I don't know that it will be anything of the sort; I just wanted to alliterate.
It's 11 degrees at the ol' homestead, with a wind chill of around zero. It has been sunny until a few minutes ago, and now seems to be clouding up. I was going to try to write a bit about how the sun was glistening on the icy crystals in the snow - how it looked like someone scattered tiny diamonds across the yard. I wanted to mention the hoar frost on the car windows, and how they resemble tiny paintings of snowflakes, as if done by elves in the night.
But alas! I must say that it is turning grey, and the sun which we so mightily crave has gone away. And now it's snowing lightly, which is perfect proof of my comments about AccuHunch Weather ... which forecast "partly sunny" for today.
We've had four consecutive cool, wet summers - and 2008 was among the coldest "summers" ever recorded here. We had rain almost daily, and as a result many long-time Alaskans were suddenly, seriously, discussing the possibility of moving away.
Our rich payment for surviving the long, dark winters is the long hours of daylight in the all-too-brief summer months. A day consisting of nearly 22 hours of sunlight must be experienced, I believe, by everyone - a truly glorious thing.
Last summer, unfortunately, we had nearly continuous grey and rain - and as a result, left us all a bit crazed and longing for the sun. When the sun comes back out, we raise all the blinds just to catch what we can of the light; no matter that it's still quite cold. We'll turn up the furnace if we must, but we crave the sun.
Without the sun, all is merely grey and cold. Still, the mountains glowing a brilliant white in the sunlight are breath-taking, and the frost-covered trees - when the sun is shining - have an ethereal beauty all their own.
So cry, Excelsior! and keep the blinds open, for the sun may come back, and we don't want to miss a minute of it.
If you have a sunny day, praise God for it - and if you haven't, praise God anyway, for He made the sun to give us light, and it's but a pale reflection of His own.
In His light, then, be blessed and happy, and enjoy the day.
John 12:24 "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."
4 comments:
Very nice! Twas a sunny day here but the temperatures fell all day. True, it fell in tiny increments but they were all downward. Our high was 45 degrees right after midnight and it's down to 31 as I write (7 PM). Much of the ice and snow has melted from the driveway and fields. The fields, normally marked with hedgerows, are now also marked with the white remains of the drifted snow. Makes for an interesting view from the Aerie.
It's 14 with light snow here; I wondered where the sun went!
He's(the sun)over here in Phoenix Rev! Even with rain off & on all day he peeked his lucent head from behind the clouds to whisper, "good day" to us!
We had about 30 minutes of sunlight this morning, before the clouds blew in. I'm glad someone got some 'shine!
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