Winter light

“It was the color of someone buying you an ice cream cone for no reason at all.”

Lemony Snicket

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Yesterday afternoon I grabbed the snowshoes and poles and hiked out to the Lamar river. The snow was deep. It did not take long and my feet were cold, while my upper body was sweating. I could feel a breeze of cold air in my face. Sunset was still an hour away, so I had time to walk along the frozen edge of the river looking for a suitable foreground. A solitary tree on a hillside across the river piqued my interest.

Sitting on a fallen cottonwood I watched the scenery. There were two coyotes in the distance scampering up the valley. Turning once in a while, making sure I was no thread (or prey?). I imagined the sky turning into a firework of colors. Well, that never happened this evening. Instead, we got winter blues. I had seen those before.

Maybe it was more like someone buying you a warm cup of soup for no reason at all.

[Lemony Snicket is the pen name of Daniel Handler, an American writer, musician and journalist.]

 

Almost unbearable

A Kirlian cloud.

There is no such thing as a Kirlian cloud, but in the days of alternative facts…

Seriously, out of the blue, after a long dark winter there  is more light than darkness. Almost too much. Gone are the days, when it was easy to catch a sunrise, or there was plenty of night time to watch the Northern lights. More light than darkness. Now comes the time of filling the tank. No more frantic reading, excessive cooking and baking. Winter is over. Well, there is still snow coming down, ice on the road, strong winds, but I can feel it, that sun light. It’s going to put an end to another winter.

Aren’t you glad?

We all need some light…

“How does light enter a house?
If the windows are open.
How does light enter a human?”

Paulo Coelho

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The answer to above question is found in Paul Coelho’s book “Eleven Minutes” and probably other places, too.

Weather permitting this is the view from my house. Some days the sky turns bright pink, these days the sun disappears behind the mountains at 1:30, some days all I see are gray skies. The most dramatic skies are found, when storms are approaching or clearing. Those are my favorite moments.

In memory of…

Chilkat Inlet, Alaska

“There is a crack in everything.
That’s how the light gets in.”

Leonard Cohen

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 Leonard Cohen (1934 – 2016)

Poet, singer, songwriter, who gave us Hallelujah, Suzanne, and many more beautiful songs.

RIP

Winter Solstice

“Is it snowing where you are?

All the world that I see from my tower is draped in white and the flakes are coming down as big as pop-corns.

It’s late afternoon – the sun is just setting behind some colder violet hills, and I am up in my window seat using the last light to write to you.”

Jean Webster

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The sun did rise this morning at 8:56 behind a snowy sky. Not that we have seen a lot of her, lately. It is the beginning and the the end of winter. Starting tomorrow there will be more daylight. We are heading for spring and summer. The colors will be muted for some months to come. But they will return.

In the meantime, we’ll make the best out of it. Reading, writing, working from home. Enjoying breaks in the weather. It is a good time to appreciate what we have.

Light and Shadow

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness:
only light can do that.”

Martin Luther King Jr.

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Today, the climate summit at Paris concluded. I am not sure what was achieved, an agreement? A non-binding agreement of 200 nations urging their governments by 2020 to do their best keeping the global temperature change below 2°C. At this point, I am reading summaries and commentaries from various news outlets. That leaves me with many questions.

What do you see: The silver lining, or a lot of dark shadows?