Stormy Weather (11-16-2006)

I started a blog at Blogger because I changed email addresses and forgot my password at Wordpress. Most of the stuff I've written over the years is kind of dumb, but some of it might be worth preserving. I'm copying it over here so that when I forget my login info again, I can just copy it from this one place.

This morning was much like yesterday morning.  Yesterday, it was cold, and the rain was pouring, and today it’s colder, but the rain is more of a drizzle.  It’s fairly standard fare for mid-November in Alabama.

Naomi kids that these cold, grey, wet days make her feel like Christmas is approaching (rumor has it, some people substitute “White” in the holiday classic “I’m Dreaming of a Wet Christmas”, but that doesn’t seem to make much sense to me).  Up north, the holidays’ approach is announced with heavy, fluffy clouds laden with snow.   Down here, the clouds are grey, and the precipitation is much wetter.
As I was heading back to my cubicle yesterday afternoon, I overheard the casual sarcastic jeer: It’s another lovely day, I see.  This morning, as I dragged the trash cans to the curb, my thoughts were very similar.  But then it hit me:  I sure have a lot of gall to declare the aesthetic value of the day based on my fickle whims of convenience.

Some of the prettiest scenes I have seen have been glimpsed in moments where I have been caught in storms. From a lightening-filled display shared with my wife-to-be atop Sumatanga, to the leaky shelter of an abandoned mansion in the back woods of Selma, some very fond memories have involved stormy weather.

One of the best photographs I have taken was set against a storm on Bear Island off the coast of North Carolina.

Bear Island is a small island secluded from the rest of the world.  One must take a half-hour or so ferry trip accross the marshy sound to get there — a process which keeps the foot traffic on the beach relatively low.  Naomi and I rode the ferry one afternoon and enjoyed the nearly deserted beaches.  It was quite lovely.

We began noticing some dreadfully dark clouds looming off in the distant horizon and snapped a couple of qick pics before the downpour hit.  We rushed to the crowded shelter near the ferry docks.
Suddenly, the ferry, which typically transported 20 or so folks ever hour or so was bogged down by a 100 person line.  A system which runs so smoothly most of the time was disrupted by the sudden urge of everyone to leave at that very moment.

An extra ferry arrived on the scene, and the process went more smoothly and quickly than I had expected, but there was still ample time for me to sit down on the cold cement and sulk at the rain.  The beauty that would later be immortalized in a white frame on my bedroom dresser was now just dark and lousy weather.

This morning I left through the back door, only to remeber I had parked out front instead. Getting drenched on my climb up the driveway to my car, I remembered it was trash day, so I cranked the car and despondantly trudged forth into the drizzle to drag the two garbage cans up the driveway (one per trip).  Soaked, I climbed back into my car, and noticed that I was running later than I hoped.  Traffic would probably be building up by now, which would make my drive through the fuzzy rain that much longer.  Another lovely day, I see.

But today is another lovely day.  The grey clouds look cold but benign, and they make the indoor warmth and safety all the more comforting.  The autumn leaves are fading and gathering on the glistening grass, and the veiny silhouettes of trees paint a stark picture against the misty ghosts hanging on the horizon.  Sun beams pierce through the scattered breaks in cloud cover providing just enough of a spotlight to bathe the world in a soft glow of much needed warmth.  When I leave work today, I will probably be greeted with another stunning display as I leave the parking lot just as the sun melts away with a bang rather than a whimper–as it it prone to do on these November days.  In spite of the inconveniences and delays that I may have encountered this morning (ancient history by now, really), it is another lovely day, and I hope that I can see that.