Entering The Long Grey

Ask me how I am, and you get a weather report. I don't get clinically depressed when the days get short, but my energy sure picks up the moment the sun comes out. Winters here are GREY. The only way to keep your sanity is to make your peace with clouds between Halloween and Imbolc (AKA Groundhog Day), the dark time of the year. Be mentally prepared for endless grey, and consider every appearance of sun a total bonus.

Periods of high pressure result in blue skies for the heli skiers, but a ceiling of low cloud over the valley. Temperature inversion creates a narrow band of fog that hangs halfway the mountain. Or is it the other way around? Whatever. We call it "Flat Cloud" and it is my least favorite feature of the local climate. It makes you feel like you are in a pot with the lid on top.

It just needs a breeze to lift, but our deep valleys tend to be sheltered from the wind. The best cure for 'Flat Cloud Blues' is a trip to higher altitudes, so you get above it. I cherish a beautiful picture by Rosie of the view from a logging road high above the lake, looking down on the sea of clouds, with the mountain tops forming a different coastline. Alas, it doesn't exist in digital form.

Right now we are in the season when the snow line starts coming down the mountains. We had the first token fall on the land the day before yesterday. It is all gone, but soon the landscape will be a subtle symphony of black and white. I took this picture in mid October, on the first day the mountains started getting their winter look. Too bad about the power lines, it was just a quick shot while driving to town.

Snow makes it all brighter. So here's my firm resolution to get my lazy butt out there during the dark times, even if it is just for 15 minutes, FlyLady style.