Autumnal Equinox 2009

The weather seems unlikely to cooperate so I'm putting up a picture of last year's equinoctial sunrise. Our house faces due east and the sun is now in the center of our horizon. By the winter solstice it will have crept far to the south and be lost behind a ridge for much of the day.

The equinox falls on the 22nd this year. I had thought that solstices and equinoxes were always on the 21st but evidently not. Here's a nifty website that explains all this for those who've ever wanted to know about the Precession of the Equinoxes. (I adore that phrase -- I think I first encountered it in Kipling's Just So Stories.)

But 21st or 22nd, the wheel of the year is turning. I look at the purple sage spilling over the rock wall and the thought of Thanksgiving turkey is in my mind. Not so far away.

Coleous captures the last of the summer sunlight before being hustled into the greenhouse for protection from coming cold weather.

And pumpkins from the garden are bright markers along our entry path -- lighting up another dreary day.