Did you see the eclipse last night? It was an amazing phenomenon…the last one that coincided with a solstice was in 1638 and there will never be another like it in my lifetime so yes, I stayed awake for it.
I was out for dinner yesterday evening and when I got home I decided to sleep in the back bedroom which has french doors that open to the south. In that room it’s possible to lie in bed and track the moon as it crosses the sky (if you happen to have the occasional sleepless night as I sometimes do).
It was a bit overcast but the clouds thinned enough to see most of the eclipse. In the darkness of the night I couldn’t find the right lens for my camera without throwing on all the lights or alternatively, tripping over things in the dark, so I didn’t get a photograph. A thin layer of clouds caused a general fuzziness over the moon here on the west coast of Canada, so I consoled myself with the thought that it wouldn’t have been a great shot anyway.
But…as exciting as the lunar eclipse was…the thing I’m really "over the moon" about is that today is the winter solstice!
Today the sun hovers slightly and then begins it's journey back north.
Today marks the beginning of longer days and shorter nights for those of us in the northern hemisphere.
These are today's stats for the latitude where I live which is (interestingly) just south of the 49th parallel...the border for almost all of Canada and the US. The southern end of Vancouver Island dips down into what might have been America if things had gone differently in 1859!
Let there be light!!
