we decided to take advantage of some spare south facing roof space and add some more. With this installation came a new inverter system, and a grid-tie...so now we are helping to provide electricity to someone else in our community when we're not using all we gather each day. It's pretty cool...and it beats the heck out of the years I spent with one 12v light bulb and a back up generator that had to be rewound by hand (yes, it's true...sticking my fingers in there on zero degree nights to rewind that cord left a lasting impression on me...as the electricians who planned the system for this house would tell you).

And now, off to use some of that electricity to watch some TV before hitting the sack. Good Solstice to you.