Standing In The Sun
Sunday, December 7th, 2008I was lying in bed last night at around 12:30 just thinking about the ins and outs of life. I turned to my side and noticed that one of the backyard motion detector lights had clicked on. They aren’t too difficult to notice…they basically make the window shades in the bedroom glow.
Over the Summer, I set three of these lights up for safe keeping. Who knows what happens in this backyard during the overnight and I felt that perhaps these lights would scare away the wolves if they attempt to peek in the windows.
I rolled out of bed, walked over to the window and pulled on the shade string. I looked down to the porch and didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Then, to my left, another motion detector clicked on. I gave a quick glance, but didn’t see anything there either. I became slightly curious. I scanned slowly from right to left and then I saw it. Our very short friend had appeared again.
Apparently, the neighborhood has a cat that likes to make little pit stops here from time to time. He or she is a semi-long haired black and white one. The cat was walking towards the driveway, minding its own business when I saw it, so I decided to close the shade to get some sleep.
I remember a time over the Summer when this cat decided to stop by to sun itself on the front walkway. He or she was probably here for over an hour, just laying on the warm walkway the way cats do. Very cute.
Back to last night. Just as I went for the shade string to close the shade, I glanced over to the right again. I saw little flickers in the beam of the spotlight. I felt a gentle tingle in my stomach because what I thought I was witnessing was our first snow. This, of course, was through very tired eyes.
Here are a few photos of what we woke up to this morning.
Snow on driveway
Snow in the back woods
Do you know what’s nice about snow? Well, I’ll tell you. It makes everything brighter. You can’t miss it because everything in the house comes alive during the morning of a fresh snow fall.
Laura woke up about an hour before I did. After I got out of bed and stumbled down the stairs, we stood in the kitchen talking. I said, “Hey, did you see that it snowed last night?” She just gave me a look.
A few days ago, I was doing all sorts of work inside. I was running around like crazy. The sun was shining outside, but going down fast. This time of year makes you feel like the sun is setting before you even hop out of bed in the morning. I guess it could be with the way it hangs so low in the sky all day. I’ll admit, it gets on my nerves at times.
At about 2PM, I decided it was time for a break. I needed to get outside to soak up what light was left for the day. I know myself and if I sit inside too long, I become agitated.
I opened the garage door and took a few steps outside. As beautiful as it was, it was a bit brisk. I remember this because when my cold pants hit my leg, I got goose bumps.
I went over my usual routine…walking up and down the driveway, looking at all the plants. I imagined what they were going to look like come Spring. I put a whole bunch of them in the dirt this year, so I get excited when I think about what they will become.
As I made my way down to the bottom of the driveway, the filtered sunlight hit my back. It felt so good, because it instantly warmed me up. I walked a bit further and found a spot where the direct sunlight was shining on the driveway. I moved into it and stood there in the warmth for a few minutes, just staring in the woods.
Then I closed my eyes.
The very first thing Laura and I noticed when we opened the car doors to visit this house was the quiet of the neighborhood. I am talking silence. I have rarely heard this type of quiet and was starting to think it didn’t exist. There is usually some sort of background noise that one becomes accustomed to, but not here, and that’s what really makes this place.
When Laura’s parents visited us over the Summer, the first thing they said upon getting out of their car was, “Wow, it’s quiet here.”
I must have been standing there for about 15 minutes. I have to tell you, I really, really enjoyed just simply being where I was. That kind of peace doesn’t stop by too often; I have to kind of go hunt it down.
I heard Laura give a quiet giggle in back of me and I turned around. It was like I just woke up. The sun was still shining on me, so it was difficult to see what she was doing. When my eyes adjusted to the light, I saw that she was taking Holly up to the mailbox for her daily walk. Laura likes to take the dog out for a while, so Holly can enjoy the scenery too.
It’s strange, because I am still thinking about just standing there in the driveway.
I don’t know why, but I’m sure it has something to do with…
