The corner is long … and dark

/ December 23, 2014
It's 7:23 a.m. in Syracuse, N.Y. on Dec. 23, 2014.

It’s 7:23 a.m. in Syracuse, N.Y. on Dec. 23, 2014.

We passed the Winter Solstice mark Sunday here in the Northern Hemisphere, officially moving into the fourth season, the coldest season. The darkest season.

We are gaining light. That corner is always turned on the solstice, designating the day when the tilt of the earth begins to move us more prominently toward the sun for longer and longer each 24-hour period. And so us northerners rejoice, our spirits lifted, our hearts lightened, our hope renewed again.

That corner, though, is long, my friends.

Not to be a wet blanket or anything.

That sight above greeted Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle and I from the Big Bedroom of our beloved Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood at precisely 7:23 a.m. as my dear wife Karen drank coffee in the living room and began her mental preparation for work readiness.

Ellie B. aka Dogamous Pyle in the backyard three minutes later.

Ellie B. aka Dogamous Pyle in the backyard three minutes later.

It did not look nearly as daunting three minutes later as Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle took the short flight down the porch steps to her backyard morning preparedness routine.

According to the big daily this morning, the official sunrise in Syracuse came at 7:34 a.m. The sun will set at 4:33 p.m.

Old-school weather page. (From The Post-Standard)

Old-school weather page. (From The Post-Standard)

Using the back page of Section B, the sports section, of my home delivered copy of today’s Post-Standard because that’s the way I roll, we see that by next Monday, the sun will rise here at 7:36 a.m. — two minutes later — and set 4:37 p.m.

Net gain, two minutes of daylight.

Dance away.

Are you feeling the boost of more daylight yet? What time is the sun rising and setting where you live? What time do you like to get up in the morning?

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68 thoughts on “The corner is long … and dark”

  2. Well, here near Glasgow we have an official sunrise time of 8.47am, with sunset at 3.46. Which means that I need to get out earlly afternoon for a long dog walk. I do walk her in the dark as well, of course! Lovely that we’re past the winter Solstice and no matter what the weather throws at us, the days will get longer… Yay! I would love to always be an early bird, but it is much harder at this time of year. Happy Christmas to you and your family, Mark, and all your lovely blogging friends.

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  4. The holidays are almost behind us. Then, the long, cold, dark slog through winter. It’s not my favorite time of year, I can tell you that. It makes commuting and getting out of bed at 5:00 particularly painful. Bring us the LIGHT.

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  6. I never like to get up in the morning. LOL! Here it gets dark around 6:00 now. I can’t wait for the light again. That is one of the few things I did not care for when I lived up there. I hated that it was pitch black when I drove home from work. If you need some more sun, you’re welcome to pack up your wife and dog and come for a visit. 🙂

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  7. Your question is “what time do you like to get up” and so I will answer that I like to get up at 9 or so. But when I actually get up is 6:30 as that’s when the kiddos need me. Though their winter break is ON, so I slept until 8:45 this morning which felt absolutely lovely. If I went to bed early enough, I could do the early morning, but nighttime is such a magical time–house quiet and I can work to my heart’s content. I usually don’t hit hay until 1ish or even later if I am binge watching a TV show with cliffhangers.

    I will definitely dance for those extra 2 minutes of daylight, but waiting until the holidays are in the rear-view as I must conserve my energies 😉

    Enjoyed reading the comments and am glad to be a half-full kind of person as well. Do you think we’re born one way or the other? Or are we conditioned by circumstances?

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    • I can picture you taking advantage of your quiet downtime at the end of the day, Liz. That’s a sanity clause, I’m sure. Unwind your own way. 🙂

      As for the half-full, I think we are born that way, and then our parents do their best to either polish us or break us, only they don’t know it, they just do it by their own half-fullness or emptiness. And the nurturing can go either way, too. You can either want to be like them, or never be like them. So that makes me go with my final answer, born that way. What do you think?

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  8. yes, i feel the return of the light! (even if it is only 2 minutes). i am a 5am woman on school days and it’s been getting dark around 530ish here. not a lot of light to begin and end my day –

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  9. I like it to be dark early in winter. More time to feel like night and curl up in a recliner with a blanket. We have plenty of summer 8:30pm sunsets, so 5:30pm is okay with me. But 4:30pm? The sun has never set before 5pm here. The school bus doesn’t even drop the kids off until 4:30pm. Do Syracusean kids walk home in the dark? That’s what you get for being way up there. The sun runs away too fast.

