A Thin Beam of Sunlight

Spotted this on my way in to work. It’s a small, thin beam of sunlight – a perfectly straight line that seemed to mark the time on the building across the street.

I didn’t think to track down just how this was happening, but I just got taken with this thing sunbeam.

It made me think of time and of sundials, and of the massive clock in the mountains that Jeff Bezos is constructing.

I don’t recall ever seeing this before. I wonder how much of this is due to the construction happening nearby. Perhaps it’s always been like this, and I only just noticed because I’m an hour late half the year.

Regardless, it’s something I’ll keep an eye out for. It’s easy to sometimes feel like a small, anonymous cog working within the larger machine that is Chicago. But seeing this today made me feel good.

I felt like I was witnessing something large – the sun in the sky, the very city itself – in the process of starting up. All of us, me included, slowly waking to greet the day.

Related:
Sunlight Patterns
Spotlight
Odd Reflection, Caused by a Unique Confluence of Glass and Light
ThePresent: Annual Clock That Measures Time in Seasons, Not Seconds