August 24th, and today I felt the first autumn like chill in the morning air. Wonderful. Most of the trees are still entirely green, but their leaves shiver in a dryer, wearier fashion at this time of year. They are preparing to make their final transitional performance before they heave a sigh and let go.
This one tree began turning almost two weeks ago (see photo, Aug 14). It is in its brilliant prime now - the advance scout of fall.
There is no light I have seen anywhere that can top the enchantment of autumn sunlight in New England. I am looking forward to the next two months outdoors.
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I had an interesting realization as I looked ahead on my sunrise calendar yesterday.
The latest sunrise in December (standard time) will be 7:12am, where it will hover for a few days near the end of the month before shifting back in the annual swing towards earlier dawns. (If you didn't happen to read my explanation of why the latest and earliest sunrises don't occur at the solstices, see June 10th entry)
The latest sunrises for this year will NOT be at the end of December, however, but in the first week of November. Daylight savings time ends on the first Sunday in November, which will be the 7th this year. Therefore, the sun will rise at 7:13 on November 1st, progressing later to 7:20am on November 6th (Saturday), and drop back an hour the next day (6:21am).
It was encouraging to note that it is just over two months away, not four, to those wonderful late risings.
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