cue The Light

It’s generally lost in the obscene consumerism and gluttony of late December, but what I appreciate above all else is the winter solstice. Falling on December 21st or 22nd, it marks the point in the Northern Hemisphere when the earth is furthest from the sun. From then until June 21st or so, we get more daylight each day. I understand that this is common knowledge, but it’s still a Big Deal to me ever since we moved up here in 2005.

Until I relocated just above the 50th Parallel North (it actually crosses the south end of our little island), I had lived at many latitudes in the U.S., ranging from Santa Rosa CA to the north to Edinburg TX south. For the sake of this post, let’s average it out to Pittsburg KS, where I still have family, friends and fond memories. Sunrise today in Pittsburg was 7:32 a.m. and sunset 5:07 p.m. Here on the farm, it was 8:19 a.m. and 4:25 p.m. Pittsburg got 89 minutes more daylight than Quadra.

I’ll be the first (and only) to admit that I was still in bed at 8:19 a.m. today, but it’s right at 4:25 p.m. and the sky is darkening far beyond the next round of rain moving in. I have yet to adapt to the early winter sunsets. The reverse of that, of course, is that in June here, there are still streaks of light in the sky between 10 and 11 p.m. No wonder the pagans celebrate the Return of the Light.

Cheers!