The latest sunrise

Today is the latest sunrise of the year. 7:27 am Baltimore time. Not nice. It feels pretty dismal when you wake up around 6:00 or 6:30 am all ready to embrace the day, and you can't even find your slippers. The night still hangs heavy on the air. Some schools are beginning their work days just as the sun peeks over the houses, trees and hills. Surely some folks would like to argue that they shouldn't have to bare their shiny bodies to the world before the sun bares hers.

The good news, though, is that today (in daylight hours) is 51 seconds longer than the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. We will enjoy a whopping 9h 30m 21s of daylight today, to be precise.

The longest day of the year around here - may it come soon! - is a full five hours longer - running 14 hours and 56 minutes and 21 seconds. As if to reward us for drudging through the dreary darkness, this year at least we actually get TWO days of this length: June 20 and June 21.

I am paying particular attention to the sun this year for two reasons: it seems that Seasonal Affect Disorder - or at least its younger cousin SLOTH (Seasonal Lethargy Or someTHing) has settled in for the duration of winter. So every additional second of sunlight is scooped up and cherished.

And this year is, as I have said before and will no doubt say again, The Year of the Sun, the year in which we get to celebrate Birkat Hahammah, the once-in-28-years celebration of the sun.

I am bound and determined to learn more about the sun, and do more to invigorate the world with the energy from the sun, than I have in the past.

If you too want to track the comings and goings of the miraculous gift of the sun, you can check it out at http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/astronomy.html?n=419&month=1&year=2009&obj=sun&afl=-11&day=1

This helpful website gives you the sunrise, sunset, noon time and things I cannot understand, like the azimuth, different twilights and more.

And if you want to help the sun help heal the earth, plant a tree, visit www.blessthesun.org and get all your friends to do the same and adopt some of the projects you read about there.

Learn about renewable energy and how we can move the world to embrace it (Israel is heavy into solar technology research. Japan and China are hopping on board - America cannot afford to be left behind). You can find lots of information by searching the web or coming back here for updates.

Meanwhile, don't forget your Vitamin D!