narcissus « Cosmic-Observation

Vernal Equinox 2020

Posted on March 19, 2020 Updated on October 4, 2023

Well, Spring has finally sprung and not a moment too soon. I’m sitting in my Adirondack chair, with my bare feet on the ground, watching the sunset through the limbs of my Hackberry tree. Yes, I have short feet. Shut up. (All photos are my personal collection. ©)

Grounding Image One — Grounding with Mother Earth on the Vernal Equinox

According to the Farmers’ Almanac 1818, this is the earliest First Day of Spring in 124 years. Yahoo! Maybe some warm, beautiful weather will offset the corona beer virus and this needless, manufactured hysteria that has appeared with it.

Japanese Maple Image Two — Japanese Maple waking up.
Hackberry in the background.

I did a Vernal Equinox post last year when it coincided with the Full Worm Moon. In our area, it was as high as 80° and I was out in it. My buddy Ray had some errands to run so, off we went to the county north of us. Once the errands were completed, we headed to downtown Roxboro for lunch & a minor visit to their museum (pictures coming tomorrow).

Museum Flagpole Image Three — Lunch at the museum with a view of the flag.

From Farmers’ Almanac 1818:

[Spring] will occur at 11:50 p.m. EDT for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere […]. Traditionally, we celebrate the first day of spring on March 21 but, astronomers and calendar manufacturers, alike, now say that the spring season starts on March 20th, in all time zones in North America. And, in 2020, it’s even a day earlier than that…something that hasn’t happened since 1896.

Narcissus Image Four — Happy Narcissus in my side yard.

There are a few reasons why seasonal dates can vary from year to year. The first is that a year is not an even number of days and neither are the seasons. Another reason is that the earth’s elliptical orbit is changing its orientation (skew), which causes the earth’s axis to constantly point in a different direction, called precession. Since the seasons are defined as beginning at strict 90-degree intervals, these positional changes affect the time the earth reaches each 90-degree location in its orbit around the sun. The pull of gravity from the other planets also affects the location of the earth in its orbit.

Cheers! ~Vic

Additional Interesting Reading:
First Day of Spring (The Old Farmer’s Almanac 1792)

This entry was posted in Photography, Thoughts and tagged 1896, 2020, downtown roxboro, eighty degrees, elliptical orbit, errands, farmers almanac, farmers almanac 1792, farmers almanac 1818, flag pole, four seasons, grounding, hackberry, hackberry tree, happy flowers, happy narcissus, japanese maple, march 19, march 20, mother earth, narcissus, old farmers almanac, person county, person county museum of history, precession, ray, roxboro, short feet, spring has sprung, the old farmer's almanac, the seasons, vernal equinox 2020, white and yellow narcissus.

FFTD: Narcissus

Posted on February 7, 2020 Updated on July 21, 2020

I haven’t gotten a shot of our now-blooming Narcissus. They started coming up last month. They seem to enjoy the cold weather. I’ve seen them bloom with ice on the ground. ~Vic

Flower for the Day

This entry was posted in Photography, Thoughts and tagged 2018, american photography, camera hound, cameraphone, cosmic-observation photography, february 22, FFTD, flower, flower picture, front yard, hillsborough photography, narcissus, north carolina photography, photo, photograph, photographer, picture, samsung S7, shutterbug, snapshot, yellow flower, yellow narcissus.

FFTD: Tulips & Narcissus

Posted on September 15, 2019 Updated on October 4, 2023

A companion piece to an earlier post, the white Narcissus is a beautiful contrast. The telephone pole, not so much. I still don’t remember where the pix were taken. ~Vic

Flower for the Day

This entry was posted in Photography, Thoughts and tagged 2014, american photography, april 27, camera hound, cameraphone, cosmic-observation photography, FFTD, flower image, flower picture, flowers, happy flower, happy flowers, hillsborough photography, narcissus, north carolina photography, photo, photograph, photographer, picture, red flower, red tulips, samsung alias II, samsung flip phone, shutterbug, snapshot, telephone pole, tulips, white flower, white narcissus.

Foto Friday: Ice Storm 2014

Posted on July 5, 2019

Since we are in the 90s+, here are some pix of cooler weather. We got a lot of these things back in the 70s when I was a kid. They are a little more rare, now. ~Vic

Ice On My Car Image One — Ice all bunched up on the back of my, then, 2010 Chevy Cobalt.
03-07-2014

Sugar Maple Image Two — Sugar Maple encased in ice.

Maple Tree Image Three — Ice branches.
Narcissus in the process of blooming. They don’t care.

Feel cooler, now?

This entry was posted in Photography, Thoughts and tagged 2010, 2014, black car, chevy cobalt, cool off, foto friday, ice branches, ice storm, ice world, icy bushes, march 73, narcissus, sugar maple.

FFTD: White Narcissus

Posted on June 20, 2019 Updated on September 9, 2020

This was a nice find on an evening walk. I’d never seen a solid white one, before. ~Vic

Flower for the Day

This entry was posted in Photography, Thoughts and tagged 2019, american photography, april 10, camera hound, camera nut, cameraphone, cosmic-observation photography, evening walk, FFTD, flower images, flower picture, hillsborough photography, narcissus, north carolina photography, photo, photograph, photographer, picture, samsung S7, shutterbug, snapshot, stupidphone, white, white flower.

FFTD: Narcissus

Posted on May 20, 2019 Updated on September 9, 2020

These beauties have their own timetable. They bloom early, even when it is still cold…or snowing, no less. They are quite happy underneath Mr. Sugar Maple. ~Vic