Shortest Day

Today - December 21 - is the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. I remember learning that oh, so many years ago when I was a child. But it really didn’t mean  much to me.

My father, on the other hand, always counted down the shortening days, and happily informed us when days started lengthening again! 

I remember thinking: Really?! What’s the big deal?!

Now that I’m older, I share my father’s joy!

 

Last December I decided to keep track of sunrise and sunset times here in Ottawa - to see how things change day by day. I did this with the help of the weather app on my phone. These are my tracking sheets. 

For me, it was an exercise in awareness... I  discovered that - here in Ottawa - the longest days had 15 hours and 41 minutes of daylight. I say days because there was a period of about 2 weeks when sunrise and sunset changed very little, hovering between 15 hours 41 minutes and 15 hours 39 minutes, between June 15 and 28.

Now in mid-December, we have about 8 hours and 44 minutes of daylight. That’s not much different from last December 23 when I started tracking - and there was 8 hours and 43 minutes of daylight.

The difference between our longest in June and shortest days in December is about 8 hours. For a sun lover like me, that’s a big difference! 

I also became aware - when visiting our daughter who lives a 6 hour drive southwest of us, that the sun rises and sets about half an hour later where she lives.

Should I continue tracking for another year...? I may. There’s a certain satisfaction in just being aware.