Moving Through a Gray World
As autumn fades and winter approaches it feels as if a heavy, gray blanket is being pulled across the world. Perhaps it’s just me gripped by grayness. Doesn’t help that I had a head cold for a week which is now burning into my chest and leaving me feeling indifferent to pretty much everything. With great effort I push myself out of the house. If not to ride, at least to walk.
Moments of Dazzle
The gray is broken from time to time revealing blue skies or dazzling shafts of light across the landscape. Just can’t tell whether good things are drawing closer or if they’re fading away. As the light fades so quickly this time of year, it’s only made worse by the drop in temperature.
Pushing, still pushing myself to head outside on the Vespa and into the cold. I know once I acclimate things will be fine. But right now, the cold just sucks.
Hard.
Fraught With Gray
I joked with my friend Paul that this is him before his morning coffee. There’s no small amount of posing that happens between photographers. I try and maintain the same appearance, unlike Paul who is quick to change from one look to another.
This photograph reflects how I feel about the world at the moment. Not just the weather. Politics, sexual assault, health, life. Everything is colored gray.
Post Caffeine at Saint’s Cafe
Moments later Paul’s a new man. Caffeine pouring through his arteries. The world takes on a warm glow.
LESSON: Photographs are often, if not always, lies.
Gripped by Grayness
Went for a ride today. Errands. Stopped to look at a used motorcycle. Drank tea in a cafe and wrote in my journal. None of it could erase the complete grayness of the world. Perhaps writing this post will clear away the cobwebs.
Riding the Vespa was fine with the temperature at 40F. Light leather gloves and the heated grips. Heated insoles on medium. I remained toasty. But the desire to ride was low. Almost non-existent.
Avoiding Nature
I’ve been walking more than riding. But not in the woods. Kim and I took a walk not long ago is a favorite wooded haunt and found ourselves beset by ticks. Ticks — those creepy, crawly awful critters. Found a half-dozen on Kim when we got home and eight on me. And then later in the evening I found three well embedded in my flesh.
I’m not a fan of ticks. Same with chiggers.
If this keeps up I’ll think twice before heading off through the woods on anything other than a wide, clear trail.
Saint’s Cafe Escape
I’m as likely to sit in a cafe and stare at the world as I am going for a ride. Funny, I remember when everyone was lost in conversation and there were interesting stories to hear. Now so many are glued to a screen that it’s a challenge to do any serious eavesdropping.
Still, it’s a satisfying experience for awhile.
Emma and Betsy
My granddaughter Emma showed me her frog Betsy. She loves frogs. We have one at our house (plastic) that she goes for straight away. She’s too young to explain the attraction. It’s pleasant to witness the energy of a two-year old. Reminds me of what unbridled joy looks like. Despite the gray world.
All this will pass.
I got my cup of morning tea, the coffee comes later with friends, and sat on the front porch bathed in the morning sunshine to read you post. The first part was great making me miss nice gray mornings, which to me have a special calming effect. In then it started fading into the dark side of the fog. Breakfast conversations over heard are becoming less for me too. On my trips I always try to find a local restaurant that has “the table”. You know the one. It has all the seniors from the town discussing everything from crop yield to politics and do not try and set in a empty chair without a invite, even if you are local. Those, when I find them in small towns, are each a great story in their own. A recent breakfast at the Depot in Avon Park, a small town in central Florida, had all those things that are depressing you. Guns, fake news, except what they believe, and how they would have been the John Wayne hero’s at the church Texas. Nothing I wanted to ease drop on but had no chose do to volume. Strangely, when that crowd left the restaurant had more people but no conversation load enough to monitor.
Thank you for ending on the high note with the frog story. That brought back to the peaceful place your blogs take me to.
Each day seems to have an arc — both in regard to the activity I engage as well as the emotional range. The older I get the more dramatic is seems to be. Physically I can rapidly shift from wild energy to sound asleep in a chair…
Tea doesn’t come until later in the day for me unless I’m in a cafe. I’m still trying to find a rhythm in retirement. The dogs enforce one early morning aspect, but the rest of the day is pretty unstructured. Not sure that’s bad or not.
