I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving. Mine had all the good stuff of family and food, plus a gift Saturday morning: a thick fog in the backyard and temperatures below freezing.
Winter’s coming. Thanks for looking.
Dan
thanksgiving
Parade of Light
The solstice and astronomical beginning of winter is a month away, but we’re as impatient as ever to get into the spirit of the season. One northwest Arkansas radio station, usually featuring music from all over the past 50 years, has been playing solid Christmas music for weeks. The stores, freshly cleared of leftover Halloween candy, have shelves of Christmas decorations. So far I’ve resisted, but last night Fayetteville held its Lights of the Ozarks lighting ceremony and parade, kicking off the holidays with lots of people, lots of selfies and 400,000 lights. I had to go.
I’ve never seen so many Christmas lights on trees with so many of their leaves still attached, as if to highlight how much we want full-fledged winter to get going already. No matter how screwy the mix of lights and leaves seems, the effect can be striking.
I shouldn’t be too hard on us; snow flurries fell around here this morning, and temperatures are forecast to fall below freezing tonight. Maybe nature’s ready for winter, too.
Thanks for looking!
Dan
Over the Rockies
I’m thankful for people who work in airports and airplanes on Thanksgiving.
(These are above Dallas. I tried getting a bunch of natural formations — the Southwest is fascinating from the air — but they didn’t turn out.)
I’m thankful for a job that lets me learn constantly, and lets me find people and look for new ways of explaining and showing where they come from and why they do what they do. I’m thankful for having a job.
I’m thankful for the people who love me and whom I love, especially the ones far away who stretch their minds and hearts to reach me.
I’m thankful for health and food, warmth and a bed, and for clear sinuses. I’m thankful for titanium wings that don’t snap off in turbulence no matter how many times I’ve pictured it happening.
I’m thankful for mountains and dunes and canyons and temperatures in the 80s in the Southwest. I’m thankful for getting to visit my mom here in Arizona for the first time in a good while.
Thanks for looking!
Dan
In the Air
You all know it’s not even Thanksgiving yet, right?
I’m just teasing, but it’s funny to me that whether it’s in my family’s house or on Fayetteville’s square, the week before Thanksgiving is the time for Christmas lights. Maybe it’s still warm enough to put them up, or maybe it’s that sunsets these days are so early that we need to fill the evenings with some light of our own (I swear every year the sunsets get earlier.). Or it could be that we’re impatient.
Most of this week’s photos are from the first night of the Lights of the Ozarks in the square, an annual event that organizers say includes half a million of those cylindrical bulbs. In true Ozark fashion, the first night resembled a county fair, with stacks of corn dogs and a pony merry-go-round in between glowing trees. Lots of families and lots of selfies, too, of course.
I wonder if there’s any cultural significance to our focus on light during the season of darkening skies and hibernation, the night of a figurative year-long day. Is our light defiance, or just a calm source of comfort and fun for ourselves? I don’t mean to drag it all down, but it’s interesting to think about, at least to me.
This is Razorback Stadium, bathed in red light from the jumbo screen. The pinkish glow of the clouds above was visible for at least a mile. Just for kicks, I suppose.
These guys were having fun spinning their own lights just outside my apartment building. The next morning I went home for an early Thanksgiving. As is tradition, Christmas decorations came out after the big dinner.
My dad’s side of the family gave me an early Thanksgiving because I’m heading to my mom’s in Arizona this week — should be a good time, and some places and people to photograph on the side.
Whether you celebrate Thanksgiving (or Christmas) or don’t, I hope this time of year brings you comfort and lights and good food. Thanks for looking.
Dan
Viewfinder 