As the days get shorter, I find myself wanting to hang on to the last light of the day. Because Mount Meeker is so massive, it starts blocking the light earlier than in other places. Around the cabin, the darkness starts chasing the light from the west, rolling down the road and spotlighting, for just a short while, the front of the Bill Waite cabin, so the red trim around the door almost gleams.
I watch it creep eastward, down into the valley where just a few leaves cling to the willows and aspens. As the light starts leaking from the bottom of the valley, the darkness starts climbing up the hillside, until just a line of evergreens is illuminated.
And when it’s gone, and the valley is gray, I go to the window in the kitchen, facing north, and I’m happy to see the sunlight still lingering on the top of the Twin Sisters peaks, somehow having escaped the great shadow of Meeker, at least for a short while.
The next morning, when I get up, it’s still dark, a few stars left in the sky, and the world stays gray for a long time, it seems. Yet even in the gray light, I can see that the rabbits and chickarees are up, bounding across the snow. Then the sky to the east turns pink, and I can see the first light on Mount Meeker, a blush on the white snow, and the light reverses its course from the night before. Descending down the mountain, it expands to fill the mountainside. And yet it seems to take forever before it starts reaching the bottom of the valley, fingering first the tops of the evergreens. And then it hits the trunks of the trees across the road, a golden light that doesn’t last long, is gone before I know it, and then the sun fills up the valley again, every corner.
In these dark fall and winter months, I appreciate every minute of the sunlight. Unlike summer, when I stayed in the shade, now I look for places around the yard, out of the wind and away from the trees, where I can bask in the sun’s warmth.
We seek out lights like little plants....I love the descriptions you give of light as though a child playing a game: chasing, rolling, creeping, delighting.
Posted by: shoney | November 10, 2011 at 07:30 AM
I second what Shoney said, your descriptions are wonderful. But the plant part is the way I feel looking for a few more minutes of light to catch. At least I can move my chair to different areas and chase it till it's gone!
Posted by: sally | November 10, 2011 at 07:15 PM