Sidebar: This is not a post about Kate Elliott’s wonderful Sun Chronicles series, though you should definitely put it in your eyes or ears – you won’t be disappointed.
Yesterday was the first day in just over two weeks or so that I actually saw the Sun. Here in my neck of the woods, we’d been through day upon day of overcast, snow, rain, both, Blah, and fog (in the afternoon!). The sky looked, and felt, like a big, grey, weighted blanket – though not the comforting kind – and after a while, it started to get to me.
It was a gradual thing. A kind of mental malaise that seeped into my bones and drained some of the life out of the world. I still got stuff done, but it was as if life was being muffled. I spent a lot of the time I spent outside looking down, rather than looking up – and not just because of the mud (and there was a lot of mud).
Then the system finally broke open yesterday. Also gradually, though I don’t mind clouds – they give the sky a bit of character – but by the afternoon, I had a brilliantly bright blue sky. It was like a weight had been lifted and as soon as I was done with the usual day-to-day chores, I went out for a 6 and a half mile walk, and I spent more time looking up, than I did on the road – which was a little bit unadvisable, since I was walking on hard-packed dirt with the usual number of pits and holes (some water-filled, some not), but I’m familiar with the back roads so the extra bit of sky I drank in was worth it.
And it wasn’t just the boost of vitamin D (not that I got a bunch of that on the walk, it was still chilly, so I was done up in full sweats, a jacket, and gloves (Though I did have the sleeves pushed back). For me, there’s something about being out under the open sky that brings me joy. Day or night. Last night was clear and I brought out a pair of binoculars to look at the sky. Stop shaking your head. It does work. You’re not going to see the rings of Saturn with them, but it will show things that you can’t (or I can’t) see with the naked eye. Be warned, though: after doing that, I’ve started kicking around the idea of picking up a telescope.
So if you can manage it, and if Mother Nature cooperates, take some time to get outside and get yourself a taste of the Sun (or Moon – or both) and sky. Which is what I’m about to go do.
You won’t regret it.
Thanks for reading. Be safe out there. Be Excellent to Each other – and yourself.
I’ll see you on Thursday.
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