Reub's journey

20 November 2010

In the dark


When I finally retire from my teaching job I will be a master at whiling away the hours. This afternoon, thinking I had all the time in the world, I practiced. I went downtown to buy a book, taking my camera just for fun.

One of the music shops has a surprisingly large assortment of ukeleles. Fascinating. Who buys these things, I wonder. Apparently nobody, because they have been in the window for a long time; that's okay because they look really great. Not paying any attention to the time, I took a bunch of pictures of store windows because the Friday Shoot-Out photo group has this assignment coming up.



On the way home I stopped to pick up some dog food at Petco, where it was easy to become distracted by the cats who are up for adoption.



That's when I noticed what it looked like through the windows behind the charming cat, who not surprisingly, had gone to bed. What? It was only 4:45, and getting dark fast. Time to head home. Ed and Reub are accustomed to a walk in the afternoon.






Did I just say "afternoon?"





I put on a reflective vest, bright orange just like the road crews from the local jail, and a headlamp reminiscent of a coal miner. After snapping a twinkling light onto Eddy, who is otherwise completely invisible at night, we set out on our walk at 5:15.



There are few streetlights in our neighborhood, and I am still getting used to the headlamp. It's kind of like being onstage; you can only see the illuminated path in front of you and not much else. That's why we very nearly crashed into a lady coming towards us walking a tiny angry white dog: people, carry a light, okay?




It was shockingly dark out there. Whoa, what was that? My headlamp would occasionally hit on somebody's reflective tape, plastered randomly on a mailbox.







A street sign was the brightest thing out there.










This was at 5:22PM. There were owls calling to one another.




I put the dogs in the house when I got home, and went to get in the mail. The moon was far above, and the house had a dim light showing through the narrow windows on either side of the door. Eddy was watching me through one of them.



I had forgotten to turn his light off.

6 comments:

  1. It gets dark so early. I am now pushing lunch to mid-morning so I can eat dinner earlier!

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  2. I enjoyed this post. You made me smile. When you retire you'll be amazed by the new opportunities that arise to fill in your time. :)

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  3. These are great shots! I love Eddy sitting with his light on.

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  4. i am enjoying the earlier dark this week in NY...ohio just doesn't get quite dark enough this time of year...

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  5. Too dark--and I hear you might be getting some early Winter weather, too. Here, it's 70 degrees with a Tornado watch. The world is upside-down.

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  6. Even though we don't have Daylight Saving Time here in Arizona (except on federally owned lands, that is) our sunset time right now is about 5:30 so we don't get dark until after 6:00. I loved the nighttime shots, especially the last one. I haven't mastered that technique yet.

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