As we hurtle towards the shortest day of the year, light becomes a huge topic of conversation for those of us who live above the 49th parallel.
This weekend, we "fell back", as in turned back the clocks by one hour in order to, to...help kids walk home from school in the sunlight? (Do kids still do that? Aren't they all bussed?) Allow farmers to farrow their fields in the late afternoon? Huh? Their combines now come equipped with lights, and stereo systems, and leather seats, so that's not right. No....no, wait! I think it's the opposite. We "spring forward" for those reasons. I have no idea why we fall back. Because someone in 1926 said we should, before the installation of Sirius Radio on the ol' John Deere? Who knows? I'm sure someone will enlighten me.
But this I do know...
This morning I woke up in the dark, drove to work in the dark.
Came home in the dark. Heard the term Seasonally Affective Disorder (SAD) for the first time this season, and thought about the benefits of being a bear,
sleeping the dark away.
In the meantime, I wait patiently for sunrise,
knowing it will help lighten my mood.
Rust and gold and copper and gray. This is the light of November.
