January 15: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday

King Day, celebrated on January 15 in 2018, is a United States federal holiday to honor the memory of Civil Rights leader, humanitarian, and Nobel Peace Prize winner Martin Luther King, Jr. 

It's celebrated the third Monday in January, and, as it is a federal holiday, it means that we have no mail delivery; federal courts and offices are closed; most schools are closed; and we should fly the flag.   (Almost all states also recognize Martin Luther King Day with closures of state offices and other officially recognized ceremonies.)

Martin Luther King talking in Minnesota in 1967.  Photo from the Minnesota Historical Society found at Wikipedia

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Martin Luther King would be 89 if he were still with us.

Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, so this year, 2018, we are celebrating King Day on King's actual birthday, which happens to be the third Monday of the month this year. King would be 89 if he were still living, but he was assassinated on April 4, 1968, when he was only 39 years old.

I was in high school in a suburb of Chicago, and I remember that time well.  It was a time of sadness, anger, and uncertainty. 

Happy January 14!

It's cold but sunny outside today in Chicago, Illinois. 

The days are actually getting longer even though it still seems pretty bleak outside.  The sun rose this morning at 7:16 a.m. local time and it will set at 4:43 p.m., one minute later than it set yesterday in Chicago.  We have a total of one minute and thirty two more seconds of daylight than we had yesterday.  Altogether, we have added back 19 minutes and 40 seconds of daylight since the Winter Solstice on December 21st.  

Seattle?  New York City?  Other Cities?

Seattle, Washington, is just a bit farther north than Chicago.  Whereas Chicago has over 9 hours of sunlight today (9 hours and 27 minutes to be precise), Seattle only has 8 hours and 50 minutes of sunlight today.  And New York City, slightly south of Chicago, has 9 hours and 34 minutes of daylight, about 7 more minutes of daylight than Chicago.  You can search for your city HERE at the sunset/sunrise lookup of the TimeAndDate site.

Not sure where this gorgeous photo came from, but it is a perfect expression of the beauty of winter.

How Many Days Until Daylight Savings Time Comes Back?

Ringing in the New Year: How did you celebrate? How do you celebrate now?

Another New Year's Eve, bringing memories, hopes, cheers, and even a few fears as we move into 2018: 

We lived in the city of Chicago when I was very small, in the neighborhood known as Pilsen.  My grandmother lived just a block away, and one of my aunts and uncles lived just two blocks away.  I remember New Year's Eve celebrations at my Grandma's house.  We rang cowbells!  As we were little kids, we tried to stay up until the New Year rang in and that was quite a treat.  That was it!  But we knew it was a special night from the time we were little.

Mae West celebrating New Year 1936 with tinsel. (John Kobal Foundation/Getty Images)

Other memorable New Year's Eves?

Happy New Year 2018!

Update:  As of 9:30 a.m. Chicago time, Happy 2018 New Year to Samoa, the Christmas Islands, New Zealand, Australia, Tokyo, Seoul, and North Korea.        

Just a few hours before 2018 is here!

The first places to welcome 2018 will be...

The first places to welcome 2018 will be Samoa and Christmas Island and the small country of Kiribati (the former Gilbert Islands). The New Year is coming to those small countries in the middle of the Pacific in (as of 12:33 a.m. Chicago time) in 3 hours and 26 minutes, which is 20 hours before we will welcome 2018 in Chicago, in the Central Time Zone.  So when we awake on New Year's Eve, part of the world will already be experiencing 2018!

You can watch the world turn to 2018 at this link:

Time left before the New Year around the globe!


Actually, the whole Time and Date website is full of interesting tidbits.  I'm surprised I never came across it before.

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Late Autumn: A Glorious Autumn Finale by Photographer Robert Blair

Autumn is a very special time for photographers.  I found this photo somewhere on my wanderings a few years back and I saved it.  An image search led me to the incredible photography of Robert Blair.  His gallery contains dozens of beautiful photographs, most of them with nature themes, most of them very seasonal.

But the glorious photo below is the first that drew me to Robert Blair; a photo he took in mid-November 2013 and called "Autumn Finale 2.0"  Perfect for this time of the year:  Snow on the ground, but still some leaves on the trees.

From Rob Blair at Robert Blair Photography:

Found HERE

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November Comes and November Goes...

"November comes and November goes with the last red berries and the first white snows."

................................................................................................   Ode To November...

"November comes and November goes with the last red berries and the first white snows."---I love this poem..November is such a transitional month.

I found this photo at the Facebook page "If the World Had a Front Porch" a couple of years ago and saved it. But the original photo accredited this poem about November to a woman named Clyde Watson... It seems the real author was poet Elizabeth Coatsworth, born in 1893, who lived most of her life in New England and died in 1986.

And please visit "If the World Had a Front Porch"!  A beautiful collection of photos!  

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Autumn Begins Friday afternoon, September 22nd!

Happy Autumn!
Friday, September 22, 2017

Art mosaic glass by Singapore artist Anjali Venkat

For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, Autumn greets us (or we greet Autumn) tomorrow, September 22, 2017, at 3:02 p.m. Central Daylight Time.