It's the sun!

What’s that I see peeking up from behind those trees?  Why, it’s...it’s the sun!

I was overjoyed this morning, for two reasons. The first is that this winter and late fall have been almost unremittingly gloomy and overcast. The sun has been in short supply, even in these short days of winter.  I actually saw my shadow yesterday for something approaching five minutes.  That’s the most in several weeks and cause for celebration all on its own.

The second reason is also momentous.  After sunrises were stuck at 7:30 a.m. for 14 days, the sunrise on Sunday morning was one minute earlier.  Here, the latest sunrise during the year is 7:30 a.m., and for the past 14 days that’s where it’s been.  Until Sunday morning.

Now if you do the math, you will soon discover that 14 days at the same sunrise time puts us at December 29, and as we all know solstice, the shortest day of the year, is back at December 20.  So how can the sunrise be at the same time for a full two weeks?  Because since solstice the sunset time has been a minute later every day.  So the days are getting longer but all that length has been growing in the evenings, not in the mornings. Until Sunday.  For three days the sunrise will be at 7:29 and then on Thursday I will gain another minute at sunrise.  After that, I gain another minute at sunrise every other day until January 23 when things really start to rock and sunrise gains another minute every day.

Finally, the days will start to feel longer again.