The day before yesterday’s twilight was a soft start to the day.
It became a day 1 moment in a 3 day project. I decided that if indeed I were to still be alive, I would try to get to Lake Parker at the same time each morning, to see how similiar each day would begin.
On this, the fist day, I arrived before the gate was opened for the little ramp at Lake Parker, so I just drove further down the lake and sat in the darkness.
There was only the occasional passing of a car so most of the time there was just quiet. A few chirps of wakening birds and an occasional splash of nearby fish.
I was lost in thought for a while and didn’t even take any pictures. In truth, there was nothing to take pictures of. Some nearby lights killed the possibility of any long exposure shots, so I just quietly waited until a time I felt the gates at the north end of the lake might open.
When I did drive back to the gate, it was just opening and I drove inside and parked.
I was the only person there … thankfully no boaters or joggers. Just me and whatever creature might be watching me from the dark shadows.
My first coffee was long since gone, so there was nothing else to do but take pictures. As the twilight colors began to come alive on the horizon, I would also occasionally pause and just stare off into the semi-darkness.
Once or twice a lone osprey would fly by and catch my attention, but in general my mind just blended in with the wakening colors.
Hope you like the little set at the end of the blog.
Day 2: There was serious cloud yesterday which made me rethink whether this project was worthwhile doing, but I decided to stick with it as in the end, it would probably prove my point anyway.
The clouds were all-encompassing, but I took a few pics anyway and have them at the end of the blog.
Day 3: This third day, the morning was greeted with seriously dense fog. Driving to the lake, there were moments I couldn’t see more than 50 yards in front of the car. And then, as if to make a liar of me, I arrived at the lake to find not a hint of fog. Go figure!
There was even some good coloring happening on the horizon as the cloud bank failed to totally smother the twilight. A few more pics taken, then. Also at the end of the blog.
So, there you go … same place, same time, three different days.
And that is what got me thinking about this blog today.
It is difficult sometimes to take stock of where we are in life as stresses and issues seem to take control of our days when we least expect it.
Oftentimes we bemoan times that have past inasmuch as we wish we could go back to a simpler time and place. We crave a feeling or a sense of balance that we may have found once and wish for it again.
But like these three mornings, there is no going back. Regardless of the fantasies of time travel, it only moves in one direction and we move with it.
You can do as I just did; head back to the same spot at the same time, but the simple truth is that it won’t be there. Something will have changed. It might be the place. It might be the people. It might be you.
Yet we all occasionally look back to when times were simpler and full of smiles. Or at least that is what we imagine them to be.
The reality is that we only perceived them to be that way. We have banished the bad thoughts and only counted the smiles when someone called out “smile for the camera”.
We create these delusions and then long for them. And when we do that, we decrease the happiness we feel today.
Yesterday may have been key in getting us to where we are today, but the moment you woke up today, yesterday has no real value. It is in the past and has to stay there.
You can’t rewrite what happened or what was said. Nor can you redo what has already been done.
So we live our lives in the present and harbor hopes for the future. But the past is irrelevant.
I don’t mean irrelevant as in we begin with a clean slate. It is very relevant in how we got to where we are. But it has no relevance in how we will get to where we are going. That’s what today is all about.
… just a thought!
