The kids may be counting down the sleeps until Christmas, but I’ve got my eye on the calendar for another reason, too. Only one more week until the solstice, the shortest day of the year, and then the days finally start to get a wee bit longer. Despite the lack of snow, it seems like it’s been a particularly gloomy December, don’t you think?
So I got curious and looked on the weather channel and sure enough, the sun is setting right about as I’m typing this – 4:20 in the afternoon, Ottawa time. Sigh.
And then, because there are a million other things more pressing but less interesting than researching useless data on the Internet, I wondered how much shorter the days will get in the next week, and I stumbled upon a bright little fact that makes me rather happy.
Turns out, while the days will in fact get another three or so minutes shorter in the next week, the extra daylight get lost in the morning. In fact, 4:20 pm is as early as the sun will set this year, which it will do today, Thursday and Friday. Then on Saturday, it sets at 4:21, which it does for another couple of days, before setting a whole ‘nother minute later at 4:22 on the solstice. And it only gets better from there!
Hooray! We may be in the midst of the darkest time of the year, but there’s long sunny summer evenings on the way…
Love your optimism! As much as I am happy without snow, it is dull here because of all the rain.
It’s nearly 8pm here in Australia, and the sun is just thinking about going down now … Though I’m not bragging or anything …
As soon as I started reading, I was nodding my head in agreement. I’ve been finding the long dark days, coupled with grey weather and lack of light-reflecting snow, to be dreary and depressing. I perked up as I read that sunset is now as early as it gets. Then my finger flicked the mouse to scroll down, and BAM! … your cheery sunflower hit me in the face with the force of a brick, only in a good way. Thanks for sharing some cheer!
So true, but the reason I’m commenting is definitely the picture. What a happy picture. Thank you.