November Sun.

Finally, the sun is shinning. Not much, but indeed visibly. Those weak rays are so welcomed. I stood outside for a short while, just to feel them on my face...
The sun is at last visiting us on a Sunday, how appropriate that is. Sadly, it will stay a little while only, but it is better than nothing.

I got to think about the sun and how important it is to us. It is the fountain of life and just like water, absolutely essential.

Here are a few interesting facts about this vital star:
(For full list, please visit this site)

•Our sun has an expected lifetime of about 11 billion years.

•Our sun and the surrounding planets orbit around the center of the Milky Way galaxy once every 250 million years.

•Only 55% of all Americans know that the sun is a star.

•On its trip around the sun, the earth travels over a million and a half miles per day.

•Lightning bolts can sometimes be hotter than the sun. (about 50 000º F)

•It takes only 8 minutes for sunlight to travel from the sun to the earth, which also means, if you see the sun go out, it actually went out 8 minutes ago.

•In Spit Bergen, Norway at one time of the year the sun shines continuously for three and a half months.

•For 186 days you can not see the sun in the North Pole.

•Every eleven years the magnetic poles of the sun switch. This cycle is called"Solarmax".

•All the coal, oil, gas, and wood on Earth would only keep the Sun burning for a few days.

•Your fingernails can turn yellow from wearing nail polish and from the sun.

•More than 1 million earths would fit inside the sun.

•The sun is 330,330 times larger than the earth.

Below my traditional birch tree update, which is slowly coming to its its end. The tree now only holds onto a few brown, dried leaves on the lower branches of its crown. I think there might be one more, perhaps two more weeks left before it stands completely bare, signifying the onset of winter.