November Light. Happy Sunday!

November Light

November Light

The season between leaf fall and snow fall in southern Maine is not the most attractive of seasons. The weather is often raw, even on sunny days, the birds are silent or already absent, and there is little to attract the eye…little, at least in the landscape, it sometimes seems, to keep the spirits up. And it is hunting season, so the woods are not safe. As it happens I miss most of it. I have a festival in New Jersey in late October, and two in November…in Texas and New Mexico. I am only home like 9 days between mid-October and Thanksgiving. The one redeeming feature of the season is the light. It is not the warmth, though we are thankful for the sun these days, but the angle as the sun drops lower in our Maine sky. Mid-day light in November is the equivalent of early evening light in July. The shadows never do get short. They remain long, molding all they touch. Though the landscape attempts to deny it, the light is even just about the same color as a mid-summer evening.

And yet it is unique. There is no mistaking November light across the landscape for the light of any other season.

I suppose, in a way, my whole life is in just such a season. I had a heart attack in April and I retired in July, but I am still active with ZEISS on the festival circuit. I have made some moves toward the next phase of my life, putting out feelers, making tentative plans, but I am mostly coasting, enjoying this interval when there is nothing much happening, this time between. Trying to find enough in the slant of the light across the landscape to keep my spirits up while I settle into my winter…trying to imagine a winter that I might enjoy. No worries really. As long as I can appreciate the light of November, I think December and January will pretty much, spiritually, take care of themselves.

Sony HX400V in camera HDRs. Processed in Lightroom. Assembled in Phototastic. On my Lenovo Miix 2 tablet.

One Comment

  1. Reply
    Kristen November 16, 2014

    Hi, I’m sorry to hear you had health issues and hope you are on the mend. I am happy to get this in my inbox again! I love your photos and the Sunday message. Thanks!

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