April 25, 2006

in which we apologize for being diverted by dusk

Q. Shenaynay

The Beehive has been less buzzish here of late, as many of you have noted. So okay, we rested a bit after our trip and took a little break to get life back in the groove. And frankly, we've just needed some quiet space to ruminate on things -- we found out that trips to Great Britain cause one to need a lot more thinking time for proper digestion than we anticipated.

But I think we're about ready to climb back on the blog wagon now, so get ready for a few posts about Scotland and England -- we're trying to select a handful of pictures to post from a stack of... gulp... about a thousand snapshots.

I confess we've noticed during this little quasi-sabbatical from blogging that it's harder to blog indoors when it's springtime outdoors. It's soon to get too stifling hot here in Texas to just be out-of-doors without being conscious of the discomfort of frying skin and air too heavy to breathe, not to mention vampirish mosquitos. So April is not to be squandered.

I love April, and I love that time of day when the sky starts melting into the fuzzy drama of dusk. For just a half-hour or so, the light particles that illuminate my little fallen corner of the world breathe a sigh of relief, intoxicated with gold under the momentary canopy of something so glorious it seems out of place suspended as it is above all the confusion writhing beneath it. And where else in nature does God give us that intense azure blue that creeps over the eastern horizon -- can a color be more arresting and deep than that? The indigo of dusk is the color of endlessness. I can't fathom it.

I love dusk so much that I wish God would slow down the sun for that little span of time and let me enjoy it longer. But then I realize I enjoy it so much because I know I must stop for it because it will not stop for me.

So in that hour of the day when we might otherwise be blogging, instead we've been out walking and talking and trying to understand indigo, and thinking about how mockingbirds edify our sidewalk atmosphere so much more than grackles and how the neighborhood dove couple that we always see together and cooing seems far more content than that solitary yellow-bellied sapsucker of a woodpecker who comes around pecking himself senseless.

And thinking about how light is a mystery that we keep trying to explain though we cannot understand it.

That -- all of that -- is a very good thing.

(I forgot how much I enjoy blogging. Good to be back.)

17 comments:

Androphenese said...

huh, I didn't know you played the piano!

Lynn Bruce said...

funny guy. i was just waiting for you to write something for me to play. thanks.

Big P said...

welcome back! please take your time, just don't forget us! soon it will be dawn and dusk as the almost only bearable times to be outside...

Donna-Jean Breckenridge said...

You were missed.

Gracie said...

wow...a thousand pictures...if a picture paints a thousand words...then how many would a thousand pictures paint?

Gracie said...

a lot.

Table of Stone said...

so glad for your return however I much understand the need for outdoors. It is gorgeous in April. But much anticipating your pictures

Deeapaulitan said...

*sweet sigh* I have missed you. I'm thankful that you not only took time to enjoy April and it's dusk, but that you shared it with us.
I feel like cooing a bit myself tonight... *sigh*... where is that husband of mine?!

LaceyP said...

Welcome back! I think it's quite obvious how much we missed all of you! Can't wait to see the pictures and hear all the stories!

Lady Godiva said...

i'm glad your mockingbirds are edifying. mine imitate sirens of 3 distinct varieties: police, fire, & ambulance.
but my new home that i will move to in 10 (!!!!) days has a lot of trees and a creek behind it, so at least i shall look forward to that.

X said...

And we wait....

Life is better in the South said...

Your use of the English language is amazing...I, too, love dusk. In our neighborhood the most pleasant voice by far is the mockingbird. It's great to start the day with his song in our ear, and it's great to have you all back.

Cimmanim said...

it's great to have you back! i can't wait for pictures!

rachel tsunami said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
rachel tsunami said...

homeboy: it's "descendants" with an s and an a. (I wouldn't be so brave to correct you if I knew who you are. ;-))

Beehive: Okay. Enough diversion. You're getting lazy and you know it.

LaceyP said...

whoa! I guess she told you! :)

LaceyP said...

I was referring to the members of the Beehive, by the way...

ha! word verification: iheel