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Posts Tagged ‘seasons’

Right There All Along

Posted in Other, tagged , , , , , on September 25, 2025| Leave a Comment »

The leaves here are beginning to turn but the full glory of fall has yet to arrive. When will it come to your area? If you’re in the US (or can extrapolate to Canada), this map can help narrow it down.

2025 Fall Foliage Map & Peak Leaf Color Guide | The Old Farmer’s Almanac

Wondering when and where to see the best fall colors in 2025? Our Fall Foliage Map tracks peak leaf season across the U.S….

See when fall foliage could peak in your area – NPR

Trees shed their leaves in order to store and recycle valuable nutrients (in their trunks and branches) before winter’s ice and snow can rip them off. As temperatures drop, chlorophyll — the pigment that makes leaves appear green — starts breaking down, revealing the yellows and oranges they’ve had all along.

Like many of us, leaves hide their layers. I try not to forget it, and that all of this beauty and color has been right there, all along. 

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Photo by Chris Lawton on Unsplash

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The Time of Feathers and Fog

Posted in Other, tagged , , , , on October 5, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Did you know that the traditional Japan almanac recognized 72 micro-seasons?

Japan’s 72 Microseasons | Nippon.com

In ancient times the Japanese divided their year into 24 periods based on classical Chinese sources. The natural world comes to life in the even more vividly named 72 subdivisions of the traditional Japanese calendar.

I thought of that fact this morning when I woke to what felt like a sea change in the weather. The overnight temperatures have been dropping, of course, but there is something else.

Along with a new chill in the air, the morning started with fog that wound between houses, draping the neighborhood in a layer of mystery. The cries of geese echoed down from above as they arrowed south.

It is the season of feathers and fog.

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Photo by Ian Cumming on Unsplash

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Astronomical Fall

Posted in Science!, tagged , , , , , , , , on September 22, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Yesterday, we headed out into one of the many beautiful trail systems dotted around Ottawa. The day was bright and the paths were carpeted in a lovely array of gold, orange and red leaves. It felt like a perfect way to usher in fall, but it turns out we were a day early.

Today, however, we can celebrate the Autumn Equinox, when night and day are (more or less) equal, and the sun shines directly down streets set east to west, as they do in places like Chicago.

Autumnal equinox 2024 brings fall to the Northern Hemisphere today

When is the first day of fall in 2024?

A carefully worded answer is that on Sunday, Sept. 22, at 8:44 a.m. Eastern daylight time (5:44 a.m. Pacific daylight time) autumn begins astronomically in the Northern Hemisphere, and spring in the Southern. At that moment, the sun would be shining directly overhead as seen from a point in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean, 461 miles (743 km) south-southwest of Monrovia, Liberia. 

10 Things About the September Equinox

Here are 10 facts about the first day of astronomical fall (autumn) in the Northern Hemisphere.

Welcome to fall!

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Photo by John Jennings on Unsplash

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Goodbye, Wreath

Posted in Holidays, tagged , , , , , on April 23, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Sometime after Christmas I decided to leave our holiday wreath up until the snow melted. Not just road snow or even sidewalk snow, but the snow that lurks by the cedar hedge, sheltered in the shadows of the house.

How long could it take? I wondered. (Oh, the naiveté of one new to the North.).

This long:p The snow is finally gone, and the wreath is coming down:)

My next goal is to spot a flower. Outside. Growing!

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