{"id":21007,"date":"2021-03-20T15:04:10","date_gmt":"2021-03-20T15:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/?p=21007"},"modified":"2021-03-20T15:11:41","modified_gmt":"2021-03-20T15:11:41","slug":"spring-done-sprung","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/spring-done-sprung\/","title":{"rendered":"Spring Done Sprung"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"032021-1\"<\/p>\n

Here in Virginia\u2019s Piedmont, and that includes Ruckersville, we slipped past 0537 this morning to abandon Winter and awake in Spring. Poet Bill Wordsworth did something a while back that greets this particular dawn nicely. He called his attempt \u201cLines Written in Early Spring.\u201d It starts like this:
\nThrough primrose tufts, in that green bower,
\nThe periwinkle trailed its wreaths;
\nAnd \u2019tis my faith that every flower
\nEnjoys the air it breathes.<\/p>\n

As our Earth revolves around the Sun, there are only two moments each year when the Sun shines down exactly above the equator. These moments are called \u201cequinoxes.\u201d The Latin words literally mean \u2018equal night,\u2019 since the length of day and night is nearly equal in all parts of the world. So, most places on Earth, including Ruckersville, will see approximately 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night.<\/p>\n

In the Piedmont , this equinox marks the moment when our Northern Hemisphere starts to tilt toward the sun, which means the days will be longer and sunnier. I looked for green bowers as a brilliant bright sun rose over the still barren trees and found none. Much as I would have liked periwinkles, I found none. There are some blossoms inside, which represent the Refuge Farm attempt to prime the execution of the season.<\/p>\n

\"032021-2\"
\nThere is much we could talk about this lovely Spring morning. Presidential stumbles, atrocious crimes, acrimonious foreign relations. But having this morning with no dispute about equality of night and day, I just want to remember Old Jim\u2019s mutter of outrage, twice a year, normally in the later hours of the afternoon at the Willow bar. Someone would bring the joy of the new season into the darkened tranquility of his Amen Corner and shout that the day was finally longer, and the earth would soon show us her bounty.<\/p>\n

Jim would snort and put his dark long-neck Budweiser firmly on the bar. Then he would pronounce his truth: \u201cThere are exactly as many minutes and seconds as there were yesterday and will be tomorrow.\u201d Then he would gaze about for disagreement. Finding none, he would take another triumphant sip of Bud.<\/p>\n

It became a ritual over the years, and his seasonal irritation was greeted with the smiles of Spring. And that was the real equal time for us. And despite Bill Wordsworth\u2019s words, I am going with Jim.<\/p>\n

\"032021-3\"
\nCopyright 2021 Vic Socotra
\nwww.vicsocotra.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here in Virginia\u2019s Piedmont, and that includes Ruckersville, we slipped past 0537 this morning to abandon Winter and awake in Spring. Poet Bill Wordsworth did something a while back that greets this particular dawn nicely. He called his attempt \u201cLines Written in Early Spring.\u201d It starts like this: Through primrose tufts, in that green bower, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-socotra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21007"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21013,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21007\/revisions\/21013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}