Time Traveling

Living in this winter is a bit like time traveling. Although the date is January 16, the weather this morning is more like late October—certainly not like a January. Last night, after dark, the weather still felt like sometime in late September.

I sat outside on the front deck for a while, watching the fog finally lift after three days of gloom. I watched the distance that I could see grow by the moment. For most of the weekend, I couldn’t see across my driveway, let alone to the end of it. After dark the weather system that is supposed to bring January to the region started to move in. At first, before the wind picked up, it was still warm, though I could watch the fog already start to dissipate.

First, I could see to the end of the driveway, then I could see the surrounding trees. By the time the temperature started to drop and I was no longer comfortable sitting outside, I could see the next mountain over and the few lights from the houses that sit along the base of it.

This morning the temperature is dropping, and the big stormy clouds I usually see in October fill the sky. It is now light enough in the morning again to take a few photographs, though the light is still flat with the remnants of night. By noon it will be November. By dark I will be back in January.