Countdown.

No, not to Christmas.  I am just about done with Christmas preps.  In fact I doubt I will be allowed to do any ever again. (One lives in hope) .

No I am on the countdown to the Winter Solstice.

Winter solstice is an astronomical phenomenon which marks the shortest day and the longest night of the year. Winter solstice occurs for the Northern Hemisphere in December and for the Southern Hemisphere in June.
The axial tilt of Earth and gyroscopic effects of the planet's daily rotation keep the axis of rotation pointed at the same point in the sky. As the Earth follows its orbit around the Sun, the same hemisphere that faced away from the Sun, experiencing winter, will, in half a year, face towards the Sun and experience summer. Because the two hemispheres face opposite directions along the planetary pole, as one polar hemisphere experiences winter, the other experiences summer. Wikepedia.

Which basically means the days are shorter before it gets dark, after the solstice the earth tilts the other way and the daylight increases.
 
My view from the shedudio this afternoon at 3p.m.

My 'normal day' consists of me doing anything physical in the morning.  Getting up sometimes being a challenge, and getting dressed even more so.  Have you any thought on how much breath you need to bend over and put your socks on? (As you bend that squashes your lungs = no breath).

After lunch sees me down the shedudio drawing and painting.  Yes, I do have a daylight bulb down there, but when that is switched on all inspiration disappears as I feel like a 

 Hey ho.  So my pencil and paintbrush wielding is minimal.

And a painting takes forever to finish.

Here is one done and one on its way - the Cormorants could take quite a while......

 

 Roll on the 21st.