Sunset maunderings at 1:30 a.m.

Mama always taught us that, if we didn’t have something nice to say, we should not say anything at all. (Is there anybody in the world, outside of politics and the internet, whose mama didn’t teach them the same?)

So for nearly 53 years I’ve mostly tried to avoid commenting on Winter.

Late this afternoon I was standing outside in the mild cold--it wasn’t the “take-your-breath-away” variety, just standard December right-around-freezing--admiring the sunset while Xena the old dog rolled in the grass (she has a thick coat and positively loves the cold) and Cecil, the half-yearling beagle/boxer mix chased Nina, the “middle-aged” part-chow, across the deeply furrowed fall-plowed field west of the house.

I work an odd split shift, most days--11:30 to 3, then 5:30 to 10--and so I grab sunsets whenever I have the chance. Most of the year, that means only on Fridays and Saturdays, my days off; rest of the week, I may steal a fleeting glimpse of the “reverse” sunset, the view to the east, through a crack in the curtains.

Sunset this afternoon wasn’t particularly spectacular. Clouds on the horizon and overhead bore promise that the sun’s fading slanting light could make it spectacular, and that wispy promise kept me out there with my feet turning numb and the (mild) cold starting to seep through the goose-down filling of my coat. Finally I did have to come back inside and thaw out--work beckoned, after all--but the little while I was able to spend out there, hoping for spectacular . . . Well, it’s all about hope, isn’t it?

When winter starts settling in, I dread the cold, of course, but most of all I dread the lack of light. Probably I am no more or less prone to SAD--seasonal affective disorder--than anyone else, but the decrease in hours of light definitely depresses my “inner photographer.”

It occurred to me today, though, and not for the first time, that the sun setting earlier means I get to enjoy sunsets on a regular basis for at least a few weeks. While I’m still more of a fan of sunrises, I have to call that a “win” for winter.

So, to my mother--I can finally say something “nice” about this godawful frigid miserable useless depressing and generally crappy time of year! You did your job well, Mom.

Here, have a sunset: