AH SPRING

7:20

7:25

7:35

Finally, it's spring and at 7:20 it's already 46 degrees, with a high in the low 70's later today, with no rain forecast.  The sun is trying to peak through the clouds, outside its windless, the lake like glass, with a few buffleheads floating off shore, a perfect spring day to come.  The sun's rising is almost due east, the same place it rose back on December 21st, where both daylight and night are equal, sunrise and sunset are about the same, around 7:20. Finally, it does not only feel like spring, but it is Spring.  Another sign from the other evening.  We heard peepers (frogs) off in a distant field.

Yesterday, was yoga, then off to a couple of stores, the library, then home again, to enjoy the afternoon and do some reading. I am reading Tom Perotta's most recent satiric novel, THE LEFT OVERS, about what happens to the Guilty Remnants after the Rapture. Various individuals from all over the world, from different religions, different cultures, have just disappeared and are assumed to have been taken up to heaven.  Both serious and very funny, it chronicles one family who are among the 'left overs,' and their attempts to live on in a changed world.  As usual, as I relaxed and read, Evie was busy in the kitchen, making a couple of loaves of our new favorite bread, Onion Rye with Caraway Seeds, and a boiled dinner of corned beef, potatoes, and lots and lots of cabbage.  We had Ron and Linda over for dinner, as they are leaving on Wednesday for PA.  They came early because we were going to watch GAME CHANGE, the HBO movie about Sarah Palin on our TV.  We watched it from 5:30 to 7:30, then discussed it over dinner.  We all agreed it was really well done, seemed mostly accurate, at least from what we remembered in the news from a couple of years ago.  It begins with the slogan Nation First, John Mc Cann's campaign theme, then asks the question, in the movie, was choosing Sarah Palin as a running mate putting the nation first or just a ploy to win, not worrying about her credentials to be a heart beat a way from the Presidency.  She ends up being cast as both victim and Lazarus, arising from the dead when you casts aside the image makers and becomes herself, a savvy, charismatic politician.  It was a fun night, a great dinner, and good conversation,

The Vernal Equinox

Ah, spring! This season brings increasing daylight, warming temperatures, and the rebirth of flora and fauna.

The word equinox is derived from the Latin words meaning “equal night.” The spring and fall equinoxes are the only dates with equal daylight and dark as the Sun crosses the celestial equator. At the equinoxes, the tilt of Earth relative to the Sun is zero, which means that Earth’s axis neither points toward nor away from the Sun. (However, the tilt of Earth relative to its plane of orbit, called the ecliptic plane, is always about 23.5 degrees.)