Latin Lesson:

The word ‘solstice’ is derived from the Latin words “sol,” for sun, and “sistere,” meaning “to stand still.”
The word ‘equinox’ comes from the collision of two Latin words: “aequus,” meaning equal, and “nox,” for night. Don’t confuse them or Jim Champagne will get irritated.

Well, we made it. It happened around 10:58 local time yesterday, and in that moment of transition we raised a glass to the memory of Jim Champagne, our local weather curmudgeon. He was a little more flexible than the rest of us on scheduling, and he set up shop at the Amen Corner of Arlington’s Willow Bar a little before the rest of us. Yesterday would have been one of the landmark days, when someone would notice it was the “longest day of the year,” or at least WMAL claimed it was. That assertion would be answered by Jim’s curt declaration that they are all the same length. There just happened to be more light contained in the same amount of time.

It is appropriate to remember his observation, and to celebrate the ease with which we slipped into Summer. It happened around 11:00 yesterday on Wednesday, June 21. That’s when the Northern Hemisphere sees the most daylight all year, marking the astronomical start of our sultry Commonwealth Summer. Willow has been closed for years now, still vacant, so we celebrate the seasonal change measured against the harsh chill of real estate reality. We also recall Jim’s declaration about the length of the day that marks the change.

Perhaps you recall something from back in grade school, or might if you attended class before all the other important new science was invented to accommodate important statistical manipulation. Jim’s observation was based on his Earth Science course in 1962. He was taught that our Earth spins on a tilted axis. He would slide his Budweiser in a loop on the polished wood in front of our little gathering. This was when beer was not a political commodity, of course, but he used his other hand to demonstrate that if you were to draw a line from the North Pole straight to the South Pole, neck of the brown bottle down to the sturdy base, it would stand at a 23.5-degree angle. If the beer bottle were an abstract representation of our globe, the North Pole will point toward the center of Willow’s ceiling, and away from it at other points. The more the beer bottle points toward the sun, the more daylight people in the Northern Hemisphere will have and the commute home theoretically safer.

Yesterday, the North Pole was angled closest to the sun 10:58 a.m. Eastern Daylight Savings Time and duly recorded by the United States Navy at the Observatory downtown along with the number of migrants who debarkd their bus from Texas. People north of the label on the beer bottle experienced their longest day and shortest night of the year. People south of the equator will see the opposite effect regardless of the liquid level in the bottle. Jim would note that part is a little subjective.

Having arrived at that moment, we naturally assume the living will be easy for a while as we start the long slide toward the shortest day of the year just before Christmas. We can almost hear Jim laughing. The winter solstice will occur six months from now. According to the National Weather Service, daytime will range from about 12 hours and six and one-half minutes at the equator, to 12 hours and 8 minutes at 30 degrees latitude, to 12 hours and 16 minutes at 60 degrees latitude. This year, the Autumnal Equinox will be Sept. 23. We intend to celebrate the changing colors of the foliage on the patio accordingly. But that is a ways away, and we miss having Old Jim moving the Budweiser bottle of our world around the corner of the Willow Bar!

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