The temperature in Minneapolis/Saint Paul reached 90 F yesterday. This coincided with the autumnal equinox of 2017 for the northern hemisphere, which occurred at 3:02 pm.

Equivalency

This means day and night are of approximately equal duration. That’s something anyone can remark upon if they’ve been enjoying activities outside. It’s something you feel on an animal level. Wikipedia puts it more precisely and objectively:

An equinox is the moment in which the plane of Earth’s equator passes through the center of the Sun’s disk.

You can count on Wikipedia for the above-named strengths in its presentation of facts. However, its readability is reduced in this trade-off. I often visit the Simple English version of the article to get a less hair-splitting perspective on the subject at hand. (Then if it’s really interesting I go to la version française de l’article.)

This dynamic map also illustrates the matter well:

(https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/sunearth.html)

Cyclicality

A pairing of equal night and day occurs twice a year, in spring and fall.

Since it occurs at the same times of March and September each year, you can make an occasion of it and plan a camping trip, a bike ride, or just a short walk to a place with a good view. To make a special event out of a cyclical solar event is to have your finger on the pulse of an artery in your local appendage of the cosmos.

I took the warmth as an opportunity to swim in Snelling Lake for what might be the last time this year. This place is a hidden gem. It is a small lake in Fort Snelling State Park. Because the lake is small and shallow, it stays warm well into fall. For those with a 7:45 to 4:15 job like me, it means you can hop on your bike when you get home, ride down the bike trails in either Saint Paul or Minneapolis, and hop in the lake just as the sun sets.

Although this beach is very noisy in the summer due to its proximity to the airport, the thundering jet traffic overhead becomes sparse after Labor Day. The place is very peaceful. The sun is directly ahead of you as you walk into the water.

Yesterday a guy named Pedro was splashing his two female companions while they screamed, “Pedro, no! Pedro no! I don’t want to get wet! Aaaaah!” and so on.

Transition

The autumn equinox is not just a cycle and not just an equivalency to remark upon but also a transition, because it marks off the end of summer and the beginning of fall. Although many of its attributes are calculable eons in advance, each equinox, when it happens, has never happened before. The same goes for jumping into the water and feeling the lake weeds between your toes.

No one can predict the limitless branching possibilities for me as I transition, with effort, into a friendly, approachable person. In fact I spoke with a few bird and nature enthusiasts on this very bike ride. It was easy, and they provided more evidence for my working hypothesis that other people are good and beneficial and fun. I will find more nature people during the winter solstice roughly three months from now, when most of the landscapes at my northerly latitude will have transitioned into winter.

There are many solstice events to choose from. Between now and then Three Rivers Parks District will also host many hike and ski by the light of the full moon events with hot cocoa and luminaries.

Fall is a special time and a lot of people’s favorite season. I am determined to spend as much time outside in it as possible. And I promise to photograph and write about it here!

Included: some free stuff I found on the ground