A Midsummer Morning’s Awareness

From a restless and fitful sleep, I pull my consciousness from the deep recesses of my mind and towards wakefulness. I arise this morning at the, how’s the old saying go, "the crack of dawn." As I sit in my meditation/reading chair and gaze out the window I realize how inappropriate that saying is to this morning.

I have seen the crack of dawn in the high deserts, from the slopes of many mountains and on the eastern horizon of the sea. The light appears as a thin line in the distance. Faint at first, just a hint that gathers in intensity with the arrival of our day star, Sol.

Not so here in the Mary’s River valley. Here the horizon is close because of the forested hills that define the valley. Here the influence of marine air brings a soft fog, laden with moisture. The effect of this fog is manifold. The moist air settles and gently lays its dampness on meadows and forest. It also brings a dampening effect on sound. The new day breaks not with a crack but a quietness. A quietness that lays like a soft blanket over the land. A freshness that says; "listen, and in the listening be still." Not an easy task for one with my temperament.

But the most subtle effect is the light itself. Diffused by a myriad of suspended water molecules, this light of a new morning creeps silently across my mind. There is no sudden appearance of light streaming across the landscape nor land transformed into areas of deep shadow and bright welcoming warmth.

No, not here, not today. Instead the dark of night slowly changes to a greyness that becomes dawn. No sudden rush of light. No shadows. Instead a melancholy light that turns midsummer fields amber in its soft glow.

Like the change of the seasons, the fog lifts with a steady but with barely perceptible progress. The sky takes on a blue greyness and Mary’s Peak can now be seen at the southern end of the valley. The air slowly warms, the fog leaves and another beautiful summer day has begun. Life right here, right now is good.

Time for breakfast and another cup of coffee.