This evening our planet with its rotational axis offset from the plane of its orbit around the primary star passed through the point where the number of hours of sunlight is the same as the number of hours of darkness. In the northern hemisphere, the days have been getting shorter and the nights getting longer since the summer solstice. Now they’re even. From here, we’ll keep having shorter days and longer nights until we get to the winter solstice, at which point the cycle will reverse. On and on, ad infinitum.
Around these parts, if you’re really lucky (or rich), one of the better spots to watch the sunrise is Malibu. While one normally thinks of the sun setting over the ocean in the west on this coast, the alignment of the coast is such that in the fall and winter months, when the sun is rising in the southeast instead of due east, you can see the sun coming up from over the LA Basin or even the ocean if you’re far enough up toward Point Conception.
These photos were not taken today, I am rarely a morning person who’s up early enough to see the sunrise, I am not rich, and I do not live in Malibu — but I got my MBA from Pepperdine University which is in Malibu, and for whatever reason one morning when we were on campus I saw this. The coastal low clouds and fog lies just a mile or so offshore, the sun rises through them, and it all looks wonderful.
One final note — while today was the equinox and no doubt a holiday for all of the pagans and druids out there, much more importantly, today was National Ice Cream Cone day, celebrating the 211th birthday of the ice cream cone. Now that’s something to celebrate!
We celebrated with Dryer’s Cookies & Cream and Keebler chocolate coated cones — your personal rituals were no doubt different but no less sacred. If you missed today’s celebration, you might have to celebrate twice tomorrow to atone for your lapse in faith. If you celebrated today, you get to celebrate twice tomorrow as a reward for your faith.
As religions go, it’s got a lot of good things going for it.
We Love The Stars Too Fondly 