This Light, That Color

 A downpour in the early hours. Rain until late morning. Then this:

I have never seen such a sky early in the afternoon in this part of the world.

I am not Vincent Van Gogh who, I believe, experienced colors as energies and balanced (especially violet and yellow) rather than merely contrasted or complemented them, as someone like me, who can only see colors, would. Nor am I Claude Monet, who sensed light as a tapestry of colors and textures woven into a moment. But I do perceive and remember moments, events and people by the light around them. 

I believe I will recall early this afternoon—an otherwise ordinary time—by the light of that sky, unlike any other I have seen. Does it convey some energy I can’t yet, and perhaps never will be able to, explain? 

From Indian Summer To Climate Change

 When I was less enlightened, I called it “Indian Summer.”  That’s how most people in America referred to a series of unseasonably warm days in the Fall. I don’t know what to call it now. “Another sign of climate change,” as accurate as it may be, isn’t quite as catchy as “Indian Summer.”

Whatever one calls it, we had a dose of it on Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning.  The temperature reached 26C (79F).  But we also caught the tail end of Hurricane Nicole. She strafed us with wind and dumped a lot of rain.  One downpour woke up Marlee, who woke me to a view of…a cascade of rain.  It was so thick I couldn’t see beyond my window!

But, a couple of hours after eating my bagel with Saint Andre cheese, the rain stopped.  I took Tosca, my Mercian fixed gear bike for a spin with no particular destination in mind.

After wandering along the North Shore of Queens and Nassau County, I stopped in Fort Totten.  Although I brought my lights, I didn’t want to ride in the dark.  So I knew I’d be headed home when I saw this:

The days definitely are getting shorter.  The season is changing.  So is the climate.