summer summarily summarized…sorta
I'm trying very hard to not pay attention to the fact that it's now August 22nd and summer officially ends in one month. I'm trying very hard to ignore the fact that there will be 2m 40s less daylight today compared to yesterday and that tomorrow will have less still.
Instead I'm trying to think about all we've done in June, July, and August. Our recent balloon trip, or our visits with college friends, or the afternoon car washes in the driveway that I enjoy with Nate, or our visit to the Milwaukee Zoo, or the Shedd Aquarium for Nate's birthday. Our trip to Reston, VA or Nate's many swim lessons in Crystal Lake, or the camping trip with family and all that rain, or the time we've spent in the back yard being eaten alive by mosquitoes.
I'm trying to think about how vast and explosive Nate's development has been since I last posted: How he regularly forms 4, 5, and 6 word sentences. How amazing it has been to see his communication skills expand and, at the same time, a little part of me laments this change. 
helloheather and I are losing a special connection to Nate: our ability alone to understand what he's saying. It probably seems absurd to say that, but there's something wonderful about being the only two people who truly understand him. His own language and mannerisms helped define our community of three; but not for much longer.
We've all done a lot this summer, but I wish there was time for more.
Lunch Today
Lunch today was:
- Vegetarian bbq
- Vegetable tempura
- Sweet Potato Hashbrowns
- Frozen chocolate-covered banana
- Fried-chicken and waffle
- Samosa
Yes, the Taste of Chicago opened today and I went there for lunch. Yum yum. (Doubly-so because we get half-price tickets through work.)
Solstice
The sun has risen as far as it can in the northern hemisphere. Enjoy as much of it as you can.
June 20, 2008
Sun Rise: 5:16 AM CDT
Sun Set: 8:33 PM CDT
Length Of Visible Light: 16h 26m
Length of Day: 15h 16m
Tomorrow will be 0m 1s shorter.
Cornfest – Darien WI
We met Serena and Charlotte in Darien WI for a Cornfest.
http://www.dariencornfest.com/
It was a pleasant afternoon, though a bit on the warm side. Nate and helloheather went down one of those carnival slides where you sit on a piece of burlap. He seemed to be unsure of what exactly happened after reaching the bottom.
Later he spent some time flirting with Charlotte. It was cute.
Declination
Yesterday:
June 20, 2007
Sun Rise: 5:15 AM
Sun Set: 8:28 PM
Length Of Visible Light: 16h 22m
Length of Day 15h 13m
Tomorrow will be 0m 1s longer.
Today:
June 21, 2007
Sun Rise: 5:15 AM
Sun Set: 8:29 PM
Length Of Visible Light: 16h 22m
Length of Day: 15h 13m
Tomorrow will be 0m 1s shorter
(stats from wunderground.com)
The sun has reached its northern most point today. The solstice marks the beginning of summer and the somewhat ironic increasingly rapid decline in the length of our days. I say somewhat ironic because, in my mind, summer is marked by impossibly long evenings. Evenings where games of ghost in the graveyard seemed to last for hours and hours. Evenings where we roamed on our BMX bikes for what seemed like forever.
But today is the tipping point. Today the sun begins its move back to the south. Shadows at noon will slowly start to lengthen and the days will slowly shorten.
Take a minute, regardless of your hemisphere and regardless of which season you're entering, and celebrate today.
well fed
Backyard Growth - 2006
We had two stumps cut down and ground out when we had the trees trimmed earlier this year. Mushrooms love rotting wood, and this area is the mushroom equivalent of heaven.
Hey, I got one…
Oddly enough today was my first real attempt at photographing lightning. I only had the Fuji A205 with me so it was an exercise in extreme frustration (the shot-to-shot time is very slow, and there's no multiple-shot mode) but out of 39 shots I actually got one. Sorta. It's a little out of focus but for jumping out of the car and braving the rain and speeding cars right next to me, it's...well it's something.
Next storm I'm heading out with at least the A80.
14.5 hours without power
The storms that rolled through Illinois last night left much of Crystal Lake without power. For us it was 14 hours. Because we have a well this means we only have the water that is in the pressure tank and the pipes. So, no showers, no toilet flushing, and drinking and washing of hands. While a lot of the 14 hours was spent sleeping between feedings (the power went out at 10pm last night) it still was annoying. It was very humid out and there wasn't much of a breeze.
This morning we decided that we'd waited it out long enough and went over to helloheather's mom and step-dads house who 1) only live about two miles south and 2) almost always have power when we don't. They had power and therefore AC and showers, which we took advantage of.
After getting set up, I returned to the house armed with a 22lb bag of ice to place in the fridge (the freezer seemed to be doing ok) in an attempt to keep foods from spoiling. Literally seconds after loading up the fridge with the ice (in 1-gallon ziplock bags on different shelves) the power came back on. Oh well, at least our fridge food is now extra cold.
We decided to have lunch (Subway) at Mickey and Bill's house (where we were already pretty comfortable) before returning home (which we have just done).
Nathan, during this whole thing, wasn't really fazed. He didn't fuss because of the storm, he seemed content at the Broman's house, and he otherwise was himself (as well as one can be ones self at 18 days old).
So, a rather exhausting night/day on top of a series of exhausting nights/days.
2 seconds less
A happy (belated) Summer Solstice to everyone. The day started out cloudy and rainy but ended cloud-free with a gloriously orange and pink sunset.
helloheather and I sat outside on our patio, drinking water and relaxing, until the bugs found us.
Today will be a few seconds shorter than yesterday and tomorrow a few seconds shorter than today and on and on. It's strange to think that the start of summer is really the beginning of the decline of available light. This season is, in some ways, defined by memories of long summer evenings, where the sun seemed to hover above the horizon for hours. Our preceptions of time can change so radically as we age.
Happy Summer everyone. I hope it's a good one.
