Reflections in the early dark
It gets dark here so early these days that, combined with some of the news, I sometimes succumb to feeling gloomy. Some days it just seems like there are so many lies circulating in the news – so many lies that so many people believe – that I feel like I’m playing whack-a-mole, and my arms are getting tired.
I was just out taking a little walk, and not only was it dark but it was cold and nippy. I actually liked the cold, because – except for snow and ice, which is a big “except” where I live – I find cold exhilarating, up to a point.
So today I don’t want to give a whole lot of time to news like the fact that the left has decided to take up the “Trump and Epstein” cry again, although the “news” is not really news nor is it incriminating. The spin is, but spin is enough for some people.
And although I’m glad the shutdown is almost certainly about to end, the whole thing was a tiresome charade orchestrated by the left because they thought, with the help of the MSM, they could frame it as “mean old Republicans doing their mean old things.” For some people, that seems to have borne fruit, as last week’s election probably demonstrated.
Jew-hatred is on the rise, too. This should be no surprise – the history of the world demonstrates the cyclical nature of one of the world’s oldest hatreds and calumnies. But it’s nevertheless depressing – and the rise is among young people especially, which bodes ill for the future.
And one of my best friends is waiting for the results of a biopsy for something potentially very bad.
I tend to get happier after the sunsets start to get later.
Last night I was up late, sending the PDF of the Vanderleun poetry book to the printer. It’s a new printer, chosen because they also do the mailings (with the essay book, the mailings were a problem). But this printer had a form for me to fill out electronically, and it had inadequate instructions; therefore it took me about two tooth-grinding hours to figure out how to complete it and sign it. I’m amazed I figured it out at all.
I’d been hoping to get the book out by November 1, because of Christmas season coming. But I estimate it will be another week or two before that happens. Finishing both books, essays and poetry, is a bittersweet moment for me; mostly sweet but also partly sad, as I think you’ll understand.
Neo…you are exceedingly continuingly gracious to the men in your life…both past & present. That is the epitome of blessed to be a blessing.
I feel for you, Neo. I was a person who was definitely affected by the appropriately named SAD. Another reason I had to go south.
I’ve already seen the left minions running with the Epstein “revelations”. Never mind the “redacted victim” has stated for years nothing happened. It is depressing.
For your friend, if bad news comes, from my own personal experience, it’s worth the trip to hook up with MD Anderson. Fantastic people who saved my life and continue to help in the aftermath. I can call anytime and get immediate help.
Hang in there. I know the next 2 months are bad for New England sunlight, but by the end of January it will begin to brighten.
neo,
Thank you for that charming “note.”
Your not news is also very welcome.
Hang in there, things in your life will likely get better. And I recommend supplementing with Vitamin D3+K2 – it is highly recommended for those of us in northern latitudes this time of year.
Don’t be down, things have a way ( where there’s breath there’s hope). Things will get better.
One thing I appreciate about living here in the Bay Area is that, being more centrally located in its time zone as well as being a bit furthur south, is that the early sunsets this time of year are not as extreme as they are in the Boston area where I’m from. Our earliest sunset is 4:49 as opposed to 4:12.
“But this printer had a form for me to fill out electronically, and it had inadequate instructions . . . .”
Been there done that bought the tee shirt [hoodie in winter]. Not the printer, but the poorly composed form. Good that you managed to get it right.
Best wishes on the books; congratulations (and I’m with ya about the sad aspect).
BREAKING: House passes bill to end historic government shutdown, sending it to Trump tonight – Video
https://commoncts.blogspot.com/2025/11/breaking-house-passes-bill-to-end.html
Having been somewhat overwhelmed by a lot of terrible political news, I have pared back my obsession with it, to focus on more pleasant subjects.
= = = = = =
Re the now-ended shutdown, I feared that the
GOP would pluck defeat from the jaws of victory, but they seem to have avoided that. I still think they are spending too much money, but a successful negotiation requires some concessions.
Defeating the Demoncrats and making them look bad are good things!
Promises made and kept. Well done, Neo.
On dark days: My daughters gave me a “Happy Light.” If I sit with it about 20 minutes a day it helps with SAD. In our new location we’re up on a hill, with sky and hill views from every window, and that’s helping a lot.
Inadequate directions: My husband, with a handyman who has very tall ladders, installed a lift in the garage for canoe storage. They worked on it all day one Saturday, and finally gave up, leaving it dangling like a strange exhibit in a modern art museum. On Monday, they called the seller’s help line. Miraculously, they got a live tech to talk them through the installation. The tech said, yeah, their instructions were “for shit.”
Up the garage with hanging canoes.
That will make you SAD.
I don’t know if I can say I have a sort of reverse-SAD (as I understand it) because I generally dislike getting up in the dark. I don’t have too much of a problem with evenings being dark but I struggle a bit when I have to wait an hour or more after rising to see the sun. I really eagerly await the return of Standard Time since we made that idiotic extension of Daylight Saving Time. It probably doesn’t help that I’m in a city at the far west edge of the time zone which pushes the sunrise even later in the day. Extra daylight at bedtime is no compensation.
Congratulations on the book Neo. It’s good of you to have been able to do this for Gerard.
Regarding daylight and dark: a new German Shorthair Pointer came to live with us in May. We live in the country, so she has plenty of space to run behind the house, but being young she is attracted to the road in front of our place. So I try to let her out only with me, and keep her relatively close to me as we walk.
This was not a problem in May, when I could rise at 5:00 and walk with her. I’ve been able to do that regularly since then, but with later mornings this has been a problem. And now that I can no longer see my footing even as late as 6:30, I try to convince her to stay in until about 6:45. She is not affected by the dark, and does not understand. First World Problems.
I am also a member of the SADsters Club, although it took me some time to realize that there was a syndrome with a name for what I recognized as a condition that has absolutely no affect on AesopSpouse.
However, I think we have both finally accepted that I “hibernate” in the winter.
Fall, on the other hand, when the days are bright and crisp, is invigorating.
Daylight Savings Time Delenda Est.
I wish DOGE could find some way to pronounce it Uneconomic and shut it down.
I’m with you, Christopher. Most people seem to prefer daylight time for the “extra” hour of sunlight at the end of the day but I hate it when it is dark during morning commute. And kids are going to school. Even though I’m retired now and usually sleep late lol.
Now that serious consideration is being given to locking in one time format, or the other, the discussion centers around “which one, Standard or Daylight Saving?”
The Grumpy Old Man version is “Standard; if you want another hour of daylight in the evening, get up an hour earlier.” (I’m of the mind that if you have a business and it doesn’t open until 10AM, it’s not a business, it’s a hobby. Most of the world around you has been up and moving since long before 10, you should be, too.)
As for “the cold,” I’ll – partially – agree with Neo; “regular” cold, not the bone cutting 20-below-zero stuff, is, indeed invigorating……right up until you realize that you’re condemned to suffer it for another 4 months. Flying in to an arctic wasteland, like Boston (more wasteland year ’round, than arctic, in my opinion, but….) for a several-day mid-winter sojourn can be a nice counterpoint. Day in, day out cold for months, though, can easily be mentally fatiguing in the extreme. Which is why God invented Spring.