Today is the day when the entire world enjoys 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness. Starting tomorrow, those of us in the northern hemisphere have shorter and shorter days until the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice, in December.
Every year we have friends over to enjoy "fire, meat and alcohol" (beers and meat on the grill) to mark the event. It's a good excuse to grill out with friends while the weather is still good. But also I like to notice the annual cycle of seasons and light.
In many places, equinox indicates the beginning of fall (or, if you live very far north, the onset of winter). No matter what the temperature, the shortening days and lower-angle sunlight certainly feel fall-like this time of year, and reminds me that winter is coming.
Is autumn in full swing where you live, or is it starting to feel winter-like already?
Do you recognize the equinox, or celebrate it?
I live in Australia and it is actually getting warmer here, and warmer than normal for September. My Mum usually tells me when the longest and shortest days of the year are, but we don't celebrate them. It's just good to be getting more daylight hours. I think we are going to be in a a long hot dry summer.
ReplyDeleteI live on Long Island, NY and Fall is in full swing on the east end with the corn mazes, pumpkin patches, mums for sale. I love the change in season and mark the time of the changeover (5:18 this afternoon) in my filofax. I love the renewal of the day by putting away all the spring/summer clothes and refreshing my closet. It's a special "filofax" day today as my collegue at work accidently ordered a personal rather than pocket red Finsbury, so I'm going to buy it from her and use as my work journal.
ReplyDeleteI too live on the eastern end of Long Island, NY and am starting to see the leaves change colors. It seems a bit earlier than usual this year, perhaps brought on by the rainy and cool start to summer we had here. I don't usually mark the equinox in any specific way, but Fall is my favorite time of year and October my favorite month and one of my busiest. I have so many upcoming events that my Filo is stuffed with great fall happenings! Time will fly by between now and the end of the year and with the holidays coming up, my Filo will be more important and useful than ever, housing all of the lists and plans I will need.
ReplyDeleteI'm also watching the colours of the leaves change, they make such lovely photographs.
ReplyDeleteI will note down key dates in my Filo for next year, so I can compare the seasons
It's my son's birthday today - I never realised that he was born on the day of the Equinox!! Thanks for that information :)
ReplyDeleteWe've had cake to celebrate :-D Not quite the "fire, meat and alcohol" you've had.
I'm in the UK so we're experiencing odd weather here at the moment. It's quite mild although the temperature drops quite drastically and quite suddenly at times.
I'm from Finland and I'm already depressed thinking about the darkness that awaits me in November and December (21st of December the sunrise is at 9:24 AM and sunset at 15:13 PM). It gets better when we get permanent snow cover usually in late December, then I can walk my dogs again in the woods and see just fine no matter how late it is.
ReplyDeleteTo get this back to Filo talk, I usually write down the sunrise and sunset times in my Filo, and especially in the Spring I note them every day and celebrate every minute of sunlight we gain :)
a new season .un new Filofax which I always use with as much pleasure
ReplyDeleteExcuse me if my English is not perfect, I apply, but as French I have progress to make
If you would like to know the sunrise and sunset times for anywhere on the globe, take a look at:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/sunrise.html
You can put in your location and get the details for the next month.
This site has lots of other useful information as well, so worth bookmarking.
Steve
Wow...we have quite a representation of the world here! Australia, New York, England, Finland, France...
ReplyDeleteWhere I live, Boston, is similar in climate to where Michele and Kanalt are. Lots of mums and pumpkins here, too! I just noticed some leaves changing for the first time today, although the temperature was 80F (27C), warmer than usual for this time of year for us.
I love all the rituals you have...cleaning out the closet, "fire, meat, and alcohol," writing down the sunrise and sunset times...
Congratulations to everyone who's celebrating the season with a new Filofax!
And New Zealand!
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