Summer Solstice

Today is the year’s longest day, which frankly, this far south isn’t all that long. Sunset is about 8:45 p.m. (at least at my cabin where the sun goes behind the mountain to the west). It’s pretty dark in the woods by 9 p.m., though the sky stays too light to see many stars through around 9:30 p.m. or so.

On the shortest day of the year, it is dark by around 4:45 p.m. Of course, by then we are back on the ever-shrinking “standard” time, so the difference in the amount of daylight in the evening direction between the longest and the shortest day is really just 3 hours.

In the morning, it’s now fairly light by around 5:15 a.m., though sunrise isn’t until 5:45 or so. In winter, sunrise is around 7:30-ish a.m. (but again on standard time). After I account for the time change, the total difference in daylight hours between the longest day and the shortest one is really just a bit more than 4.5 hours. In other words, it’s not all that much, though the time change helps to make it seem like more.

My photo today is a view back towards the slopes of Roundtop from a nearby orchard. It’s the first orchard I come to, the first open land after leaving the mountain. In fact, this orchard is still on a fairly high piece of ground (but orchards like that good drainage). The valley is still 500 feet or so in elevation below this point.