Sunday was June 21st, the summer solstice.  The city of Chiayi, Taiwan (in the southern half of Taiwan) is exactly on the 23rd parallel, or the Tropic of Skin Cancer as I call it.  I took the High Speed Rail south on Sunday to take photos of objects on the solstice at noon.

I also went because there was an annular solar eclipse on the same day at 4:00pm.  I haven’t had time to finish dealing with the photos, but intend to finish tomorrow evening.  The last two weeks have been hectic.

As mentioned in another post, this Thursday (June 25th) is Dragon Boat Festival.  Most of the boat races in Taiwan have been cancelled or postponed, but a few are still going ahead because of their locations.  Friday is not officially a day off, but the government had businesses and schools open last Saturday (June 20th) to create a four day weekend.  There’s also the Canada Day events on Saturday and the World Pride event in Taipei on Sunday.

I would rather work the extra day before an extended holiday than make it up after; I had to work nine days out of ten before the long weekend.  If we had made it up after, we would be working eleven days out of twelve.  Working the make up day before feels like you earned the day off.  Making it up after feels like you’re repaying a debt, with interest.