According to calendars, yesterday was the first day of winter. That’s a load of bull.I’ve never needed a calendar or a chart of the solar system to tell me which season I was in. As far as I’m concerned, seasons are determined by weather and a state of mind.
Summer? That starts on Memorial Day or the last day of school, whichever comes first. Autumn begins when the air cools and the leaves start to turn. And winter starts when there snow is on the ground, or when ice forms at night and stays frozen all day.
Science dictates that seasons are determined by Earth’s position in relation to the sun, but when I’ve been riding on snow and ice for six or eight weeks, nobody’s going to convince me that I’m dealing with fall weather. Especially when I’m this far north, where I commute to and from work in darkness during November and December.
Don’t let The Man fool you. Yesterday wasn’t the beginning of winter. It was only the end of our descent into darkness. We bottomed out, and could feel good about it.
Today, we gained 8 seconds of daylight. And that’s a good reason to give a damn about our place in the planetary neighborhood.
1 comment:
I love those 8 seconds. The darkness was particularly harsh this year! And here's to our already two months of winter!
Have a good Christmas and Happy New Year! See you when we get back from the east.
Julie
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