Preoccupied With The Sun

As I begin my very first post, I gaze out the window at the fading light and sigh.  It's been so long since I've seen the sun.  Winter in Ohio is sort of like all the time in Seattle only without the brief bouts of sun.  Almost every day, just as we approach sunset, the clouds begin to thin just a little and suddenly I can see an uncharacteristic brightness start to warm the sky!  But ... then I see the sun's already sunk below the horizon and my hopes of catching a sunbeam are dashed.  It wouldn't be an insult if this happened rarely; that would be considered well within the odds of normalcy and I'd let it go with a "shucks" and snap.  But somehow, this seems to happen all the time.  Maybe this is the new normal for central Ohio.  Weather has been changing so much lately, it's hard to really know what "normal" is.

And here I am making small talk about the weather in my first post.  That's the thing about me though...I'm fascinated with things like weather and maps and bird calls.  Which is why I'm geeking out over this.  Over the past week we've had several solar flares and CMEs

coronal mass ejections for the non-initiated

which may or may not be responsible for me feeling ridiculously dizzy.

and not in a blond way

I confess I can be a little woo-woo, as they say about us crazy people, and I've found this article from the Carlini Institute to be a little enlightening.

While I'm reeling from this latest flare and enjoying my weekend, I'll be dreaming of brighter days and maybe a winter a hike.  I've recently discovered what I think is a beaver lodge and I can't wait to go hide out on the bank on a nice day and see if I can catch them dragging a sapling into the water. Here's to hoping for some of this.