Wednesday, September 21, 2011

September 21st is 93rd day of summer. One day of summer remains. Welcome to the September Equinox.

Equal days and equal nights, hoping fall will turn out right. The equinox occurs in June and September. The earth is neither tilted toward or away from the sun. The center of our sun is in the same plane as the earth's equator.
According to the Wikipedia, the perfect balance is accomplished September 23, at 9:04 AM. I wonder if that is a balance my spirit feels in some way? As I read the Wikipedia entry on the equinox, I realize I might be oversimplifying the idea of equinox.
 
The picture shows a bas-relief, image captured in Persepolis. It is a Zoroastrian symbol as well as an Iranian symbol. Nowruz means New Light in Iranian, and Nowruz is approximately March 21, the first day of Spring in Iran and beginning of the new year. The bull is the earth and the lion is the sun, personifications. The two fight eternally, but on Nowruz, the battle is equal. This is a symbol of the Vernal Equinox. We are passing through the Autumnal Equinox. The earth and sun, the bull and lion, are equal again after the sun's victories in summer. However, the sun is about to live in the dark house of pain for half a year, until the Vernal Equinox.
 
Yesterday, a friend of mine caught an abundance of Salmon, and he offered me his excess fillets. Ah, ethical concerns at work prevented me from accepting. It's too precious a gift, and I explained this to him. I would have loved to have taken this bounty up to Doug Borns to be smoked. As I like to joke to people who bring me gifts of food as I write business intelligence applications for them, "Do Not Feed the DBAs". That's Database Administrator, a trade and profession I have practice for fifteen years.
 
Exploring the idea of Equinox, I've been assisted by the Sunrise Sunset calendars posted on the Internet. Combined with the pages that calculate tides or the distances between two points on the globe, I can feel like a great explorer without leaving my office chair. On the 23rd in Grand Haven, the sun will rise at 7:32 AM. The sun will set 7:43 PM. The day will last twelve hours and ten minutes. On the 27th of September, the sun will rise at 7:37 AM. The sun will set 7:35 PM. A new moon begins at 6:10 AM and the day will last 11 hours, 59 minutes. That's one minute from an equal day and an equal night, right? The Lake Michigan Salmon know to swim up the channels at this time, but is it the length of light that gives the clue or the slant of light that gives the cue? I understand the Salmon are guided home to their place of birth by smell.
 
I know that I like to spend more time in the city during the winter, and Chicago, Detroit and Grand Rapids will see me in their theaters and galleries more until St. Patrick's Day. One of my friends flew off to New York City to find an apartment, the possibilities of a Lake Michigan summer exhausted. I love these transitions. I have the theory that one day the gulf stream will shift south of our location, and then warm air from the gulf will no longer reach us. The cold air of the Arctic will. But I'm not a meteorologist. It's time to bring a jacket when one sets out in the morning and an umbrella for good measure. I am afraid I am eating with an autumn augment appetite.
 
Isn't it interesting how the coloring of leaves begins gradually. A blush of red has touched all the maples by now, but most leaves are green. The losss of leaves proceeds from the crowns down to the low hanging branches. The rain of September washes out the colored leaves from crowns first. There are exceptions. The Ginkgo is said to lose all its leaves, yellow for fall, in a single day. Yes, I obsess about the Ginkgo and there's two stories about that. You'll hear it soon.
 
When will the three day blow that ends September arrive. I do believe it is late. It shortened the ferry season last year.
 
Sunrise Sunset. Sunrise Sunset. Swifly go the years.
 
Learning about the Equinox:
 
Thinko Ginkgo

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