Chiberian Express

 

 

 

 The  lightness of the solstice,  the end of the solar year,  and the beginning of new things. 

For holiday travelers this year, there was a major winter storm and extreme cold, with subzero wind chills!  It was  a return to Chiberia---do you remember? 

Back in 1983--we didn't call it the polar vortex then. Chiberia didn't even have a name. It was Chicago, and wind chills of -40 and the Lake was steaming.

I first heard the term polar vortex in 2014, when it got so very cold, the switches froze on the Blue Line trains. The Lake was frozen.  Chicago was a frozen city. They called it Chiberia.

Now, it's 2022, how many storms of the century have we seen since then? This latest one is really extreme, even for Buffalo, where they are used to alot of snow.  Veteran meteorologists say they have never seen anything like this before.  

There were trucks stranded on the Ohio Turnpike, total white-out conditions.  There were power outages and burst pipes in subzero cold. Under such extremes, it really is like living on another planet. Metal acts differently. Frostbite can occur in a matter of minutes. 

If you were trying to shovel the snow in Chicago, it was a real challenge with the temperatures and the winds. Fortunately, there was not too much snow, and it was light and easy to shovel.Thank you! 

Today, December 29, there are already 2 minutes and 10 seconds more daylight than the winter solstice.
All the snow is almost gone in 50 degree temperatures. People are out in jackets and hoodies!  It's like Chiberia never happened, but it did. And we remember.

December Solstice

 

 

 

 

Solstice greetings to all. Love and light to you.  You may not celebrate the winter solstice, but you do.  The lights, the evergreens, the gifts and gatherings of the season.  These are older than the holidays we  celebrate, now. 

And tomorrow, December 21, the angle of the sun will appear to align along the Tropic of Capricorn. Astronomical summer begins in Antarctica and the Southern Hemisphere.  

Here, in the Northern Hemisphere, astronomical winter begins. The Old Celtic calendar called the solstice midwinter. As you can see, the dark time of the year here is between what we call Halloween and Ground Hog Day.  

 

Yes, the solstice marks the longest night. Some say the stones at Stonehenge are aligned in such a way that the sunset on the December solstice aligns with the most prominent stone. This is the death of the old year. Sunrise on the following  day marks the start of new beginnings.  

 

Even by our calendars today, January1 already has a few more minutes of daylight. So the wheel of the year turns again, time and again, beginning again. as it has long before you and me. 

Twilight time

"Heavenly shades of night are falling, it's twilight time, "  I think  of  that song by the Platters. So many shades of darkening blue in these short, short days of daylight as we approach  the winter solstice.

Twilight comes twice a day,  and in between day and night, the shades of  civil twilight, nautical twilight and astronomical twilight.  

Earth Sky explains these three stages of twilight---

During civil twilight, there’s enough light to see, but people turn on their lights to drive a car, and the streetlights are starting to come on. The brightest planets appear during civil twilight.

During nautical twilight, terrestrial objects are visible, but you need artificial lights to carry on outdoor activities.

Astronomical twilight is the darkest stage of twilight. For stargazers, the fainter stars and other sky objects become visible.

You can read the whole article here.  

In the darkening blues of the twilight sky, other colors stand out---the black branches, orange berries, dark greens of evergreens, the high-visibility colors worn by runners and dog walkers.  The almost buttery yellow  of the rising moon.  The lights of jets arriving and departing, and that reddish dot in the east---that's Mars!

There are many poetic descriptions for the blues of the twilight sky---evening blue, twilight blue, indigo blue, spread across the sky like shades of blue jeans, like the indigo sky of Japanese prints.  Like the stone, Lapis Lazuli,  a night sky full of stars.

And maybe, you will think of that beautiful song by the Platters.

 

November Beauty

 

 November is an acquired taste, an aesthetic of muted and subtle things--

A white-gray sky, brown leaves,  shattered pods of milkweeds spilling fluff and seeds. pools of yellow leaves of the ginkgo trees, each leaf slightly different, some folded like origami.

And some red berries on black branches, and after the rain, drops of water on bare branches and the few remaining leaves.  

And light through the plumes of blooming ornamental grasses, the tea  and leather colors of leaves, the gardens lovely in their decline.

Now we see the trees, the nests in the branches, the fractal branching revealing the shapes of the trees.

