HAPPY NEW WEEK and HAPPY LEAP DAY!!!
I hope everyone has a good week.
Almost every 4 years an extra day is added to our calendar to keep it in sync with Earth's seasons. The extra day is added to February, the shortest month, and February 29 is called Leap Day. So, next Thursday in the US and UK is Leap Day, and 2024 is a Leap Year.
Some folks celebrate Leap Day by doing something that they've been wanting to do but have been putting off.
Personally, I intend to celebrate this Leap Day by thinking hard about the best way to move forward and make some necessary changes in my life.
I hope you all have a wonderful Leap Day.
Love and hugs to everyone.
www.timeanddate.com/.../leapyear.html
Thank you Diane. I am fascinated by the Calendar. The year is not 365 days 6 hours long. It is 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes and 11 seconds. So if you put in a leap year every four years you are putting in too much. This causes the seasons to get earlier with time. This problem was noted in the 4th century but nothing was done about it. In the 12th century someone did try to draw the attention of the Pope to this problem. He got all his gear and went to Rome only to find that the Pope had changed and the new man was not interested. It fell to Pope Gregory to introduce a fix in 1582. However countries like England were sceptical and stuck to there old ways. It was not until 1752 that the Gregorian calendar was introduced to the whole UK. Up until 1751 new year in England was 25 March. This was changed to 1 January in 1752. So 1751 was a very odd year. It began on 25 March and ended on 31 December. So that means there are 83 missing dates. Of course the error accumulated over 1700 years had to be fixed and this was done in 1752 with the 14th September following 2nd September. See www.hastingleigh.com/hast-calendar.html
Tiger Signature
Tiger, that's fascinating. Thank you for a very early morning history lesson. I have never thought about why we had a leap year every four years - now I know!!
Thank you. You are not alone in not thinking about it. Of course the fix was to take 11 days out of the calendar and then cancelling 3 out of four centenary leap years. So 2000 was a leap year but 2100, 2200 and 2300 will not be leap years but 2400 will be.
I don't think I'll be around to see 2400 ...
Diane - thank you for starting us off. What a fascinating subject you have started with mentioning leap day. Tiger. Thank you for all those facts. I never knew all that.
It’s frosty and misty here. More housework for me today!
Thank you, DIANE, for our new week - and Leap Day- and thank you TIGER for adding to our knowledge of the history around the Gregorian Calendar. OH has a book about The Calendar, but I must admit I have not read it - something to fill the hours of Leap Day?
I slept really well again last night and woke up at a reasoable hour this morning - just before our alarm clocks. Having read through the prayer for church, which indicates I was compos mentis when I wrote it, we are now almost ready to set off. We go a little early to give J a lift into town where he has breakfast at Subway before going to his church. He usually has a lift home, or walks back to join us for lunch.
TIGER: The Leap Year history is interesting.
OG: I'm glad you slept better. I hope the church service went well. I'm sure your writing was well received. I also hope the doctors can restore J's hearing. I was sorry to read about that issue.
SHEILAFE: It was nice to see you on this thread. Pop in anytime.
OG Glad to hear you slept well, what a difference a good nights sleep makes.
OG - I hope the church service went well. Glad you had a good nights sleep. Wish I could. I am still a World Service listener.
It is a lovely sunny day today and I am off to Chester Zoo with a couple of friends. A stroll around for a couple of hours and then lunch in their lovely bistro. I think I deserve it after my efforts with the housework this weekend!!!!!
Had a lovely trip to the zoo. An extra treat was discovering these trees in blossom as we were walking round.