Birkat Hachama
In all my running around today, I forgot to mention that today is an amazing, and rare, Jewish holiday. Every twenty-eight years, the sun returns to the position in the sky where, it is said, God first created it.
From the Wikipedia entry:
According to Judaism, the Sun has a 28 year solar cycle known as machzor gadol (מחזור גדול, "the great cycle"). A solar year is estimated as 365.25 days and the "Blessing of the Sun", being said at the beginning of this cycle, is therefore recited every 10,227 (28 times 365.25) days. The last time that it was recited was on April 8, 2009 (14 Nisan 5769 on the Hebrew calendar). This coincided with the day before the Jewish Holiday of Passover (Hebrew: פסח).
One of the very cool things about the Jewish holiday cycle is how it is linked to the movement of the heavenly bodies. Sun, moon, stars, all move across the sky and tell us when it's time to celebrate.
Happy holidays!