The Beginning of the End of Darkness

MOTUS A.D. ^ | 12-21-19 | MOTUS

[NOBO2012]

For never-resting time leads summer on
To hideous winter and confounds him there;
Sap cheque'd with frost and lusty leaves quite gone,
Beauty o'ersnow'd and bareness every where.

Shakespeare, Sonnet 5

Originally posted by Lili, wherever you may find her

The winter solstice occurs in the Northern Hemisphere when the sun is directly over the Tropic of Capricorn, or 23.5° south latitude; this year that happens at 11:19 PM EST. It is the shortest day of the year so rise early, although it will still be dark, and have your coffee and breakfast before the sun comes up. You cannot afford to squander even a minute of what has become precious daylight.

Where you live determines the exact amount of daylight you will get today. Sunrise in Detroit is at 7:58 AM, Sunset at 5:03 PM giving us 9 hours, 5 minutes of daylight. I am luckier than some but not as lucky as others.

Which of course is true about nearly every aspect of life; learning to accept and appreciate that fact is one of life’s important lessons.

Each day grows a bit longer now, we should celebrate the solstice as it is the beginning of the end of darkness. So get out there and enjoy whatever light you are fortunate enough to get.

O, that that earth, which kept the world in awe,
Should patch a wall to expel the winter flaw!

Hamlet, Act 5, Scene 1

Snow at Louveciennes, Alfred Sisley

Posted from: MOTUS A.D.

[Track9]

Morning. Thanks for posting!

[stanne]

Nice

[bravo whiskey]

I woke way too early this morning for reasons unknown. This was the first thing I read and it brought some calmness to my little portion of the world. Thanks.

[Da Coyote]

Now that I have finally grown up and take time to smell the roses, the appreciation for Shakespeare has bloomed.

Thanks for that and the great illustrations.

[norwaypinesavage]

I grew up right on the 8.5 hour line on your map. A happy day occurred near the spring equinox in March when I would walk home from my paper route in the evening and the snow had melted enough that there were bare patches of asphalt on the road and the sun, though setting, still peeked above the horizon. This was after six months of delivering papers, mostly in the dark. I looked forward, then, for up to 15 and a half hours of daylight for the next six months.

Now I cheat the sun. I spend the longest daylight times of the year in the North, and the shortest daylight times in the south. I gain several hundred hours of sunlight in the process.

Note that every place on earth experiences precisely half the time with the sun above the horizon, and half with the sun below the horizon. Your latitude simply determines the distribution of those hours.

Thanks for the post.

[olepap]

Wonderful post. Thanks for sharing.

For never-resting time leads summer on
To hideous winter and confounds him there;
Sap cheque'd with frost and lusty leaves quite gone,
Beauty o'ersnow'd and bareness every where.

Shakespeare, Sonnet 5

[marktwain]

Minnesota or Wisconsin?

Asks a former pulp savage.

[norwaypinesavage]

Minnesota first, then Michigan. My Minnesota nickname was Jackpine Savage, but that was already taken when I signed up here.

[SkyPilot]

Thank you for this thread.

[SamAdams76]

The Winter Solstice is my favorite time of year. To me, it officially kicks off the Christmas holiday and the New Year.

I try to take note of the exact moment of solstice each year and was able to toast it at precisely 11:19PM last night with a shot of Amaretto. Followed by another shot. Then another. But even still, I was up before the sunrise this morning and took a nice drive to the horse farms of Westchester county, NY, where there was a nice layer of frost and the rising sun contrasted well with the bare trees and barns outlining the brightening sky and a lot of people still had their Christmas lights on.

Got the next 10 days off from work and will try to get the sunrise in every morning. Truly spectacular this time of year.