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  10. I noticed at 5 PM yesterday it wasn’t as horribly dark as usual. It may have been because I wasn’t driving home at that time, though.

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  11. Day light? Is there such a thing? I think I’ve seen the sun three times in the past four weeks. What’s with all of this over casted ness?

    Ah well. And I like to wake up when my eyes open. Unfortunately I have to wake up when the alarm goes off at 503 every morning. 🙂

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  15. I’m trying real hard to get the rocket scientist out of bed before sunlight so we can get the boat over to see the sunrise. Maybe Christmas Day when his early rising brother is visiting??? Every second of sunlight helps stave off the depression of the darkness.

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  17. Hi Mark – the sun rose here(Ottawa) at 7:40 and set at 4:23. You are right, it is a long corner. My sleep habits are a bit odd as I sleep during dialysis until 10 pm on M, W, F, (normally – except this week and next). So I usually work on the computer until about 6 am and go to bed until noon or so. I hope the holiday preparations are going well at the Little Bitty.

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    • The dialysis breaks do change your life rhythms, I’m sure, Paul. That’s hard to get used to, but you seem to be marching along with it. No other choice, I know.
      When I was doing the big daily thing and worked some days going into the office at 9 a.m. and other days reviewing concerts until midnight and not getting home and into bed until way later, it threw my sleep patterns and whole life cycle off something awful.

      The holiday prep is pretty darn good here, sir. I hope you are A-OK in Ottawa. Merry Christmas, my friend.

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  19. I used to be the kind of person who slept in late, but now that I am married I enjoy the early mornings. My day starts at 5:30am and at that time it usually always dark out. I love having more time to get those personal things taken care of like blogging or catching up on some pure entertainment show like Doctor Who 🙂 I can’t wait to have more daylight that just means more sunny hours in the day to get even more stuff done like watch Supernatural.

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    • I used to sleep in more, too, but now I want to make the most of each hour, like you. I agree, the more light the better. I sit in the dark in the earliest hours now with the lamp on, typing as I comment on others’ blogs. Easier in natural daylight, my friend. Thanks so much for dropping in to comment, and Merry Christma to you and your husband, csvasv.

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      • Thanks Mark for the Christmas wishes, they are much appreciated. Yes I love to type in the early morning a teacher of mine once told me there will be a time and each person has their own that will be the time they write the best for me it seems to be before the sunrises. I don’t know why perhaps the quite solitude of the early day and the hope of a new sunrise coming up soon. Thanks for replying to my comment my friend as well. Happy New Year 🙂

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  20. Around 1000 people gathered in Newgrange County Meath where one of the most famous burial chambers are on the shortest day 21st December. It wasn’t a sunny day so this meant the innermost chamber did not light up in a spectacular fashion. But it has been a dark winter, which your post reminded me and sunrise today was at 8.42am and sunset will be at 4.10pm though we cannot see the sun for the thick layer of cloud hovering over Ireland. I wish you a great Christmas and a very light and bright 2015.

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  22. Daylight? From a night shift worker who has to take Vitamin D supplements… heck, I may as well be living above the Arctic Circle in the Land of the Noon Moon (How come you never hear that nickname for Alaska?)

    Back to my crypt now…

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  23. It’s now 12:41am, Christmas Eve in Australia. The Sun will rise at 5:46am…sunset at 8:18pm.
    Temps tomorrow will be 15°c to 26°c. 80% chance of rain in morning and afternoon with possible storm in afternoon too.
    Not looking much better for Christmas Day. 😡

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  25. I like waking up when the house is quiet. Sipping coffee, greeting the sun. I’m usually brewing coffee around 4am. But I go to bed around 8pm. How ’bout you hermano?

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    • I stay up until past midnight and get up when the sun rises. That means I get less sleep in the June, around the summer solstice, and more sleep in the winter, around the winter solstice. This is when I’ve been working at home and not driven by others’ arrival-to or departure-from clocks, of course, Sandra. Good morning, sweet sis. 🙂

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  26. I’m one of those weirdos who actually likes the days of shorter daylight, so I’m a bit sad to see it going to the “more daylight” side of things. Of course, Spring and Summer days are also lovely, so I’m not weeping in my cereal or anything. 😉 I did notice when I woke up at 7:00 this morning (early for me) that it was still completely dark out. Frank was not impressed. 😀

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