Fire and water

Here in the Southern Hemisphere, we celebrated the winter solstice on June 21 to mark the shortest day of the year. A bit of a change for us who are used to celebrating it as the first day of summer. In Napier, the locals celebrated the event with a fire fest at the beach, including flame throwers, fire dancers, music, and this fire sculpture representing the sun. Even though it was damp and rainy, the constant supply of fire and hot coffee warmed up the night.

A few days later when the skies cleared, I couldn't resist taking a picture of the full moon rising over the ocean from our window. On a clear night, the moon and the stars light up the sky in a way you never see through the haze of NYC. For the first time, I understood what standing beneath a blanket of stars felt like.