Homemade Sundial

Materials required: A stick, a cup, and a bright sunny day.

Actually, I didn't even need the stick, the shadow of the tree would have worked just fine. I was soaking up the sun in my window and it dawned on me that the snow would make a great backdrop for a sundial. At noon I placed the cup on the line made by the shadow of the stick. This photo was taken at about 12:30.

The kids have been enjoying checking up on it every now and then. We did a similar activity in the summer when we traced their shadows on the deck using chalk. It was fun to see the shadows lengthening as the day went on.

I'm really searching for any last reasons to enjoy winter before all the snow melts. I prefer having the fresh snow on the ground. When all this beautiful clean white melts we will be left with mud and garbage and brown for a little while before the green new growth of spring arrives.

This second photo was taken at about 2:30 pm. We'll keep tracking it for the rest of the day. It would have been better to have started first thing in the morning. It also would have been better if the snow hadn't been trampled. Both photos were taken with the Canon G7.