365 True Things: 297/Daylight

I always enjoy that moment near the beginning of the year when you realize the days are actually getting longer—when you can start your afternoon walk just a little later because you won't get benighted.

That moment came for me this week, as five o'clock rolled around and we were still on the trail and the sun was still plenty high enough that we didn't need to rush.

I am glad I don't live in the far far north, because the very short winter days would weigh on me. That said, I am happy to visit and experience the very long summer days of the far far north. A couple of years ago we were in the Lofoten Islands, above the Arctic Circle, at midsummer. Alas, the midnight sun hid itself behind a good-sized mountain (the pointy one in the photo), so we never got to see it not set. But it was very cool to have "night" consist basically of twilight.

The way the sun plummets lickety-split out of the sky at the equator always surprises me—and makes me feel a little cheated. I like twilight, the subtleties of dawn and dusk, the way the light changes the colors and distances around us.

The equinox, never mind summer solstice, is still a ways off, but I will enjoy noticing the growing of the days.