Just A Few Minutes

I moved my computer station from the office to the kitchen yesterday, mainly to catch up on the nearly 100 posts in the various blogs that I read which had accumulated over a couple of days while I ate breakfast. The kitchen has an advantage over the office in that the office's only window faces north, and the kitchen windows face west. And the kitchen opens up into the living room, which has east-facing windows.

This is cool because for a few minutes each day -- in the morning while I'm eating and later in the evening when I sit down to write -- the sun is at its sunrise and sunset points, and shines through the windows to where I am sitting. Right now, as I write, I can see the oblong of the sun as it shines through the transom, past my head, and onto the west wall of the kitchen. It creeps, slowly, but perceptibly, downthe wall, carrying my shadow with it. Proof that the Earth spins along its axis, readily apparent for anyone to see -- along with an observable demonstration of the speed at which the Earth does so.

No, I haven't been smoking weed. I just think that's pretty cool.