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catwoods
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« Reply #150 on: August 28, 2008, 04:02:21 PM » |
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Wow, catbird, I could just about visualize those cranes, reading your description.
I'll be hanging around this summer thread for a long time, maybe. It can be as late as November when the leaves fall, down my way. Nevertheless, in August the light changes here. The bright areas become more golden, and details are more defined; the dark areas become deeper. It brings on something DH and I call "that awful autumn feeling" - a profound and unspecified longing. We shouldn't complain - we could have two, even three more months of warm weather if all goes well. But that doesn't change the calendar, or the fact that all that golden light is going to one day smack us in the face, gathered, intensified, and thrown back at us by the harvest moon. Neither can we change the tilt and whirl of the planet, which changes the light and brings winter, eventually. It's a good thing actually, that we can't! But I'm not so fond of winter.
Sadly, another sign of this time of year in my area is the hurricanes. Gustav is now taking aim at the Gulf Coast and whereas the exact landfall is unknown at this time, it could be close to New Orleans. I'm in a Gulf Coast state*, about six hours from the coast, so my state's emergency teams are getting ready to take care of those who will be evacuated. The storm could also come across us as a hurricane remnant - a much weakened Katrina did. It still dropped 500 trees in town and set off the tornado sirens with winds in excess of 50 mph. And, there are two more tropical storms in the making out there....
*The main reason I don't reveal my state is that I might want to dis some of the big money people here some day.
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catbird
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« Reply #151 on: August 28, 2008, 06:30:43 PM » |
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Oh, catwoods, your description of the shifts and changes leading to autumn sent chills up my spine!
I know what you mean about the changes in the light, because I see those too. Because the sun's path is lower in the sky each day, the sunlight here is striking objects from the side rather than the top--giving rise, especially in the evening, to a warm, golden glow that I call "flat light," for its horizontal direction. The details of buildings, especially, are accentuated by this horizontal light, characteristic of our late summer and early fall.
I also feel what you describe as "that awful autumn feeling." I have often speculated on where this deep longing comes from. Could it be just an echo we share of the feeling that drives the geese to migrate? In the aging and dying of the year, do we catch glimpses of our own mortality? It is no accident, I think, that so many cultures and traditions have special days with the theme of death and darkness around the end of October.
But that is a long way away. At this time of year, the "autumn feeling" comes only briefly, at widely separated times. I watch the news of the building hurricanes, hoping that they will steer away from land. (My in-laws had their home heavily damaged by Charlie in 2004.) I hope all will be well for you.
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catwoods
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« Reply #152 on: August 29, 2008, 03:12:19 PM » |
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Catbird, your insights really articulate the character of the light. I was sort of just seeing it and not really grasping how it does what it does! Also I have to agree, the fading of the year is connected to thoughts of migration and mortality as well as traditional autumn festivals.
Fortunately, the warmer autumns can be quite balmy and magical.
I trust your in-laws were safe although the home was damaged by Charlie. Right now Gustav is projected to track farther west and would only affect us with some rain - but the track is subject to change over the next several days. Preparations to take care of evacuated persons are underway in my area and the local news just announced they will set up a shelter for the animals they bring - in a city at some distance from me so I don't know the details. It may not be possible to set it up this way but I'd prefer to stay WITH my animals if I was evacuating - to make triple sure we did not get separated and lost from each other.
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catbird
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« Reply #153 on: August 29, 2008, 05:44:08 PM » |
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catwoods' eloquent comments about light inspired creative thoughts for me last night. And serendipitously, an opportunity presented itself. So here's some of the late-summer magic catwoods referred to:  It's been very dry here for about a month. We've had a few light rains, but last night I heard the sounds of a downpour! edit--no flash was used in this photo. Just a porchlight. |
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« Last Edit: August 29, 2008, 05:51:03 PM by catbird »
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tesla
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« Reply #154 on: August 29, 2008, 06:01:46 PM » |
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Nice downpour. That pic was real neat. I would just LOVE to see a good downpour like that here where we are in Texas. It's been a miserably hot, dry summer here.
