YAY, SPRING! This lovely season brings us rebirth along with increasing daylight, warming temperatures, and ~ well, we can always hope. Regardless, I promise it will get warmer, greener and lusher, eventually (unless you are south of the equator, then it’s just the opposite and its autumn for you).

Technically speaking, spring began today with the vernal equinox at 5:58 P.M. EDT. The word equinox is Latin for “equal night” (vernal means spring). In other words, today we will have approximately 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of nighttime everywhere on the Earth. Moreover, the Sun rises and sets due east and west. This happens because today, the tilt of Earth relative to the Sun is zero, which means that Earth’s axis neither points toward nor away from the Sun (don’t forget, the tilt of Earth is relative to its plane of orbit, called the ecliptic plane, which is always about 23.5 degrees). This is very cool.

This morning, I went out looking for some signs of spring. I had to look hard, but found a couple. The stream by our house is starting to flow again.

Although on other days, I have seen Redwing Black Birds around our feeders, which are another sign of spring for me. No Robins were out today either. But alas, there weren’t many birds out at all this morning.

In addition to today being the first day of spring, it is also the United Nations International Day of Happiness!  In 2011, all 193 United Nations members recognized that progress should be about increasing human happiness and well-being, not just growing the economy. That was a very profound declaration in a time of such immense greed. It is definitely a good step in the right direction. So today is a day to celebrate, rejoice and simply be happy.

Behold, my friends, the spring is come; the earth has gladly received the embraces of the sun, and we shall soon see the results of their love! ~Sitting Bull