Hope you continue to have fine mornings in the sun!
Trivia: There are no ticks, fleas or snakes in Alaska. Idea: I traveled with a couple that would wear pet flea collars around their ankles when in the bush.
But Alaska is so far away. And don’t they have flies?? Flea collars around the ankles. Hmmmmm….
Autumn has arrived and with it the usual round of colds and sniffles; some of us
are or have been victims, some not. I too had a few days of feeling less than normal, so you’re not alone in your plight.
You can’t use the phrase “I got it from somebody at work!”
Mind “that look” from Paul Ruby before his morning chemical ingestion could be interpreted many ways as well. The black and white rendering is so indicative!
Maybe that is the problem, too many of us require a form of chemical to get us started, be it derived from coffee or from tea. In the wee small hours of the morning, a pot of Red Rose tea.
I understand; although I get a Tim Horton’s coffee perhaps later in the day, when my chemical levels need a boost. That’s usually after mid-day, and usually have a large coffee. At one time a double double (two sugars, two creams) these days, two milk “only.”
Like many of use of a certain age and body type,
the battle of the bulge is now ever part of our persona.
Chemicals… I’m still taking them. My stomach is grumbling at antibiotics. If it weren’t so late now I’d have another cup of tea. It doesn’t keep me awake but I’m too tired now to make it. I guess I could ask Kim…..
The battle of the bulge isn’t raging at the moment. I’ve gained the high ground. At least for now.
I try not to pose but its difficult for me. Sometimes as soon as you raise the camera on me I run through a list of thoughts, “Steve’s taking a photo of me, act in a way that the photo is more interesting. No, don’t do that. Be natural. Oh oh my face is stiff because I’m aware my photo is being taken. Stop being aware just relax. Think about something else until Steve’s done with the photo. ” And then after about 20 seconds I start to relax but by then you have already completed the photo and I’m too late. Argh. Paul
You really don’t pose much. More often you’re performing!
I’ll have to slow down a bit and give you a chance to relax in the picture making process. That way you won’t feel shortchanged!
That feeling of being enveloped in gray….we get that here in Colorado. The clouds move in, blocking the view of the mountains so that it feels we’re inside a snow globe of gray clouds….depressing.
Yeah, eventually it gets depressing. Like it getting dark at 5pm.
Hey Steve, Emma is just super adorable, what a gift to have her in your life.
If it’s any consolation, last week all the ticks on the farm just disappeared after a four or five week stretch of large numbers. Hunting dog and I spend hours afield every day, neither of us have had a tick in over a week. We’re just a few miles away from you, so hiking may be on the rebound.
I have much for which to be grateful. That’s for sure.
I normally don’t see many ticks. But that day — wow. Hopefully it was just an unfortunate meeting of body and insects. It’s been cold now as well. Perhaps the ticks are on the run.
Ticks in November? I thought they were mainly early summer dudes.
Hey, coffee is not the best drink for health 🙂
In Pennsylvania I think ticks are year round now.
I guess not liking coffee is paying off for me. Woot!
A black and white (aka grey) world is the way thing are for a while. So why waste color film.…
If it’s digital is there any benefit to B/W such as less digital noise in low light? Just wondering…
I made the image black and white for effect. No real advantages technically that amount to anything.
Sorry to hear you were feeling gray. I understand; the weather, feeling poorly, the political climate, all combine to make me feel hopeless at times.
I’ve been trying to catch up reading your posts but not commenting since I’m always so late, but this one still seemed timely, unfortunately. It is spectacularly cold here in North Georgia, but at least it is sunny. I hope you get some sun as well.
You’re right about a lot of things conspiring to leave a person feeling gray. The weather has been an increasingly tough thing to cope with. Every year it take longer to acclimate and during that process the grayness comes. Thankfully, I’m past it and am comfortable with the cold. Snow may be a different matter but so far not much.
Hope you get some sun and relief from the cold as well in North Georgia.
Never too late to comment. I get notifications anytime someone does. Often get comments on very old posts.