In which every speck of sunlight is precious to us on Solstice Day

Almost everybody celebrates (consciously or not) the return of the sun following Solstice. 

I got curious about how much sun and how fast it returns.   So, I looked it up:

Dec 22, 2011rise 7:55 AMset 4:21 PMhours 8h 25m 23show much? < 1s
Dec 23, 2011rise7:56 AMset 4:21 PMhours 8h 25m 29show much? + 05s
Dec 24, 2011rise7:56 AMset 4:22 PMhours 8h 25m 41show much? + 11s
Dec 25, 2011rise7:57AMset 4:22 PMhours 8h 25m 57show much? + 16s

Every second of light is precious, especially at this time of year.  Tomorrow, we get 5 additional seconds!  Wahoooooo!


To celebrate, Fiddle and I headed up the Dark Side of the hill...
the frost on this section of road won't thaw until it rains again
(tomorrow?)

blue sky: ahead!

view of the mountains from the Dark Side of the hill


It's warmer near the top, which is counter-intuitive.  Shady, but not frozen.

Folks talk about "the difference between night and day."
Here's what it looks like...at noon...

Top of the hill, overlooking Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands.

Looking south over the sound, towards Seattle

Returning to the trailer via the Sunny Side.   Ahhhh.
Two days hence will start up the week-long Gift of Stories, posted annually on this blog. 

If you wonder why I do this, there's a story about it, posted HERE

Otherwise, just stay tuned and the Story Machine will kick into gear on X-Moose Eve with a brand-new original Skookum story.

Happy Solstice, everyone!

Comments

  1. "North" to Seattle??

    One of these days I want to come ride with you! It'll have to be a slow, futon-speed ride.

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  2. Evensong: I'm a victim of my own half-finished editing...the original caption said something about Fiddle gazing northwards, and south being Seattle.

    I'll fix the caption so it makes more sense....

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  3. Lovely ride! And so wonderful to see brown earth and hints of green. Today, the say after Solstice will be 22 days since I've seen the brown earth and any signs of green (not including hay)
    It's a blizzard here right now. The deepest snow I've ever seen here in our mountains for over 6 years. Probably close to 2 feet now and the snow is still blowing down thick, and it's supposed to snow all day Friday.

    Longer days will be good if they finally melt all of this snow gone!

    ~Lisa

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  4. thanks for that day length explanation - j was trying to explain it to me the other day, how sunrise still gets later but sunset later faster....i was trying to find this on the internet and gave up and now you posted it!

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  5. Thanks for those lovely photos. I really enjoyed seeing your part of the world from Fiddle's back. Went on my own midwinter trail ride yesterday and will try and get those photos posted soon. I never tire of looking at folk's trail ride photos--especially if they show the horse's ears.

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  6. Looks like it was still Cold up there Aarene! Will be done with my "seasonal" job middle of next week. Looking forward to getting ouT!

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  7. I never get sick of your views.

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  8. Base on your photos it's not that clear that you love riding a horse. Just kidding... But honestly there are only a few number of people who has the passion of loving horses(I mean not for a race business or horse fight).

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