Monday, October 10, 2005

a dash of clarification

I was a bit misleading in my last post about the approach of winter's darkness.

Re-reading it, I realized that I make it sound sudden or ominous. It's actually more of a gradual process. In the Spring, each day is marked by the number of minutes of daylight gained; in the fall, the number of minutes lost. It's a part of the early morning news, as well as the weather. And therefore it's a part of my morning ritual of caffeination and NPR. Throughout the year, there is a daily update about what time the sun will rise, what time the sun will set, how many hours and minutes of daylight there will be total, and how many minutes of daylight will be lost/gained from the day before.

The loss of daylight is gradual - just a matter of minutes each day. One would think it would be a matter of adjustment, not shock. But shock is how I seem to register it. First, comes the shock (sometime around August) that it gets dark at all. Then, comes the sound of the geese leaving again. Then comes the realization that it gets dark by 11 p.m., then by 10 p.m., then by 9 p.m., then by 8 p.m., ..... And sometime, around December, the sun will start setting around 3 p.m. It was right about that point that I started to wonder whether it would come back before I permanantly became a biscuit-baking herit with bad hair roots.

But, at that same point, others are rejoicing. I have a good friend whose mood becomes giddy and gleeful with the return of the dark. After the months of sunshine and dourness, the cold and the dark bring back her jovial, playful and mischievious nature to the forefront. I have to assume this cause-and-effect is not unique to her. Maybe it's the extra personal space after all the tourists have departed. Maybe it's the chance to catch up on sleep after the months without nightfall. Maybe its the upcoming holidays.

But there's just too much joviality, playfulness and mischief in these days of frost and sparkling stars for me to make insinuations of ominous darkness.

4 Comments:

Blogger Mona said...

I think that's what I would be like, jumping up and down for joy and giddy: ) That's how I feel now the temperature has dropped about 30 degrees and it's fall!

11:09 AM  
Blogger FishTaxi said...

What helps me is I put up xmas lights around inside the house. I got globe lights strung on the kitchen ceiling. More globe lights in the bathroom. They make great night lights, cheer you up and they don't use a lot of electricity.

I like the winter and I try to hang around people that do too. We got snow/rain today but it was beautiful, with the full moon, all week-end. I always say its the moon in the winter & the sun in the summer.

Keeps me going after all these years!

12:21 AM  
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