in the details

There is a power plant with a tall brick tower that exhales a long stream of smoke in the mornings as I head to the metro station. I remember that the first time I really noticed it I was surprised by the color combination of bright orange colored smoke clouds set against a navy sky. It seemed unreal and I marveled at the juxtaposition. On a more recent morning, the sky shone with a rich and bright blue, and the smokey stream puffed across its expanse in dusty rose hues. And this morning, the sky glowed light blue and the smoke billows that dissipated into it were gray, tinged on the bottom with ochre from the sun still waiting below the horizon to make its splendid entrance into the day.

This may be an odd way to measure the passage of time, but it is by marking these little details of my daily routine that I can clearly and colorfully see that the days lengthen and that the light is returning to these latitudes to ease the firm grip that darkness has held over the land.