And lo, it arrived: the shortest day of the year. Here in Fairbanks this brings just 3 h 41 min 29 sec of possible sunlight. The sun skims along the southern sky, at its peak hitting an angle of only 2 degrees above the horizon. Its light is all sunrise and sunset colors, all day. These weak but welcome rays, heavy in oranges and reds, stream through our south-facing windows at such a shallow angle that they can penetrate right through a building if there is no wall to stop them. You relish the light because it is such a short thing every day. We get up well before sunrise (10:59 a.m.), work hard well past sunset (2:40 p.m.), and return home after it’s been dark for hours.

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