Lighting Trees and Winter Skies
It was a silky gray sky and, in turn, it pushed off that silky gray feeling that only the days leading up to a yuletime celebration can provide. The sensation of being 175 pounds of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit and all tucked inside the little bubble that is my home, even while the world outside is bitter crispy frozen around me. The knowledge that the drab of the eternal overcast that seems to prevail throughout Winter, even here in the heart of Central Texas, would be certainly lit up by uncounted innumerable blinking and flashing and static lights, crystal clear white and sparkling red or purple or green or blue lights, hanging from trees and climbing lamp posts and swinging from porches and awnings and like nets capturing bushes. The world will be a magical place for the next weeks as everyone readies themselves to celebrate in their own particular fashion and we transform the beginnings of Winter into something more bearable, something fantastical. Humanity has been celebrating the beginning of Winter since time began. Maybe it’s our way of dealing with the oncoming onslaught of slush and dirty snow and freezing cold outdoors and itchy dry electrically heated indoor air, we turn our world into a fairy tale for a moment, to help us to transition into this time and place, our annual darkening is lit up by man. Nature so rarely stands a chance against man when he’s really focused on something, anyway.
So a Yuletide greeting to you all and I hope that your respective coats and beverages keep you warm and happy through and well into the Newest of Year!
Up Next: The Garden