I'm less energetic in the winter. I seem to go offline a bit, waiting as it were for it to be over. The days are shorter, so that's part of it, but they are also dimmer, and I think that's a bigger part for me. Some talk of Seasonal Affective Disorder, SAD, and propose light therapies. I suspect there's something to it.

Just now I was standing under an overhang sheltering from a steady rain. It had been a dim day - cold, overcast and drizzly - and I was too blank for comfort. Then the sun shone through the overcast. Not brightly, but very much brighter than a moment before. It had dropped low enough in the afternoon sky to shine wanly through the overcast, a perfunctory reminder that it would return though it was on its way behind the mountain and then the whole earth for the night.

The rain was falling with a slight slant due to a southeasterly breeze. The tree branches are still bare though buds are popping and catkins are emerging in some places. Everything glistened in the soft light, and colors that were drab a moment before became vibrant. The moss on the tree trunks, black for most of the year but bright green when well wetted, the grasses and early field flowers, nourished me with their colors. The SADness instantly left.

It was brief, and ceased before the thought was complete, but I'll remember. I'll stash that moment in a handy place and bring it out to help when I need it.