Dear Sunwatchers,
I was pleasantly surprised to check YVR weather site this morning and to find that the sun rose one minute earlier today at 8:07!! So the end of the end of the darkness has passed. The sunset for today is scheduled for 16:27 which is 13 minutes later than its earliest time. So we are now 14 minutes on the path to the long days we all love. (I hadn’t looked it up from last year but thought it was the 6th when the sunrise changed direction–hence the surprise this morning.)
I have to say I love this dark time of year if I don’t have to travel anywhere because it is QUIET. And it is the time of story and the time of dreams. However, I, too, like the light or else I wouldn’t style myself Sunwatchers’ Bulletineer!
To try out my new lens and to search out a promising intimation of things to come, I went to vanDusen Gardens on the way home from the camera store. I found more than I anticipated!
This I anticipated.
Azalea buds
And this.
Magnolia buds
I thought the Camellia buds might be exciting but no more than the azalea buds. What I was not prepared for was this:
Hamamelis Blossoms
So there you have it! The first signs of spring on the first day of the outward course toward the light.
Now I’m off the hook to watch every day for changes in the sunrise and sunset times. I hope to be out taking lots of photos from now on, though. So that means lots of material for sunwatchers. And for my website which I do hope to spruce up and keep up this year.
If I could just lose the viruses which are still lurking and keeping me in check then it would be really crazy. So the plan is to lie really low for the next 4 to 6 weeks in hopes they will go away.
Thank you for all the supportive comments and emails of recent days. They really keep me inspired to do things like buy a sandwich at the grocery store and stop at vanDusen for 1/2 hour on my way home. I was only 5 minutes over schedule! The camera store only took 5 minutes and I had a nice visit with my friend at the paper and developing counter for another 2. And the travel back and forth was made fun and informative by listening to two of my favourite people (Richard Rohr and David Whyte) being interviewed by Tami Simon of Sounds True.
The new lens may require some cat poses too! But mainly you will get a LOT of plants and little things. Speaking of which: not so little but this is my fun shot from Jan. 2.
Abandoned and Frosted
When I drove into the parking lot at Burnaby Lake on Sunday morning a couple of parking spaces over from me sat Abandoned and Frosted. That gull was close by again. Again he got up and stretched when I was close to him. He was in a slightly different spot that day and not frosted. I was too tired to go out yesterday though I fretted over him all morning. It’s much milder today and I hope he’s O.K. I decided, optimistically, he was an eccentric gull preferring staying on land to resting on water for the night, perhaps even a monomaniacal gull who thought he owned the whole of the playing fields and the model aircraft flying field too.
Well the most critical time of the year for sunwatchers has come to an end. All the news from now for a long time will be about the lengthening days and the effect they have on the world around us!
Until next time, I remain your bulletineer and friend,
Daphne Sunwatchers.
