August 4

A couple of weeks ago, I took a dawn reading, measuring the compass point of its rising in order to compare it to the solstice figure. Part of the impetus for doing this is because it has noticeably become darker in the mornings when I’ve awakened, and the sun seems to be setting much earlier. Of course, this is to be expected, as we are shifting ever onward toward the equinox some six weeks hence, yet the new darkness still catches us off guard.

The sun rose at 80 degrees on the compass, or 10 degrees north of due east. We’ve lost 2 degrees since the solstice, and this had made the difference. From this point, we will accelerate our daily loss of light until the equinox, when, though we will continue to lose light until late December, it will at least lessen its pace.