After December 21st here in South Central Alaska the amount of daylight begins to grow. YIPPEE! Way up on the North Slope where Doug goes to work, light is very scarce this time of the year and the sun does not even show up. Even up there light begins to make a come back after winter solstice. By summer, they will have light all day and the sun won't set!
I ran across some information about SAD. Seasonal Affective Disorder. An actual ailment many suffer from when they do not have enough daylight. Just like my poor Shamrock plant!
It has just one little shoot left. I guess that is the little lucky shamrock there in the picture!
I moved it closer to the window. I will show a picture when it begins to revive. We have done this for years. It looks so lush and full and keeps sprouting flowers when we have a lot of daylight, but right now it shows you just how much daylight we have been having up here. Not much. BUT, December 21st has past and we are going to be looking for signs of Spring before too long!
For ten days after winter solstice the length of daylight remains about the same at both solstices. This website has a cool picture taken of the sun at the same time every day for an entire year. Curious About Astonomy? After this ten day period we start gaining daylight 3 minutes each day and working up to 5 minutes a day.
I was at this website playing with creating colors while I read different articles about light. There is a java program there that lets you mess with color percentages to create colors. It's fun. Try it. The Science of Light.
A few light quotes:
I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong. Abraham Lincoln
Words which do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness. Mother Teresa
If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning. C. S. Lewis
My darkness has been filled with the light of intelligence, and behold, the outer day-lit world was stumbling and groping in social blindness. Helen Keller
In all my perplexities and distresses, the Bible has never failed to give me light and strength. Robert E. Lee
We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won't need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don't fire cannons to call attention to their shining- they just shine. Dwight L. Moody
May your new year be filled with lots of Light! Happy New Year!
3 comments:
The first time I had ever heard of SAD was when I read "Ada Blackjack". In it they spoke of her odd and inexplicable behavior! I remember how weird it seemed when we were in Montana and Alberta this summer and the sun didn't set until after 11PM. I know of real people who have dealt with real depression when they lived in the Pacific Northwest due to the lack of sunshine and the large amounts of rain.I think of how a cat will stretch themselves when they lie on the floor as the sunshine pours through the window. I feel that way in wintertime myself. We are definitely creatures drawn to light and creatures of THE LIGHT aren't we? (If you know what I mean)
Blessed New Year to you and yours!
Connie
We don't see as big a difference down here in SE as in parts further north. But I will be glad when I don't have to walk to and from work in the dark. It's not far to walk, just not very uplifting to leave work and have it almost dark already. It's only 3:30 and you feel like you should be getting ready for bed. Hmm, I guess there is a big difference...but you know what I mean. We don't have days where there is no sun or no sunset.
What a great article! Did not really put much thought into the mystery of light before... thanks for the thought provoking post!
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