Well, this is the official day when the light begins its slow handball from the Southern to the Northern Hemisphere. Right now, the earth is all nicely balanced. I do like that thought :) Today, the sun sat at 52 degrees above the horizon at noon in Melbourne town (which is a nice place for it to sit. When it is positioned in summer at 75.5 degrees above the horizon, that extra 23.5 degrees adds a bit of extra oomph to the burningness. To have the warmth without the bite is sorta nice, even though the melancholy comes and bites in autumn). Today, there were roughly 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark.
In six months time it will be exactly the same situation, at the spring equinox. In-between we have the darkening of the earth, the inwardness that is preceded by the beautiful weather that is Melbourne in autumn. Then we have winter, the season I struggle with the most. But still, there are nice things about winter too, a sensuality that is absent in the brightness of summer. I have a funny feeling I am more creative in the darker months, too, although I haven't really tested that theory in any way.
But before that, autumn. I hope that many of the trees that were heat stressed during our bizarre summer and were shedding their leaves have recovered sufficiently to put on a show this autumn, the Grand Final of deciduous trees :)
Happy autumn and spring equinox everyone. Even though I am sad to see the beginning of the declining of the light, simply because of my own retarded circadian rhythm, I do joy to think of all you peeps up north who have been labouring under snow and such coldnesses. Happy spring to you :)
It is strangely exciting to me to think of a sphere that is all nicely balanced between light and dark the way we are now. It feels neat and tidy to me somehow, hehe :)
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I've always wondered what it would be like to live near the equator and not have these differences.
ReplyDeleteToday the sun is 40 degrees. At summer solstice it is 62 and winter solstice is 18. We live at about 45 degrees north.
So you get better sun there no matter the season! No fair.
Oh but our autumnal equinox is 48 degrees. If it matters.
ReplyDeleteOh, Erin :) I'm sorry you are equatorially challenged. If it helps, we are extremely close to the hole in the ozone layer and so that better sun we get also burns us to death and gives us cancer and wrinkles ;)
ReplyDelete(You should see my decolletage, it's a bloody mess)
So our equinox positions aren't that different then, yours is 48 ours is 52. It's sorta interesting thinking how different the light would be for you guys because you have a broader swathe of the sun across the sky.
Bit of a trip, this living on a ball thang, isn't it :)
Happy Autumn to you, Sue. I am basking in the joy that is Spring. I love light and color! I used to hate it when fall arrived, but now I see that I would never appreciate Spring without Autumn.
ReplyDeletein answer to your 'wondering' Erin, we lived near the equator in PNG for two years - it was hot and humid all year - moving back to seasons was bliss - i think it's a healthier way to live
ReplyDeleteequinox: equal light and dark - have been enjoying the sleep ins lately, before daylight saving ends of course
i look forward to seeing your creativity burst forth in winter :-)
Tina!! Hello and happy spring to thee :) I agree, we wouldn't appreciate one without the other but it's sort of a difficult concept to arrive it, somehow. At least for me.
ReplyDeleteKel - yuk, humidity all year would suck. Speaking of which, it's bloody hot right now. It's almost midnight and it's still 27 degrees C.