Catharthic
Deerfield Beach, FL, December 2010
This morning we drove through rush-hour traffic on roads lined with palm trees. The windows were down as the Miami-region FM morning hosts bantered in our ears. Late this afternoon and half a continent away, we drove through blinding snow under a darkening sky, our headlights barely cutting through the murk as Toronto-area news anchors updated traffic conditions on Canada's largest highway. No palm trees in sight.
We'd been away for a bit, spending some much-needed quiet time among family. I was about as far off the grid as I've ever been. No data on the BlackBerry, only occasional checks of e-mail to make sure nothing was burning down back home. The blog magically updated itself with scheduled posts, and assigned articles were still written to deadline. The difference is they were written poolside, using whatever WiFi signal I could scavenge. I kept the netbook on battery power to ensure I wrote quickly.
As much as I wanted to keep us all there for much longer, life awaited us back home. Vacations are wonderful things, opportunities to slow things down and remind ourselves why we all matter so much to each other. Why the quiet moments matter as much as the momentous ones. But like a good dessert, it doesn't taste quite as special if that's all there is.
As you may have imagined, I took a lot of pictures and I'll be sharing some of them in the days and weeks to come. I wanted to start with this one because it reinforces my belief that southern light is entirely different than northern light. And sometimes you need to go far from home to see things from a new perspective.
Your turn: Did you change gears a bit over the holiday season? What did you learn along the way?
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6 comments:
Wishing you and yours the happiest and most creative of years in 2011, Carmi.
Hi Carmi-
So you and the family were down in my neck of the woods. Yes, the light is much different here and the daily pace is different. I did not take any vacations this holiday, but I did re-acess my life plan for the coming years. Family was number one in everything..
Happy New Year to you and your beautiful family...
Glad you enjoyed the sunshine state!!!
beautiful shot it's gorgeous
Every holiday teaches me there really is no place like home.
You captured the color and texture of those clouds with wonderful detail, absolutely breathtaking.
This holiday season brought for us countertops for our kitchen and a small new years gathering of our friends. Great way to spend the holidays, and though I got several days off, I would have relished a few more.
-Mr
I've been away much of the past few weeks, not physically but still "away" from blogging. Like you, I had some posts self-set to appear on the interwebs without my interference. And I learned yet again that the world continues to turn without my input, that time spent with family is more important than time spent with those I cannot see, and that it is really okay to keep some things to myself.
Glad you had some down-time with family, and some southern sunlight to soak up this winter.
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