Crests, troughs, and points in between

[Robert E. Spenger]

This item and the fact that someone pointed out that Ground hog day was about
midway between the Winter solstice and the Spring equinox collided in my mind
and it suddenly struck me that Ground hog day was an inflexion point on the
(approximate) sine wave of day length over time. I realize that ninety-five
percent or more of any pilgrim group will consider this to be totally blah, but
to me it was more exciting than seeing the Eunate or the wine fountain at
Irache. I didn't visit either of those because I was too stubborn to go a few
kilometers extra to take them in.

What is lacking is a day to honor the other inflexion point in early November.
The old Armistice day was a bit late to fit.

bill deutschman wrote:

>  As we were
> climbing hills, she delighted in telling me when she decided the second
> derivative of the slope was zero because she knew the pedaling would become
> easier.
>