Here Comes The Sun...
...it seems like years since it's been clear...

The gray days this time of year really give me that "cooped-up" feeling. It's almost as if the sky itself is pressing down on me, trying to make me collapse. It's hard to feel good about much of anything when there's drizzle, fog, low-hanging clouds and winds just kinda complicating everything. It reminds me of the Jimi Hendrix song, "I don't live today", in which he says toward song's end, "there ain't no life, nowhere"...

But today was just astounding. The Chamber of Commerce promotes days like this. The leaves are now just turning color; they've yet to fall en masse from the trees. People were in the park taking pictures today. Others were sitting on the benches, others were walking their dogs, some were strolling along the beach; me, I was walking my 3 laps around the park (all my back will let me do anymore), and in-between, I found myself gazing out at the lake and blue sky. Sunshine and warmth everywhere, no wind, and smooth-as-glass water reflecting cloudless skies of blue.

It was almost as if everything was happening in slow, dreamy motion. No one seemed to be in a hurry, everything seemed peaceful, and, life was all around. I had cabin fever really bad during last week's extended period of gray gloom. It's days like this that I'm glad I've been given the gifts of sight and relatively good health and I used them both to maximum effect today. The sun felt great; the environment looked good, and the pace of life was leisurely today. A far cry from the ceaseless momentum of tourist season when everyone seems to be immersed in all kinds of frenetic activity.

There is no big, huge point to this post, really. I gave up long ago trying to write things that have never been written before. Who is original, really? The only gem of wisdom I can come up with in this post (and it probably isn't all that wise, really) is that, when the days are gray and gloomy, remember that the sun isn't all that far away. It's just behind those clouds. Another way of saying, "there's always hope". In fact, on a day similar to this one, but long ago, the following image was rendered...



Here's one of those fabled lake steamers going up the St. Joe River back around the turn of the 20th century. And I'll bet the passengers on that boat enjoyed the weather, too.
____________________

As you probably know, Beatle George Harrison wrote "Here Comes The Sun". He and the other Beatles had been involved in some pretty intense business meetings. One day, George decided not to attend them, opting instead, to hang out in friend Eric Clapton's garden on a sunny day. And a song was born...