Shadows in the sky

Beacons for a safe arrival
London, ON
March 2011

Quick note: this photo ends our week-long exploration of Thematic's shadows theme. If you'd like to share your own, just head here. New theme, industrial disease, launches tonight at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

This is the view skyward from a spot just in front of our house. And although these days it's pitch black when I first back out of the driveway and start the long journey eastward, I wanted to share this shot as it's reflective of what goes through my mind before I get underway.

That's because I've got a fatalist's view of the commute, and I never view the drive as routine. I get that it's a pretty long trip - 160 kilometres, or about 100 miles - in a region where the weather can turn a routine drive into a white-knuckled nightmare before you even know you've got a problem. I hear reports of accidents in the region, and as I count my blessings that it wasn't me I also reflect how easily it could be. I'm already churning the drive in my head long before I step out the door into the cold, dark pre-dawn.

And every time I do, I look up at the blackened sky and stop for a second or two to just take it in. Along the way, the sun will give me a fiery light show somewhere after Woodstock. But for that moment, it's a perfect, inky, velvety, star-studded carpet. And I'd like to think that it'll guide me from above and ensure I make it safely not only to my destination, but back home again at the end of the day.

Your turn: Do you have a travel ritual?