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Morning sun trying to break through the clouds and dot the “i” in downtown Denver.

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Fireball over Lake Dillon.

Dillon, Colorado.

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Bull Thistle seed backlit by the sun.

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Icy Ponderosa Pine needles backlit by the rising sun.

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Sunset last night on Pelican Lake from out on the water.

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A field of high corn surrounds an old abandoned barn as the clouds part enough to let golden shafts of light illuminate the scene. Near Elizabeth, Minnesota.

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6:45 AM. Two fisherman try the quiet, colorful waters of Pelican Lake.

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The first (unofficial) day of summer 2009 at Sundog. The sun broke through the clouds at sunset to redeem a mostly cloudy day. HDR photo.

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This is an amazing photo of the orbiting space shuttle Atlantis making a solar transit. It was taken from the ground in Florida on Tuesday, May 12, 2009 by Thierry Legault using a Canon 5D Mark II camera attached to a Takahashi 5-inch refracting telescope equipped with a solar filter.

More NASA STS-125 mission photos here.

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There is a house with many large windows across the lake. About ten minutes before the sun goes down, this house intensely reflects light from the setting sun and shines like a bright beacon in our direction. These are not interior lights – once the sun sets the lights vanish.

No doubt as the angle of the sun changes with the advancing season, the phenomenon will probably diminish or disappear.

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Fog blankets the sunrise on the lake road early this morning. Warming temperatures and melting snow have created this welcome harbinger of spring on several days this week.

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The winter solstice has arrived at Pelican Lake. It came in darkness at 6:04 AM. It’s the shortest day; the longest night.

Under the weight of a frozen, ice-filtered sky the sun struggled all morning to gain altitude. Around midday it maxed out less than 20° above the horizon - low noon (pictured above). Companion sundogs walked with it across the sky.

In places like Rio the powerful sun is straight overhead. No doubt there are grumbles about the heat, and parents are chasing down children to smear them with sunscreen or otherwise shield them from the merciless sun now at its zenith. Long summer days are the province of those in the southern hemisphere, but they will need to begin a long adieu.

The bright yellow snowbird has begun its slow migration northward. Let Christmas bells ring out. The sun is on its way back.