Friday, January 1, 2016

sun dog


Dawn of 2016.  It may look like a slice of rainbow, but it's not - no bow.  It's a sun dog - an atmospheric phenomenon when it's very cold (it was!) and the sun is reflecting off ice crystals in the air.  But why a "dog"?  The OED was no help - just races it back to the C17th, and leaves it there.  I wondered if it was like a "fire dog" - one of those iron stands book-ending a fire place - but that only seems to date from the C18th (and is equally inexplicable).  Whatever the etymology, it was extremely beautiful.

Oh, and I should note: it begins the 8th year of FTBL.  Thanks for reading ...

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