Circadian Tipping Point


Wherein Our Heroine Observes the Seasons.
Summer is clearly on its way out. In some ways, this is cause for celebration: the air is getting cooler and drier, and for me that is a terribly good thing. There are many things I love about living in the D.C. area. Hot, humid summers are not among those things (but you, Regular Reader, you know that already).

This morning I am up extra early. As I mentioned yesterday, I have an interview this morning (and I am far too good a friend to you, Dear Reader, to let you down just because I have to be somewhere). I am sipping coffee, John is singing the Spongemonkey Song to Dash (but with special lyrics composed just for the morning kitchen-begging that goes on while John makes his lunch: "You like the cheeeese, 'Cause it is goood tooo eaaaat.... You like the CHEEEEESE.....). It is a happy, domestic scene.

It is also very, very dark outside. And yesterday's sunset was around 7:30. We have entered the annual slide into the darkness. John minds this terribly every year. It doesn't bother me as much - in fact, it is one of those human foibles I find kind of amusing. "It's getting so dark/cold/etc." people say. Yes, it is - just as it has done every year. What is so surprising? Yet every year you will hear people exclaiming incredulously at the phenomenon of seasonal change.

The one thing that does kind of surprise me every year is the tipping point where you actually notice the change. Two days ago, sunset seemed to be happening around the same time as it did for the entire summer. Last night, it suddenly seemed very, very early.

Fall is coming.
Posted: Friday - September 10, 2004 at 06:32 AM         | |

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