We’ve turned the clocks back and November darkness is setting in. But there’s light on the horizon! Earlier this year the Senate passed a bill to make daylight saving time permanent by spring of next year. Who knows when the House will take up the bill? They may have more pressing issues.
One way I’m trying to embrace our dark days is to get out and marvel at the twilight. I’ve long associated twilight with that magical time after sunset when the sky becomes awash in colors not found on a painter’s palette. But I’ve discovered that the lightening sky before sunrise is also considered twilight, and that there are three phases, civil, nautical, and astronomical, based on how far the sun is below the horizon.
An image of twilight that’s made a lasting imprint on me is the album cover of Jackson Browne’s LP, Late for the Sky. An old Chevrolet sits under the glow of a street lamp and in front of a house where an upstairs window is illuminated. The darkening blue sky is scattered with fluffy clouds, and the outline of bare tree branches frames the house. It’s based on a painting by Rene Magritte and is a knock out, just like the music inside.
The scene propels me outside for a walk, and I let my mind project stories behind lit windows and observe as twilight moves across its stages.
I’m Paula Garrett and that’s my perspective.
