Silver Lining – Day 832

Not quite sure what this was, but: Whoa – Photo: L. Weikel

Silver Lining

Karl and I managed to get out for a walk today earlier than we have in quite a while. Nevertheless, it was still late afternoon, so by the time we got most of the way around our usual two mile jaunt, the sun was starting to give serious thought to setting. That’s when the silver lining gave way to some serious ice crystal dazzle.

Seriously, I got so many amazing photos this afternoon, I could probably write at least two more posts just celebrating the breathtaking moments of the final 20 minutes of our walk.

It’s funny. This dilemma I’m feeling is stemming from learning (or failing to fully integrate, perhaps) that little writers’ admonition not to hoard our experiences. And yet just last night, I intentionally chose not to share the odd photo that showed up on my phone between the two photos I used in my post. In fact, I even mentioned the peculiar photo and teased that I pretty much intended to write about it tonight.

But now here I am. Conflicted.

A Progression

The sky this afternoon provided some stunning moments that demanded we stop and pay full, unadulterated attention to the sky.

My conflict arises from my desire to transmit our experience to you in the same progression Mother Nature unfurled it to us, for the changes moment to moment, minute to minute, yielded their own unique set of exclamations, while at the same time wanting to skip to the climactic conclusion.

If I don’t lay out the entire progression that we experienced this afternoon, I run the risk of having life intervene and never ending up sharing the best with you.

Silver Lining

I’m going to risk the delay and take my time sharing the manner in which the sun performed today. But first, the photo from yesterday – the seemingly random, almost certainly accidental cascade of light, which I include at the beginning of this post.

I don’t know where this came from; it was taken, or at least showed up in my iPhone photos between the two photos of ice-covered tree branches I used in last night’s post. I just thought it was…odd. Maybe even breathtaking. Certainly reminiscent of, oh, I don’t know…Close Encounters of the Third Kind? (Weird trailer alert!)

Today’s walk, on the other hand, began with the sun hiding its light behind a substantial cloud on the horizon. But in behaving in a manner that resembled shyness, it was promising hope: providing us with the iconoclastic ‘silver lining.’

Near or far, the message was clear – there is the potential for good in even the darkest clouds on the horizon.

(T-279)