from the balcony of the mattress factorysunrise – 7:38     sunset – 5:24
winter countdown – day 32 of 90

 
There are two images taken from the balconies of the Mattress Factory tower. One is the Pittsburgh skyline in the slide-show and the other is the one on the left – my backyard. The brick wall with all the wrought-iron is my neighbor’s garage; the evergreen is the White Pine bonsai. (I photoshopped out the wires.)

Sunrise today was 2 minutes earlier than it was a week ago. I’m also trying to figure out first-light and sunrise, because first-light is even earlier than the sunrise time, but it’s not tracked and therefore can’t get any official information.

Also, Winter 2014/2015 is 90 days long. And with Dec. 21, 2014 as the official start date, we are now on day 32 of the winter season – not even half-way through. Mid-January is the turning-point and what lies ahead is real winter. Mid-January forces us to acknowledge that White Christmases aren’t winter and that the real season is just beginning its slow descent into freezing weather. We seem capable of deluding ourselves into liking winter when it’s related to the holidays. (I hate I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas. Only someone living in California could romanticize winter. All of us who live in winter climates think about survival during these difficult three months.) Well the holidays are now all done and we facing the season’s true temperature drops.