The Dark Days start to become really noticeable in November, when the sun sets before dinnertime, and the nights are 15 hours long. You get up in the dark and leave work in the dark; and it seems to be cloudy and foggy most of the time. How depressing is that?
It's no surprise that that people suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder. I wonder how people, let's say up in Alaska cope with it. There are cities and towns in Alaska, Canada, Siberia, and Scandinavia located north of the Arctic Circle that get no daylight between late November and sometime in January. It must be really weird to live in 24 hour darkness. I wonder how they cope: sun lamps? solariums? megadoses of Vitamin D? Antidepressants? It's probably all of these combined.
Right now it feels more like late summer, so it isn't too bad. It doesn't hurt to go outside yet, and there's still plenty of light.
Speaking of summer, I haven't written here in a while. Most of the time I've been out enjoying the sun before it disappears for another winter.
My husband and I went kayaking on the Connecticut River near Northfield, Massachusetts earlier this month and I didn't bring the camera since I like to travel light. The quality of pictures that can be taken with Smartphones never ceases to amaze me, especially when I enlarge them to fit in an 8 1/2 x 11 picture frame, but for this blog, the small version will have to do.
This photo is a bridge in the autumn of its life span (pardon the pun) since it has been closed to traffic since 1985. The Powers That Be have not yet figured out whether whether it will be rehabilitated or demolished. It would be a shame to destroy this bridge because it's such a beautiful backdrop. No one builds structures like this anymore.
Abandoned Bridge, September, 2014 Copyright © 2014 Katley Demetria Brown
Here is a photo of another bridge that I took on the same trip: the Amtrak Railroad Bridge. A train crossed the bridge right before I took this picture; it was on its way to Vermont.
Amtrak Railroad Bridge, September 2014 Copyright © 2014 Katley Demetria Brown
This month's poem is Water Remembers. One day the Schell bridge may become just a memory which is why I wrote about it. There never seems to be enough money to fix roads and bridges, but there is plenty of money to wage The War on Terror. One day there will be a tragedy related to a bridge collapse or faulty roads and then I'll be telling the Powers That Be "I told you so."
Water remembers
most people would doubt this
after all it's a substance
that follows the path
of least resistance
it moves and it's alive
the river remembers all
it has heard the melodies
of many civilizations
seen many celebrations
bridges and boats
mountains and cities
and visions of love
along its banks
it has been reincarnated
many times
just like you and me
we carry the memories with us
forever
and see them in our dreams
the river is eternal
and water remembers
If you enjoyed this, there is a post on my other blog, The Alien Diaries, Crossing the River, Part Four about the bridge between Calafat and Vidin, with videos and music. It is worth a look, especially if you like music from the Balkans. There are many other posts there on a variety of topics, all related in one way or another to Balkan music and dance.
One of my Pinterest boards has pictures of bridges in Europe and the United States.
Copyright © 2014 Katley Demetria Brown. Site Designed by Katley Demetria Brown. All Rights Reserved.
Water Remembers ©2010 Katley Demetria Brown
No comments:
Post a Comment