Already, there are some holiday lights and decorations, and the Festival of Lights on Michigan Avenue. Wreaths and evergreens adorning  apartment buildings.  Already festive colors.

It seems we cannot bear the unadorned for long. Yet there is beauty, bare as bones, wind scattering the milkweed seeds, dry leaves and buds on branches.

One day leaves, next day snow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The full moon is a waning crescent now.  If the sky were clear,  you could see it in the morning in the western sky.

The moon continues its journey, and we continue our changing seasons.  Late autumn, November gray sky,  some bare trees, the last blue flower of the chicory blooming. Meteorological winter begins on December 1st. 

And  I'm feeling a sense of  optimism  in the cold air.   Midterms are over, and there was no red wave.  But there was a massive turnout, a  rainbow wave of young voters!  Thank you, thank you young voters, and everyone who voted, too. We may  have saved democracy.  The future is still unwritten. 

The first snow of the season arrived on Tuesday, November 15.  It was wet and heavy snow, not that much,  but still enough to shovel the sidewalk.  Most of it melted in the afternoon.  There are chances of snow every day, now.   Yes, winter is coming.

For now, there are more leaves on the ground than snow. It was beautiful on the bare branches, where you can see the buds of Spring's magnolia flowers.

Blood Moon---November 8, 2022

 

 

 

 

 

Monday November 7,  and the beautiful full moon rising over a clear night sky in Chicago. 

In the predawn hours on Tuesday November 8,  there will be a total lunar eclipse--a Blood Moon!

The name sounds ominous, a portent of bloodshed and doom.  

Eclipses and comets have been viewed as omens  throughout history. Death of kings or the birth of new things.  In these times of climate change, wars and COVID variations, PowerBall jackpots, Elon Musk taking over Twitter,  and mid-term elections, what could the Blood Moon mean? 

Here's the science. A lunar eclipse can only occur during a full moon, when the moon is directly opposite the sun in our sky. A reddish colored moon is caused by the umbral shadow of the Earth falling across the moon, and light  scattering in the Earth's atmosphere.   You can read more about the eclipse at the NASA Moon website here. 

Here is the timing for viewing the eclipse in Chicago---

• Partial eclipse begins at 3:09 AM
• Totality begins at 4:17 AM
• Peak of eclipse: 4:59 AM
• Totality ends at 5:42 AM
• Sunrise at 6:33 AM
• Moon sets at 6:41 AM

 NASA is also showing a live stream of the eclipse. You can follow along here. 

What does the eclipse mean for you and me?  I'm choosing hope over fear.  Choose light and art and beauty. Share the wonder with your friends and neighbors.  Choose freedom and possibility.  

If you haven't already, go VOTE on Tuesday! 

 

 

 

Just like years ago

No, nothing is like it was years ago.  We didn't have streaming news 24/7, mobile phones, and cars the size of busses. But we did have Dick Tracy's wrist TV, and Star Trek communicators.

Sure there were dangerous times when I was a kid, too. I remember the assassinations of JFK  and Dr.  King. There was violence and the Cuban  Missile Crisis.  

In addition to fire and tornado drills, we also practiced ducking and covering in case of atomic bombs.

Yes, we had flu, then, too--and chicken pox and measles and tetanus.  Kids died of appendicitis, and tractors crossing downed power lines. 

But these are different times, now. Kids now know much more uncertainty than we did.  What will the world be like for them in 10 or 20 years?  The climate crisis is accelerating. Will there be more outbreaks of plagues and diseases?  More gun violence? More division and fascism?

It is not hard to imagine dystopias. But it is also possible to imagine a better, more compassionate future.

How many Octobers have you seen?  I don't think I have ever seen a more colorful fall,  and the clarity of the light!   For a moment, things seem hopeful. 

People are getting flu shots and boosters. 

We don't take our rights for granted. Democracy is at stake in the midterm elections, and early voting is at an all-time high.

The Halloween ghosts and pumpkins seem especially festive this year.  And the rain of red and yellow leaves on the tree lined streets is indescribably beautiful. 

Raking leaves on the parkway, I saw the little kids across the street helping their dad with the leaves.  There was much raking and laughing.

 The kids were running and jumping in the giant piles of leaves. Yes, just like I used to do, just like years ago...