'tis the season

[awellis3]

Good news! Yesterday (the 19th) began our run of shortest days. For six days we will have 9hrs. 34min. of daylight, then on Christmas Day, the days start getting longer.
And if you ever wondered why the old carol "In the Bleak Midwinter" refers to this time as "midwinter" instead of the beginning of winter, the ancient Celts' winter was from Nov. 1 (the feast of Samhain which we celebrate still as Holloween) to Feb. 1 (the Feast of Brigid, which lingers as Ground Hog Day). So the solstice is in midwinter. So youse guys in upstate New York take heart.

FWIW,
Teach

[luvrque]

Originally Posted by awellis3

Good news! Yesterday (the 19th) began our run of shortest days. For six days we will have 9hrs. 34min. of daylight, then on Christmas Day, the days start getting longer.
And if you ever wondered why the old carol "In the Bleak Midwinter" refers to this time as "midwinter" instead of the beginning of winter, the ancient Celts' winter was from Nov. 1 (the feast of Samhain which we celebrate still as Holloween) to Feb. 1 (the Feast of Brigid, which lingers as Ground Hog Day). So the solstice is in midwinter. So youse guys in upstate New York take heart.

FWIW,
Teach

Yes the days getting longer is great news , had enough of the Short days !

Speaking of the Mid thing. Can anyone tell me why the Mideast area of the US is called the MIDWEST
I could never understand that....

[kanyonkitty]

Actually, with the time "falling back" later this year, I haven't felt like it was getting so dark so early. I was glad they changed the clocks later, but then again I always say just change them by 1/2 an hour and be done with it. No more spring forward or fall back. That stuff was for when workers/farmers had no electricity to light up their buildings and no lights on their equipment.

[awellis3]

Originally Posted by luvrque

Speaking of the Mid thing. Can anyone tell me why the Mideast area of the US is called the MIDWEST
I could never understand that....

Well, here goes. "South" was already taken and, of course, "North." At some point some folks in the North thought "New England" sounded more classy leaving Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey and New York in the lurch. They had to wait for some idiot cartographer to invent "Mid-Atlantic." I say idiot because he up and lumped the premier southern state, Virginia, in with those carpetbaggers and scalliwags. We have been and always will be part of The South. (But I digress.)

At this time the "West" was a large and amorphous region, except for the states along the Mississippi that bordered the Confederacy or were part of the CSA. Some of them, such as Texas and Missouri, parts of Kansas, Arkansas and Oklahoma kept their "southern" identity. Later, some opted for "Plains States," not wanting to be associated with the losing side. The name caught on further north as the Dakotas, Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota chose to become part of the Great Plains, but this was a bit later on.

Now, that left all that unsettled land remaining as the "West." Sure, there was California, but other than that remote outpost of civilization, all else was territory with nary a Starbucks in sight. So what to call the five states west of Pennsylvania but east of "The West"?

Why "Midwest" of course.
There you have it. Aren't you glad you asked?

Teach

[Tweety]

I'm with you Kitty...chage it a half hour and be done with it! That would be too logical and easy!

[luvrque]

Teach,
Thanks for the history lesson, I think...

[JohnB]

Originally Posted by awellis3

Why "Midwest" of course.
There you have it. Aren't you glad you asked?

Teach

Thanks Teach. Quite interesting. So now we know who the US history buff is....

But then there is Up State NY. Having lived there over 1/2 my life we where considered Up State. Up meaning anything north of NYC. So with living in Catskill Mountain range area, some 150 miles north of NYC, we always referred to living there as Up State as people from out of state would go right to NYC as where you lived if you told them your from NY. They only thought of NYC not the rest of the state…. Well this all works well until you get with people who live really up in the northern part of the state, like Water Town etc. Now there are really Up State…

DW was from Buffalo NY. That was simpler. She was from Western NY. As soon as she told anyone she was from Buffalo they went right to, Oh you get lot’s of snow…. Well being from Buffalo it all depends where you live. You either totally miss the snow as it just blew right over you or you are where it dumps on you…

So how do all these titles ever get stuck to things like this???

[awellis3]

Originally Posted by JohnB

...people from out of state would go right to NYC as where you lived if you told them your from NY. They only thought of NYC not the rest of the state….

Like telling someone you're from New Jersey. They'll say, "Yeah? What exit?"

Hee-hee.

[awellis3]

Originally Posted by luvrque

Teach,
Thanks for the history lesson, I think...

You're welcome. Now I have this nice, slightly used bridge in NYC ...

[luvrque]

Originally Posted by awellis3

You're welcome. Now I have this nice, slightly used bridge in NYC ...

Is that the one on the Midwest part of East river or the Mideast part of the Midwest river in the East just slightly toward the West ?..............

[awellis3]

Originally Posted by luvrque

Is that the one on the Midwest part of East river or the Mideast part of the Midwest river in the East just slightly toward the West ?..............

It's ... uh... wait... oh, now I'm confuzzed.

[MACK C-85]

You're welcome. Now I have this nice, slightly used bridge in NYC ...

Teach:

Let me know if you get any bites, I have a matched set of bridges available that currently cross the "ditch" that separates the Eastern Shore of Maryland from the Western Shore of Maryland. Pretty heavily used and must go as a matched pair!!

Popular Bumper Snicker on the Eastern Shore: "There is no life west of the ditch"

[Poppy & Nana]

Gosh I guess Leo and I fit two bills....WAY upstate New York (Old Forge) and Exit 159 on the GSP in NJ......

[awellis3]

Hey Mack, I lived for 3 yrs. in Northampton County, Va., down where the ditch is realllly wide.