Winter Sun

I'm not sure you know this about me, but I really loathe the winter.  It's got so many terrible qualities and so few redeeming ones.  Even if I try to give it a fair shot, it comes out the loser every time. 

So, I live on the edge of the time zone.  It's terrible.  Why? Because it gets darker earlier than anywhere else in my time zone! Not fair! Stupid Midwest. Count your blessings.   Almost everyone I know experiences some form of Seasonal Affective Disorder.  In fact there are church lessons taught on how we can combat it, true story.  I really wonder how humans can survive in Scandinavia.  How do you do it, Scandinavia?? How??

Anyway, I won't go into all the reasons I hate winter (it's only just begun, after all. There are plenty of dark days ahead! [< --positive thinking])  but another one is this.  The sun.  I hate the winter sun.  I shouldn't hate it. It should be my friend. But it's not.  And you know why? Because it sits so very looow on the horizon and is in my eyes ALL.THE.TIME.  All day.  From dawn until dusk.  I can't face the southern hemisphere else I will blind myself.  It seriously angers me.  More than once I've shaken my fist and futiley shouted, "winter sun!!"   And it feels like it's stripped of things that make the sun pleasant. Namely warmth, i suppose.  It's just a bright light constantly flashing in my eyes.  You tell me you wouldn't get mad at that.

But, yesterday I was driving in a car and through a canyon of mountainous glory and the view was a shock to my eyes. It's not often i get to see the beauties of nature and when I do, it takes a while for it to really sink in.  I was with others in the car and when I saw the blinding sun heading down over a body of mountain water, I opened the window and blindly took a picture of something I thought had potential to be cool.  I put the window back up and said, "say, that's pretty cool!" and when others caught a glimpse they each exclaimed a version of "Wow!"   And for one brief moment, Winter Sun and I came to an understanding.  Combined with snowy mountains and glassy water, you aren't all bad. Happy Solstice.

Bonus shot: This was taken from inside a train and i love how its old timey'ness makes it look like an old photograph.  Take that, instagram!  Who needs you?  I'm authentic.