Sunlight

I’m amazed it’s sunny today, we started it with a bright red sunrise this morning that indicated bad weather. It has been grey and foggy for over two weeks, dark and gloomy. I’d begun to think the sun would never return. Hopefully the light will last a while.

It’s expected to be sunny for a couple of days before it starts to rain. I’m sad that it’s like that as in winter we have so few hours of sunshine anyway. I suppose you just have to find a way through.

Arguments against a flat earth theory.

I keep seeing posts on Facebook about the earth being flat. So I thought for a few minutes and posted this…. . If the earth was flat the sun would set AT THE SAME TIME EVERYWHERE. There would be no time zones. New years eve would be celebrated at the same time everywhere. Clocks would all be set to the same time. If you live in a big country like America the sun would rise and set at the same time, so you wouldn’t need Eastern standard time and pacific time or whatever it’s called. THERE WOULD BE NO SEASONS, AND THE TEMPERATURE WOULD BE THE SAME ALL OVER THE WORLD. If the Earth is a globe and tipped you get seasons. If it’s a globe and not tipped, no seasons, flat earth? No seasons, no gradient in temperature. And the sun would rise and set at exactly the same time every day… Sorry rant over.

Red sunsets due

I was watching the weather forecast and the smoke from the forest fires in Canada has risen in the atmosphere and had been carried by the jet stream up across the Atlantic and towards the UK. The smoke particles are not low enough to cause breathing problems, but they are in the right place to scatter the light more at sunrise and sunset. This should result in brighter red and orange skies in the morning and evenings.

A similar phenomenon happened when Krakatoa erupted in the 19th Century. Then the volcanic dust that was swept into the sky caused changes in the evening light and blue moons being reported. We have to realise how interconnected the world is.

Summer solstice

Stonehenge

Today was the Summer solstice, the longest day here in the Northern Hemisphere. In Scotland it was Dawn before 4am and after 10pm … 19 hours of daylight. From now on the day length will start to shorten again until we reach the shortest day in December.

So in the next ten minutes before British summer time midnight I shall cherish those extra minutes of light. I hope we have a good (and cool) summer and that we don’t get mad temperatures like last year, but I doubt it, we have already had a hot June and it’s not over yet.

Think about climate change and the things you can do to help keep overheating down. Hugs, happy solstice.

Red sky this morning

This photo doesn’t do it justice. I don’t have a great view of the horizon because its obscured by trees and buildings, and the window needs clearing of ivy that is growing around it. There was a yellowish gap in the clouds where the sky was visible, then bars of orange/red clouds lay across it, like sand bars in a shallow sea. Have you ever looked up at the sky and thought it was mimicking an ocean view? It was like that. The best time I ever saw that illusion was when we were driving down to Dorset. We were climbing a big hill and the sunset appeared over the peak of the hill. It looked like the sea with land protruding into it. As we reached the summit the real sea became visible and the sky looked as if the sea was reflected in it. All pinks and golds and bars of lavender grey. We had a lovely week away.

Glass paperweights

An alien ocean trapped in glass, blue light floods through. My glass paperweight collection sits out of the sun on a window ledge upstairs. As they are spherical thru could act as lenses and magnify the sun’s rays. So I’m careful, I don’t want a fire! I was trying to get a picture of a red glow, but the sunrise was unspectacular this morning. Still I think this turned out nicely.

Solstice

When the sum rose this morning it was on the shortest day of the year. Now the days up here in the Northern Hemisphere will slowly start to lengthen again. At first at a minute or two a day, but gradually a few more minutes around spring time. Then as the Summer solstice approaches the number of minutes slows down. Finally after that the process goes into reverse and the days begin to wane again. So the great cycle of light and dark tumbles along North and South. Only on the equator are day and night lengths balanced out. The cause? Earth is tipped at an angle, so for six months of the year one half of the planet gets more light than the other (which also proves the Earth is a globe).

Happy Solstice everyone!

Pink cat!

Sunlight reflecting off her fur, on the windowledge at the top of the stairs, she looks out to check on what’s going on in the garden. Not long now to the winter equinox when the days will slowly start to get longer again. She’s so soft and sweet.

Cats know how to keep warm. The heat rises up the stairs so she is happy up there. This afternoon she’s gone out for a little walk round the garden, I think she will be back in again soon. Then she will either go back upstairs or sit on the cat tree by the radiator in the living room.

Morning Moon

I woke to a red sky and went downstairs for a cup of tea. Then I saw the moon setting behind next doors extension.

You can just see a little bar of misty cloud floating across the moon which looks tiny but almost close enough to touch. The red sky in the morning might be foretelling poor weather today, (this blog is getting very weather related). The bright reds soon started to fade, now the Sun is rising on the opposite horizon. Good morning all