Winter

It feels like Winter where I live. We've had quite a bit of rain and even a little snow. (Of course we're hoping for a lot more to end the drought in California.)

But, according to the calendars,  Winter won't actually begin until December 22nd.

My etymological dictionary, says the word, winter, is related to the words for wet, and water. In the Northern Hemisphere that's certainly appropriate.

But what about people who live down under in places like Australia or Brazil.  Do they still call this time of year Winter?

It seems like they should have opposite terms for the seasons since their climate is opposite of ours in the Northern Hemisphere.

I guess since people from Europe settled into those continents hundreds of years ago those people kept the languages and terms they were used to. But what did (or do) the original peoples in those areas call the seasons?

Anybody know?

Weather

People talk about the weather a lot. Some places in the USA have been having severe storms while California, where I live, has been having a serious drought.

Now it's pouring, and we're all grateful for that.

But if the rains continue, as they do in a normal year, soon we'll be complaining about them.

And then in the Summer we'll complain about the heat.

It seems like no matter what kind of weather is happening, people tend to complain about it.

And then there's all the conversation about climate change. Some people think it's something that occurs naturally every few thousand years while others say it's caused by pollution. Personally, I think both are probably influencing the changes.

But then there's my own theory. Climate change is really caused by the skateboarders. They jump up and down so much they're tipping the planet! ;-)

Behavior From the Sky

As a substitute teacher there were days when I'd have a difficult class and when I went to the lunchroom nearly all the regular teachers were saying their classes had also been unusually difficult that day.

When that happened it was almost always either when a storm was brewing or there would be a full moon that night.

I don't remember noticing the same correlation with my own children's behavior as a parent, but it might have happened. It's easier to notice a pattern involving dozens or hundreds of kids than with only a few.

Anyway, I'm sure ominous weather and full moons do influence children's behavior.

I wonder if those things influence adults as well?

If I were a scientist I might research the number of crimes occurring at those times and compare them with the crime rates on other days, but I'm not a scientist and I'm too lazy to do that research.

I've seen some superstitious explanations for kids' behavior being influenced by things in the sky, but I believe the behavior changes are due to the change in air pressure or gravitational pull. Perhaps children are more susceptible to those things than adults.

Did any of you watch the meteor shower last night?

I wonder if that had any influence on the behavior of children.

Of course if more kids misbehave today it might just be because they stayed up past their bedtimes to watch the falling stars.

Vernal Equinox

Unlike some divisions of time like hours, minutes, seconds, and weeks, the seasons are actually determined by nature. The Vernal Equinox is when the sun crosses the equator, making hours of day and night equal - at least in some parts of the world. I'm not sure that actually happens in places like Antarctica and at the North Pole.

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, today is the first day of Spring. This is the season when flowers are supposed to bloom, the sky should be blue, and birds and butterflies should be seen flying around. But where I live, in the Sierra foothills of Northern California, it seems that Winter has just arrived. We had the first real snowfall last week. But we know things will warm up.

Other parts of the planet have had different kinds of weather, but the movement of the sun controls the seasons for all of us.

Soon people in Australia and Brazil will be harvesting crops and preparing for cold weather while those of us in the Northern Hemisphere will be putting away our sweaters and coats and planting things in our gardens.

What's the weather like where you live?

There are pleasant and unpleasant things about every season. Which season do you like best?