Today (June 21st) marks the Summer Solstice-the day with the maximum amount of daylight hours in the northern hemisphere. This is when the sun reaches its most northern point in the sky, at noon. Some people refer to it as the “longest day of the year,” but technically, all our days here on earth are the same length, which is 24 hours!
“Solstice” is derived from the Latin words “sol” (sun) and “sistere” (to make stand) (Dictionary.com). After this date, the days start getting “shorter,” i.e., the length of daylight starts to decrease, and although we now call it our “summer season,” we’re actually headed toward the next seasonal change, the autumnal equinox (September 22nd in 2017), when the days and nights have equal amount of daylight and darkness-12 hours. Oh, we call this season, fall.
I know, as my dear wife has repeatedly told me, I should stop reminding her that after the summer solstice (i.e. June 22nd), it’s time to begin preparing for autumn! We haven’t even gotten our first swim in yet, and I’m already babbling about Halloween, bird migrations, apple cider, hunting season and where my winter clothes are!
