This is my first blog post!!!

Yes, a new beginning in the dead of winter. The major holidays are over, there is no longer a festive buffer from the freezing cold. The once pristine snow has worn out its welcome, it is now a dirty, semi-frozen mess and once easy paths have become icy, muddy traps. If it’s not snowing, it’s raining. If it’s not raining, it’s simply cold and grey. It is just winter. Not a small growing thing in sight.

It’s only fitting for A Light Circle to be born in the winter. After all, this is a blog that strives to bring a bit of sunshine to each visitor and show that light shines even in the coldest, darkest times.

And what a time it is! It’s winter 2017. If you’re feeling a bit down lately, maybe jaded by the news, or chilled from the weather, come into this Light Circle, warm yourself and feel at home.

What is this site exactly? Well, other than being my small corner, ahem circle, of the web, the first word that comes to mind is, sanctuary. As I build this site, add to it and improve it daily, this is the word that I envision for it right now. I want it to be a place where everyone can enjoy my art, photography, and writing. You can read more about the what’s and the why’s here: What is a Light Circle?

What a time to be alive right now! It can be thrilling, but also mind-boggling and disheartening. Especially for a person like me, who can still remember a time when we were dependent on mailing tangible letters to actual people. This is a time of incredible technological change, instant communication and echo chambers, information and misinformation, social barriers breaking down and borders being built, jobs disappearing and strange, new possibilities emerging. All this change happening at breakneck speed in many areas—physical and mental, disrupting established norms, while other areas can hardly keep up or have been left behind.

What to make of it all? What to think? What to do? There are many people eager to tell you, many voices in the fray. But I will try not to be one of them. What I can do is see beauty, even in difficult circumstances.

So let’s raise our imaginary champagne glasses to a toast on this blog’s maiden voyage! Here’s to happiness! Here’s to light! To a new beginning! Here’s to thriving in the face of difficult challenges, no matter what!

There is beauty in the dead of winter.

Text and photos © M.P. Baecker and http://www.alightcircle.com 2017.