Winter Solstice Serenity

I just noticed on the calendar that today is the winter solstice - the day when we have the least hours of daylight (or according to the online information I came across, when the earth's axial tilt is farthest away from the sun...um, okay). 

With the glow of the holidays twinkling all around and snow-covered winter scenes blanketing much of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic thanks to the past weekend's winter storm (which, fortunately, managed to avoid my area of upstate New York - phew!), I thought I'd share an image of this beautiful painting, "A Quiet Stream," circa 1890, by Albany native Walter Launt Palmer (1854-1932).  Some things may change, but the serenity of a magical rural landscape in winter endures.