The sun is about to go down before 8pm for the first time since spring, and it won't set that late again until spring comes back around. Daylight is disappearing at close to four minutes a day right now, about as fast as it ever moves, because at this point in the year the sun's daily track meets the horizon at its steepest angle. The two ends of the day are not shrinking equally either. The evening is giving up more light than the morning is, which is why the loss feels like it is all happening after supper rather than before breakfast. Nearly everything else outside is running on the same clock: the birds leaving, the leaves turning, and the frost coming.