happy equinox everyone!

today marks the first day of astronomical autumn–the autumnal equinox. the earth spins on a tilted axis as the planet orbits the sun. but twice in the course of that yearlong trip around the sun, the earth is not inclined toward or away from the sun, and the sun shines directly at the equator. each of those instances is an equinox, which is derived from the latin words for equal (aequus) and night (nox). and at the 45th parallel, where minneapolis sits, that means almost exactly 12 hours of daylight, and 12 hours of darkness.

as if on cue, our temps dropped 20 degrees from 88 yesterday, to 68 degrees today. and this sumac i picked this morning on my drive home from my mom’s. so, while it’s mostly coincidence, today looks like fall, it feels like fall, and it (astronomically) is fall. there is no room for doubt, fall is here.

red stag sumac in fall colors