Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Happy Summer Solstice!

Today is the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. However, if you want to get specific, the Solstice is the exact moment when the North Pole of the Earth is most inclined toward the Sun during its 365 day orbit (at an angle of 23° 26'). That moment happened at 12:16 PM in St. Louis.

What to do to celebrate the beginning of the summer season? I envisioned finding a beautiful sunny spot and raising a glass of iced tea in honor of the solstice. However, nature had other ideas. Today I woke up to lightening, thunder, and rain. An hour later, the precipitation was gone, but the sky was still gloomy, and I kept hearing severe thunderstorm warnings for different parts of the area.

As the morning wore on, I still had hopes that the weather would miraculously clear up, but after lunch I gave up and decided to go shopping to update my summer wardrobe. I made three different stops. As I came out of the last store, I checked the time. It was 12:15--exactly one minute before the official start of summer. In honor of the event, I did a quick dance to the soft-pop music coming out of the speakers above the door, then looked around to make sure no one had seen me before I walked to the car.

2 comments:

  1. Ha! Cute. I did take note of the daylight this evening. Funny to think the days start to get shorter now!

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  2. LOL, I would have loved to see your Solstice dance! Being tucked away in the mountains it was dark by 9:30, much earlier then back home. I'll do a happy dance when I get home to celebrate, I'm thinking I'll do it in the comfort of my own home though! lol

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