Ah! Sweltering here on Long Island in the middle of October? The sun has come and gone throughout the day. It is dreary and virtually menacing. There is no breeze so the ginger tinged leaves hesitate, waiting for permission to descend to the steamy ground. The majestic oaks still secreted under the sprigs are anxious to flaunt their bark, their armor, ready for the winter confrontation. Everything awaits the natural progression of life.
I need the sun. When the winter comes, anything is bearable as long as there is sun.
The east coast seldom disappoints me. Most days are favored with bright light. During the coldest record breaking snowstorms the sun has brilliantly shown, indifferent to the other forces of nature and the expectations of mortals. Such sovereignty!
It is different where she lives. In Scotland, the rain comes on most days of the year, blessing the earth, keeping it fertile and green for the sheep and cows that graze across the road from our home.
The days are short. When I fly in it is dark with the sunrise coming two hours after landing. As we drive over hilltops on the west, it is a roller coaster ride along the sea, first steeply up and falling quickly into the cavernous valleys. The surf crashes briskly against the rocks and then again slides down into the oblivion of the Firth of Clyde.
In winter, dark cloaks the town by 5 pm. One is suddenly embraced by this nightfall prompting thoughts of mortality and extinction. It is a primitive place with a church whose dead have rested there for hundreds of years. Evenings are spent with a gas stove rendering one grateful as the hardships of past inhabitants are considered.
Two worlds, one bright, the other either coming out of the darkness or into it.
Copyright © 2008 by m.m.sugar
"The difficulty in life is the choice."
George A. Moore
"Between two stools one sits on the ground."
Francois Rabelais
“I’ll have that one, please”
H.B. Tree
