Chad's spot for various thoughts, musings, poetry, ideas and whatnot

Monday, October 30, 2006

It was an interesting weekend around these parts for mostly mundane reasons (if that makes any sense). The weather for the weekend got me into one of those contemplative moods and so I thought I'd try to chronicle my thoughts in some fashion.

Friday was the rain event we've been waiting for for about 3 months. It started raining Thursday night and rained almost all the way through Friday, slowly building in intensity until the cold front that had been plowing through the tropical moisture got here. When that happened, the rain got really heavy for about 45 minutes and then everything sort of tapered off with just an occasional cloud burst for the rest of the evening. After the front passed though the wind picked up and on Saturday morning we were treated to one of those days that reminds you that the world is dying at this time of year.

For most of the morning the sky looked like tattered rags being blown across the sky at varying speeds like they were in a race dictated by the whims of the four winds. The gusts tugged the dying leaves reluctantly from the trees and sent them cartwheeling down the street. It really was weather fitting for Hallowe'en.

I wonder if Hallowe'en happens now because it is now that the world really looks like it's dying. In a lot of places the leaves have changed and are being dropped and the reminders that all things must die (even though they actually don't-at least most of them) can be seen everywhere. The trees have flamed-up and are now headed towards their long hibernation wherein they look like skeletons rooted in place while reaching towards the sky. The birds are moving and all the butterflies and bees and the rest are long gone along with the fitful activity and purposeful buzzing. More often now, there is silence broken only by wind and the rustle of the dead leaves.

I wonder if Hallowe'en is so powerful in our psyches because we fear dying a lot more than we fear death. For most, death is either a good place to be or nothing at all but dying, that's another story. Maybe that's why demons and ghosts and ghouls and such are so frightening to us deep down. They aren't dead but they aren't alive either. They seem to be in a constant state of dying and slow decay. There is never any rest for the pain and sorrow and heaviness of existence nor is there any joy or contentment. Just existence in that perpetual state of Fall becoming Winter.

As Saturday wore on the tattered sky showed through some blue and then cleared but the wind kept on through the weekend until today it finally blew itself out. As such, all my riding was indoors on a trainer or exercise bike. Today, which promises to be a nearly perfect day, holds almost no time for riding so I will likely enjoy it in a more pedestrian fashion. Still, if the weather can hold for a bit longer this week, I should get a couple of good rides in even with the Sun going down so much earlier. At least my morning commute in to work can now be done daylight which reduces the risk of getting hit by an unsuspecting motorist.

I have this urge to really unplug; to live by the cycle of the natural light given. I've been reading a new book, "Acquainted with the Night" that talks about night and how we have changed it and I think I miss it. I wish there was true night sometimes. A darkness that forced us to settle down and rest and be more still than we are. Over the weekend, as the weather was settling itself out, I spent a lot of time reading by candlelight and found it very restful. Yet as the week begins, I realize that I'll have little opportunity for that kind of rest. I understand that our ability to carry and create light is a good thing but there are those times...

Anyways, thanks for reading.

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