This fine October

 It's a fine fall day in Chicagoland---sun and cloudless blue sky, temperatures in the 60's, hoodies and jackets to start the day. 

Fall colors are coming, reds and oranges and yellows, but the trees are still mostly green. No rain in the forecast and warmer later in the week. No freeze or frost warnings, yet.

Such a fine October,  is it any wonder  Chicago has been voted the Best Big City for the tenth year in a row  by Conde Nast Traveler?

Meanwhile,  there are floods in Spain,  wildfires in California,  the varied  faces of climate change.  Meteorologists  and climatologists are debating  the   effects of this winter's El Nino.

There are ongoing wars in the Middle East. Russia is still bombing Ukraine, and the US President appears to be siding with Vladimir Putin.

Along  with wars, there are plagues, too. Ebola, West Nile Virus,  maybe even real plague in Siberia. And Covid is not over. It's time for flu shots and Covid vaccine, too.      

But the gardens here are glorious! There are  mums and asters and goldenrods. Milkweeds are scattering their seeds in the wind.  There  are still peppers and tomatoes, but growing  season  is just  about done.

This  is  the spooky season.  Ghosts and  pumpkins,  giant spiders and plastic skeletons decorate  the houses for Halloween.  

It gets dark so early now. Streetlights come  on before  6 pm. 

And the moon---So beautiful!  Just  past the quarter phase, waxing toward the full Hunter's Moon on the 26th.

September Equinox

 

Today's the day---September 22, at 7:05 PM CDT, the September equinox occurs in Chicago, and astronomical fall begins in  the Northern Hemisphere.  

The sun appears to fall directly over the  equator of the Earth.  The dark half of the year begins--Shorter days and longer nights  in the Northern Hemisphere. Meanwhile there will be longer days in the Southern Hemisphere, as Spring begins in Australia.

At Stonehenge people gather to celebrate the turning of the year, as the sun appears in an east-west alignment between the stones. 

Have you heard of Manhatnhenge? The sunrise/sunset aligns with the tall buildings on the east/west streets.

 In Chicago too, people celebrate Chicagohenge. For a few days, the sun appears in a perfect alignment between the tall buildings along the east-west grid of the city.

Yes, longer nights are coming. We have seen earlier sunsets already. We have seen the streetlights come on around 6:30 pm now. There is a chill in the air. We think of jackets and hoodies, cozy sweaters and soups. We think of harvest too, and the harvest moon.

The harvest moon is the  full moon closest to  the autumnal equinox.  This year, we will see the harvest moon on September  26.

Welcome fall and the harvest moon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

August Turning

 August  is turning the wheel of the year. Already, there are signs of fall.

Perhaps it is a change in the green, trees not so rich and lush. The grass may be turning brown. Plants are going to seed.

According  to the old calendar, August 1st marked the midpoint between the summer solstice on June 21 and the autumn equinox on September 22. It was the first harvest--and we still observe it, with ripening peppers and zucchinis. This year, there are cyclospora outbreaks from lettuce and other green leafy salad things.

According to the meterological calendar, August is the third month of meteorological  summer. They are measuring this month in terms of temperature and rainfall. It was warmer and rainier here. England and France and Spain had heat waves and floods and  wildfires.

It's been a season of floods and wildfire smoke, winds and tornadoes in the midwest. Illinois leads the nation for tornadoes, with Iowa and Indiana also above average numbers. 

Indiana has been especially hard-hit in recent weeks. They are still repairing storm damages and power outages from storms on August 11. 

So it's been a summer of heat waves and severe weather-----signs of changing climate. 

We feel the turning too. Dark before 8 pm now.  The smell of dry leaves. Already signs for back-to-school things. New classes, new school supplies, a new routine.   

There's plenty of summer left, people say. There's still festivals and farmers' markets, there's still time for a day at the beach.

Summer every day

 Now it's July, and the Daylilies are blooming. Day after day of summer beauty. Hostas are blooming too. Their flower spikes against the blue  sky. There is no blue like a summer sky, so  dazzling bright, maybe with a few fair-weather clouds. Imagine ships and dragons.

There was a heat wave last week, washed out by rain and thunder. Next week another heat wave, in the midst of construction season.

Summer every day, now--

Summer mornings---The welcoming sky, the promise of a new day. the morning birds,  morning coffee, people walking their dogs. 

 Summer afternoons--street festivals, farmers'markets, Lake Michigan, museums--there's so much to do! Or not.  Relax outside, a cold drink under the trees. No need to rush, no need to go anywhere. 

Summer evenings--concers, movies in the park, restaurants, the lake front at dusk, the sounds of the dog day cicadas, the lights of the fireflies. 

Summer nights--perhaps a breeze, the sounds of sirens, people laughing down the street. The summer moons, the Summer Triangle...

Now they are saying it's midsummer,  across the aisle at Walgreens, the FiFA stuff  facing the notebooks and pens of back-to school supplies.

 

 

A Day in June

 Today is Sunday, a day in June. June 21  is  Father's Day, and here's light rain falling here. More  severe weather downstate, tornado possible in the area near Effingham, which was hit very hard in the storms on June 17. EF-3 damage, but  fortunately no fatalities!

Yes there are tornado watches and warnings in central Illinois today, too. Be safe everyone...

June 19 marked Juneteenth--A federal holiday--no mail and banks closed. The Obama Center opened to the public, a celebration of hope and better days to cone.  

The day before, June 18, was the Dedication Ceremony, and the attendees included past presidents, musicians and other celebrities--- Bill and Hilary Clinton, George and Laura Bush, and Joe and Jill Biden were there.  Governor J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayo Brandon Johnson were there too, It was a beautiful day. One of those rare perfect days.

And it's also Summer Solstice today! Celebrate the longest day in the Northern Hemisphere. It's been meteorological summer since june 1st, but now astronomical smmer begins. 

Let's hope for more beautiful summer days...

 

Maybe May

 May will have two full moons this month--the first one is called the flower moon. The second one is called a blue moon.

May be very green, blue skies, flowers and blooming trees--

redbud, and dogwoods, lilacs and lily of the valley

May be pollen and allergies--achoo!

May be sun and 60's, May be frost warnings overnight.

May be T-shirts and jackets, cargo shorts and hoodies 

May be flowered dresses

May be weeding and pruning, may be planting new things 

May be construction, pothole repairs, may be traffic delays

May be thunder and lightning, may be torrential rains

May be sun and rain at the same time

May be rainbows. 

May be a weather pattern change

May be 90 next week!

10 Days in April

Oh, April of  memory and desire, the month of poetry and daffodils. severe weather and possible tornadoes.

Trump's war continues in the Middle East, with bluster and threats, without Congress approval or even a vote. ICE is still in our cities.

There have been verbal attacks on the Pope, for affirming peace.

Yesterday, there was an election  in Turkey. Orban  was decisively defeated.  The people won.

And for the first 10 days in April, while we worried about bills and taxes and the price of gas, 4 human beings left Earth,  flew around the moon, and came safely back home to Earth again. They brought back more than breathtaking pictures. They brought back a sense of wonder. They brought a spirit of cameraderie and cooperation. The entire team at NASA showed us all what we are capable of if we work together.

Let us all carry the spirit of Artemis 11 with us. Affirm humility and peace. Let us share that sense of wonder.