Hemispherical Notes — Seasonal Deprivation

I am sitting here at the table, in our sun drenched home on Waiheke Island, New Zealand. And I’m feeling the long term effects of “seasonal deprivation.” According to my Google search, there is no such thing. Yes, there are seasonal disorders pertaining to lack of adequate sunlight and similar things, but I’m talking about something different.
I’m talking about missing out on entire seasons. And it’s all about this Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere thing. I’ve been in the Southern Hemisphere going on five months now. It will be another three months before I cross the Equator once again.
Last September I experienced the Autumn Equinox in Santa Fe, and the days began to get shorter one by one. Then came December and the beginning of winter. I left for Hawaii the first week in January and felt the days slowly getting longer during the glorious tropical winter. Ten days after we experienced the Spring Equinox at Waimea Bay, we flew here to Waiheke Island where alas, Autumn had just begun. Ten days later it was onto Tasmania where the latitude is the southern equivalent of Oregon, and the days were getting shorter, again.
Today it is mid-winter and the days are growing longer by fractions of an inch. We will be back in Australia shortly before the Equinox, when Spring will begin once more. On the Sunshine Coast, the longer days of sunshine will be welcomed and celebrated. We will stay until early December, when my three month visa expires.
Then we will move on once again, back to Hawaii or perhaps Mexico. Yes, back to the Northern Hemisphere, where Winter will soon begin again. And yes, it will be warm during those short Winter days. And yes, by then I will be aching for a big dose of long, long, Summer days.
-Glen McKerrihan at Fig & Agave
