Tracking the Sun
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I post a picture and just a few words...kind of a 104 project instead of a 365 project. 😉
Though January and February are the coldest months and spring seems impossibly far away, there is one small consolation: the shortest day of the year is already behind us.
Isn't it wonderful how that works out?
The days get shorter and shorter in December, but we have the holidays to distract us, and by the time those are over, we're a good week and a half past the shortest day of the year.
So, yes. It's cold. It snows. There's ice. The trees are bare.
But every day, we get just a little bit more sunlight; a promise that warmer, longer days are coming.
(I might be tracking this obsessively on my weather app every day. I felt super happy once sunset inched past 5:00!)
The four seasons can't be beat though. I am so happy we are about to relocate farther north so we will be noticing the changes during the year. The cold and wet make the warm and sunny more wonderful by contrast, plus it is pleasurable to snuggle up inside on "nasty" days.
I do like change in weather, so I'm not sure I'd want to live in the tropics or anything. But I have to say that the darkness of winter is a little depressing to me. I like light!
I have decided the only way to get ideal-ish weather is to live in one place in the coldest months and another in the warmest. It is too complicated for me, though.
"Light and being stuck in the house" because of brutally cold weather! We get -20 and -30 windchills and less than 10 degrees in the day.... I do love your points in this story though, I love sunshine but love the 4 Seasons as well. I was thinking of letting my 3 year old play in the snow, even if she was down with a cold but it is warmer today and just beautiful with the big flakes of snow coming down....... This year I will plant and can't wait for Spring! But love that you mentioned the days are getting longer. I was telling my husband this and he said, lol, "oh Honey, it is just the sun reflecting off the snow, that is why it is still light out" I was like..."noooooo"! I was still questionable, and reading it here, gave me proof! It is lighter out for longer! hahahhahahahaha HOPE....yay! Sunny days are here again...la la la ... You made me smile today, lol! As always!
It's a beautiful morning of -18 in my west Michigan town. Winters aren't too fun!
Hah! My feelings exactly - it may be January, but it's all downhill from here, baby! (downhill in a good way)
Oops, this was supposed to just be a general comment to Kristen, not a reply to you, Gail - although I have to say, I agree with you too 🙂
We are in Indiana, so it stays light here until about 5:30. But I love tracking sunrise every day. It's great when it's light in the morning for the kids getting on the bus.
I've been thinking the same thing, and I'm obsessed with tracking sunrise/sunset too! During this part of the year it's dark when I get to work and dark when I get home (although at least I have a window at work now... there were a couple years where I didn't!), and the fact that it's now sort of twilight-y when I leave work instead of actually dark is soooo exciting 🙂
Big difference between twilight-y and actually dark for me too! Thanks for the reminder Kristen!
i have a really hard time with this time of year and depression. The holidays are awesome but don't always distract me from it. I'm very happy the shortest day is behind us! We haven't reached 5:00 sunset yet though. 🙁 I was just happy when it set after 4:30!
Our home is entirely solar, so January means that the worst is behind us. December is the darkest, dreariest time of the year, with full darkness from about 4:30pm until 7:30am, partial darkness for at least an hour morning and evening, and plenty of days when we don't see the sun at all. I don't have a weather app, but I do have the almanac, and I'm just as obsessive over sunset and sunrise.
So, yes, it's COLD out, but at least we have sunlight and power!
Yes! The cold is not so bad when there is at least some sunshine.
You made me look - sunset today 3:54pm apparently! It was dark most of the day today though as we've been having our first proper snowfall. Sun comes back at 8:37 tomorrow.
This is always a consolation for me, too. Sunset at 5:11 here today. What really energizing me, though, is when sunrise is at 6 am! As much as I love fall and winter, I'm a summer gal.
But I must confess, I live on the SF peninsula where "freezing" to us us low 40's... lots of that the past couple weeks. Yes, I'm wimpy. 🙂
Since I generally don't get home from work until 6:30 or 7, I haven't really noticed that the days are getting longer yet. I hate getting home in the dark; it is so difficult to feel motivated to do anything when it already feels like bedtime. Can't wait for daylight savings time to start!
Yes-even in this day and age of electric lights, somehow it does still feel like time to wind down once it's dark outside.
It's all too easy to get down about how little sunshine there seems to be this time of year, especially when it's cold and grey out during the daytime some days too. What a wonderful idea to track the sunlight like that during this time of year! Let's celebrate every extra minute of sun we get! 🙂
My husband comes home at 5 and so we've been tracking the sun too. Our Little Miss will say, "it's dark!" then we know Daddy will be home soon.
I'ts always nice to know the days are getting longer, but then it gets extra frustrating that it's not getting warmer! So much longer until spring! Bu winter activities at least are in full swing. Looking to try out our new sled this weekend.