Thursday, June 29, 2023

It's Getting Shorter All The Time

No, I'm not talking about my height although (thank you for asking) now that I'm in my seventh decade, I am shrinking a little.  

No, I'm talking about the seasons and daylight.

Did you know that winter started last week here in the Southern Tier of New York?

No, we didn't get a freak snowstorm.  No, we didn't get an unusual June freeze.  Instead, something happened that happens every year.

The days strted getting shorter here in the Northern Hemisphere.  By that, I mean the length of daylight shortened.

It's a sneaky process.  There you are in June.  There is daylight for hours after dinnertime.  When I was a child, it would seem like summer would never end.  I would be chased outside to play.  And we did, while our mothers gathered on benches in the housing project I grew up in to talk and gossip.  No supervision.

But I'm an adult now.  Yes, and a senior citizen, too.

I hate those short winter days (and am grateful I don't live in Alaska) when the sun sets at 4:31 pm.  Now, the sun sets around 8:50 pm.    But, watch carefully.

We are losing minutes to the dark.  Soon, it will be hours.

Soon, the street lights will snap on before dinnertime.

I love having my flowers. In three or so months, it will be like a dream that I ever had flowers.

Like my first day lily, which opened on Monday.

 

My second, which opened on Tuesday.

In December, I'll open my phone's Photos app and look at the photos, and wonder where the time went.  And I'll wonder if it will ever get warm again, as the snowflakes fly.

In the meantime, the days are shrinking.  The days are getting shorter every day.

Like sands through the hourglass....

14 comments:

  1. ...over time, gravity tends to shorten us all.

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    1. I'm having trouble commenting on my own blog - good grief. Yes, we all shrink as we get older.

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  2. Don’t rush the seasons

    It’s summer, I’m not thinking about winter right now

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    1. It's good to concentrate on one season at a time, but winter here is so long that it's in the back of my mind even as I enjoy summer.

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  3. It is sad that the light is retreating already all those wasted days in April and May when it was too cold to go out in the evenings...hope that August and September are better but so far the wildfire smoke is horrid:(

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    1. Yes, exactly, and I'm sorry you are in the midst of the bad smoke. I'm going to complain some tomorrow, but I know it's lots worse for many.

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  4. Those are beautiful daylilies! Any chance you know their names? :)

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    1. That information may be buried in my blog somewhere - I'll have to go look. I'm not one of those organized people who keep garden journals with diagrams...sigh.

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    2. Alana! How did you know I keep diagrams? Only for daylilies and bearded iris though. :)

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  5. I thought your summer days would have long daylight hours. The lilies are pretty

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    1. We do have long days during summer. But our growing season is shorter than some - spring takes a long time to come here - the days getting longer in March and April can be wasted, so to speak.

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  6. At least it's a small decrease. The days are still longer, at least until the equinox in September :)

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  7. I grew up in Tennessee and remember watching a sunset at almost 9 Pm in the summer. December was way too dark for me. I could never live in Alaska - I can't handle 24 hours of darkness. I moved to Florida in my 20's for the sunlight. Gray days in winter make me sad.

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  8. Except for the Sabbath, i pay no real attention to the length of sunlight.

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