the real world
I never listened when my father talked about the weather. Rain was wet and snow was cold and fog was tremulously grey, but I knew that everything that truly mattered happened, not in the world outside, but within the confines of my own imagination.
What was important was tracking the unwinding thread to the center of the maze and out again or knowing what walked on four legs in the morning and two in the afternoon. Why should I care that a line of icicles had hung themselves from the eaves, when the dictionary was full of words that I had never even seen before? Why look at the sky when everyone knows that birds fly in v-shapes? And what difference can it possibly make if the heart of the fire hides a secret shade of blue?
It never once occured to me that when my father pointed out the haze that tints the branch tips in earliest spring or the reflection of a buttercup under my chin, he was talking about something else altogether and that what I thought, what I believed, what I knew with perfect self-assurance, had been wrong, completely wrong, wrong all along.
Which is why I'm telling you that today the sun is bright and the temperature hovers just below freezing and that you'll have to stand on the wall at the very edge of the harbor, if you want to feel the breeze blowing shoreward from the sea.
What's the weather where you are?
40 comments:
Cold and clear. But cold is a relative term.
Thats beautiful. Here it's cold, but not snowing cold, wet and windy and a little grey. I wish we could have some snow!
Its overcast but still bright.
We had a touch of rain this afternoon. But it's not too cold, so I cannot complain. And there was even sun this morning...
I loved the yellow tint that showed itself under my chin when a buttercup was help under it. I would never have remembered that if you hadn't posted it just now.
It's cold, not as cold as it was where I grew up...but it's relative really. It's very lighty snowing, too.
HELD under it...
Sorry.
Chilly but very sunny. And I have to be inside, working.
It's cold, overcast and still. But there was one heck of a breeze on the beach last night...so maybe there's some wind down there? Not much snow left on the ground either.
Rain. But we are enjoying it, knowing we will soon be moving to a desert.
It is sunny, and has warmed up since the morning. But they are saying stuff is going to start falling from the sky soonish. A mix of snow and rain, and freezing rain by morning. Lovely.
i've never in my life so clearly understood that i know nothing.
it's cold and gray outside.
Feels like snow.
Funny, I never listened to my father when he talked about geology -- yeah yeah, old stuff, right. Not until I really started to get into history, when I realized we were both historians, and that I started to look for beauty in patterns did I see what he was talking about, too.
Cold, grey, damp and miserable. And its only supposed to get colder. Ugh.
It is snowing! It rarely snows in the valley. Only rain. Lots of rain. Until June.
Chilly and overcast.
But the sun was out this morning, creating "lellow valley" - a phenomenon at our house when the light is just right.
It's good to look at the small things.
Cold, dark, grey and raining.
Not helping my frame of mind much either.
It's a rain that's turning into snow, so the snowflakes fall more slowly than the rain and sleety drops.
It's about 20 degrees out an snowing big fat flakes. But I don't think that these are the sort of flakes that will stick for any period of time. I imagine that they will melt before morning tomorrow.
Bright & clear, somewhat breezy and we are supposed to have temps in the 60's today, colder early next week. It's 10:21A and currently 51 degrees.
Angela
Cold. freezing rain. Shivery, very shivery. In more ways than just pertaining to weather...your father sounds like a very wise man. It is too bad that we don't realize the wisdom of our elders until we are grown and have made many ill-fated choices based on over confidence, don't you think?
Depressing and hopeless, the way that it sometimes seems in January when it feels like winter is never going to end and everything has turned the same shade of grey. Very cool picture, and beautiful post!
Grey. The shade that creeps in through the windows and tugs on my shirt sleeve until I slink back to bed.
"It's a Hartford sky. The color of Insurance..." -Author Unknown.
Sunny. Near seventy degrees. Santa Ana winds are blowing. It's very dry.
Snowy and cold. But not nearly as cold as it's going to get this weekend when the really frigid temps are supposed to arrive.
Bright, sunny, and windy...Santa Ana winds, so dry our your eyes sting.
I know you all seem to hate your snowy winter but I am SO jealous that you get the season, it looks just beautiful to me. Everything here just turns brown in the winter. Ugh.
Cool and damp but starting to break up the grey.
That photo is every tree picture I've tried to take.
RECORD SNOW FALL, SCHOOLS CLOSED, DANGEROUSLY COLD, SLICK ROADS, STAY INDOORS ADVISORY.
let me translate for non-southerners:
.04 of an inch of snow, that turned into rain around midnight last night, now raining, light breeze, 40 degrees.
Warm, humid, sunny with a few fluffy clouds - 26c which in your language is about 78.8f. We desperately, desperately need rain, our grass is brown and dead, and bushfires are raging around the state. Scary stuff.
Yep, that would be me above. I STILL have no idea how to leave a comment using a different id. sigh.
It is blah here and kind of dreary. We haven't seen the sun in days.
It hasn't stopp raining since Saturday.
Sunny. Cold. Not very interesting weather. I like fog, rain, cloudy skies. Don't know why but it's always been my preference.
emily: Could that be Wallace Stevens? It sounds like him.
niobe: This is truly one of the more beautiful pieces you've written. Gorgeous.
Oh, and we've had one or two inches of snow in the last couple of hours. The trees look beautiful.
I loved this. This glimpse into something different. You don't often write of your father, you know?
Our weather has been exactly as people would imagine it to be, if they knew where I live.
It's been cold here, and gray, and a deep freeze is projected for the next bit of time, and I looked up at the sky and had to remind myself that yes, this is the same sky that also offers sun and warmth.
Because sometimes I forget that part.
It's been grey and cold here .. and suppose to get colder
It's been grey and cold here .. and suppose to get colder
I'm in the area of Lake Tahoe for the long weekend (lucky me!)
The temps are hovering in the low 30s but that hardly seems to matter since the sun is shining brilliantly off a recent snowfall. There are majestic Ponderosa pines set against a sky that is crystal clear blue, and the air tastes sweet and fresh. It's a little slice of heaven.
NT, much? (I'm a broken record, I know - but with a post like that, I can't help myself.)
-10C...dry...and clear...very starry.
The light of the lampost makes the naked tree shadow long on the ground outside my window. I look at it every night just to see the sparkles.
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