Moon in the West

At this time of year, in the morning, I have the great fortune of being able to see the full moon out of my office-in-the-home window.

There it is big and ivory-white setting in the west behind the trees.  It's a wonderful thing, and I appreciate how fortunate I am to have this view.

For about six months, eight years ago, I worked for a company as a writer and had nothing but an ugly cubicle for an office.  It was wretched beyond description.  No view but the ugly padded fabric walls.

The company issued me a desktop and a Thinkpad, so I would put some Web cam image on the laptop.  It was a window on the world and made me feel less like I was sitting in a box.

Sostice Soon

On December 21, solstice will occur and mark the both the end of the Sun's apparent movement toward the south and the beginning of its apparent movement north.

If you have clear skies, go out at noon on the 21st and note just how far south of the zenith the Sun is.  Also, note how short the paths back to its rising point and ahead to to its setting point are.  This will make clear the reason the lighted portion of each day is so much shorter this time of year.

My neighbor Larry pointed out that the solstice is a particularly good time because from it forward we--in the northern hemisphere at least--are moving toward better weather.

Day by day, we have more light and ultimately this leads to more heat and much more human-friendly temperatures.