Foggy Days

Stepping out of our little home this morning brought the awareness of slick surfaces, ground settling fog and light snow flakes.  The snow flakes were most likely freezing fog coming off the trees but it really looked like it was snowing, lightly.  As I drove from our little valley to the main Scott Valley, the fog seemed to lift slightly.  When the fog lifts "slightly" it means that visibility increases greatly.  As I neared Forrest Mountain to make the windy drive up and over, things were much brighter.  Scott Valley living can be very dreary in the winter months when the fog settles to the ground and refuses to leave.  Trapped.  With no escape. 

Usually the fog does not settle to stay in Yreka.  Today it hung around like an umbrella tree sheltering a summer shade garden.  It had it's job.  To keep things nice and crisp.  It did it well. 

Coming home I was greeted by a scene with which I am familiar.  A blanket of fog lapping at the mountain road as if it were a lake shore.  The look of a lake with islands protruding from the depths of the water.  Lake Scott Valley.  The sky above, bright and blue as if to mock the fog below.  It is hard to give up the sunshine and descend the elevation into the freezing temperatures that contain less than a breath of air. 

During these bleak, oppressive times when the thick cold fog hangs for days, the flocked white trees show off their branches in elegant fashion.  The barbed wire fences remain silent.  Frozen in place while encased in the lacy chars of ice.  Black and white photos are unnecessary because those colors are already on display.

There's a harshness about the brutal cold weather that lends to cozy nights by the fire and long January days inside.  There's a coziness about this thick soupy fog that wants to be needed.  There's true happiness from the population of people quickly moving from store to car to home when the fog lifts.  Isn't that life?  When life gets brutal and the temperature of real life goes extreme, we seek the ways that comfort and hold.  Life doesn't always have to shine brightly to be beautiful.  Hidden beauty is always in sight but not always revealed or appreciated by the beholder.