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catwoods
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« Reply #155 on: August 30, 2008, 12:06:47 AM » |
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Best photo of rain I've ever seen! And I especially like night pictures. Tesla we had an awful drought last year. And it was getting dry again until Fay camped out over us for four days. Sometimes we will only get rain in late summer if a tropical storm or hurricane comes. This is a definite climate change over the last few decades. Forty years ago when I first arrived here there was a thunderstorm every summer afternoon. Another new thing about late summer I can never get used to is that school now starts in August?  ? |
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Mandycat
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« Reply #156 on: August 30, 2008, 08:11:52 PM » |
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August (the dog days of summer) has always been my least favorite month, but I always looked forward to September, or really, Labor Day. I always thought of this as a "new beginning" time of the year. The time when Summer was gone and I enthusiastically began projects, house cleaning, etc. I still think of it that way, but I think that in past years it had to do with the children going back to school the day after Labor Day that sparked that feeling. I would be totally messed up if I had children these days going back to school in August!  These days, another reason I don't like August, and even my September is a bit tarnished, is because of the prospect of hurricanes since my daughter lives in Florida. catwoods, she also endured TS Fay sitting over her for days (33 inches of rain, I heard), and is still drying out and recovering from basement flooding and cleanup. We are praying for a bit of a break before another storm hits that area.  It seems that, even though hurricane season doesn't end until the end of November, that there are fewer and less severe storms once October comes. |
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« Last Edit: August 30, 2008, 08:14:02 PM by Mandycat »
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Poco
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« Reply #157 on: August 30, 2008, 09:33:08 PM » |
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Magical photo, Catbird! Almost looks like you had a visitation there on the porch. I really enjoyed your and catwood's eloquent writings about the changes in the light at this time of year. The light gets cold and thin here in the winter. I felt it coming the other day.
It's like being at a museum and turning your gaze from a Titian to a Vermeer or van Eyck. Brrr... I felt like the light had turned to ice all the time, even in the summer, when I first moved here.
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catwoods
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« Reply #158 on: August 30, 2008, 10:54:55 PM » |
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Mandycat I hope your daughter gets a break on the rain too! I remember that "new beginning" sort of feeling around September when I lived in Maryland and things changed at that time, cool weather, school starting, maybe the leaves changed around then (?).
Klondike that was a beautiful description of the light in the Northwest! I love your phrase "the light had turned to ice" and the comparisons to paintings. I am enjoying these season threads so much because of just these kinds of glimpses into the natural world, or even the cityscapes, in other parts of the country.
We went for a sunset walk today and the sky for a brief time was a lavender-orchid sort of color.
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catbird
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« Reply #159 on: August 31, 2008, 06:58:19 AM » |
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Klondike, your analogy about the changes in the light and the works of different artists is a very apt one! And catwoods, that lavender-colored sunset sky must have been awesome! Interesting, Mandycat, that you should mention that "new beginnings" back-to-school feeling. I have been reflecting on that quite a bit recently. This is the first year in 21 years that I have not had a child starting back to school (to me, school includes college.) Thinking back, I realize that, combined with my own years of school, most of my life has been filled with that particular excitement and anticipation in the late summer. It's kind of painful to find it gone. But the other change to look forward to at the beginning of September is that it is no longer hot here! (or it isn't supposed to be--we are forecast to reach 89 today and 90 tomorrow. That may seem normal to those of you further south, but it's way too hot for me!) My brain seems to shut down in hot weather, and I feel a lot more clear-headed once the cooler weather comes. |
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catwoods
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« Reply #160 on: September 10, 2008, 11:39:22 PM » |
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Hi, Catbird, waving at you over on the autumn thread. I now feel ready for fall but it's....just not here. Everything's still green, and I feel like I'm being roasted!
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catbird
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« Reply #161 on: September 11, 2008, 06:43:16 AM » |
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catwoods--I'd love to send you some of the 40 degree nights we've been having lately!  |
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catwoods
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« Reply #162 on: September 11, 2008, 01:13:05 PM » |
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Hmmm...could trade you a warm day in January for one of those cool nights.
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tesla
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« Reply #163 on: September 11, 2008, 03:11:53 PM » |
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Oh a 40 degree night would be a blessing, it's 95 outside right now and very humid. Ike should make a big shift in our normal weather pattern. I have noticed shorter days, and the squirrels have been scurrying all over the place collecting pecans from all the trees in the area.
It really dawned on me that summer is over when I was sitting in the stands last Friday night watching my fiance's son at his high school football game. The summer really passed me by with spending all my non-workplace hours caring for sick kitties. I'm not sure where the summer went. Leaving in a hour to watch another football game, because of Hurricane Ike, all Friday night game's have been pushed up to tonight. All of our area buses are headed for the coast to assist in evacuations. I registered today with the ASPCA to volunteer for fostering displaced animals. I already received a German Sheppard today and will also be assisting at the shelter when not at home. It should be an interesting weekend.
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Arlo
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« Reply #164 on: September 11, 2008, 03:22:55 PM » |
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What a wonderful thing to do, Tesla. Please be careful and take care of yourself.
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