This week has had more than its fair share of foggy mornings.
I am not sure why fog appeals to me as it does - I like cloudy overcast days as well, so that may be a reason. There is something about the muting, both of sight and sound, that the fog brings, the soft edges it gives to items near and the complete concealment of items farther away, dim hints of shapes that acquire mythical appearances. In the fog, trees and houses become monsters.
Walking in the fog is its own experience: the muffled sound, the floating edges that streetlights acquire, the constant drips of moisture from surfaces. Now, as it is Autumn, the leaves I walk over have a muffled "slap" as I step on them, so freshly fallen and damp as they are. People become dimly seen shapes that resolve from the fog and become human, only to disappear again into passing shadowy shapes.
Fog brings all the meditative atmosphere of a good rainy day without the inconvenience of the falling water. I can get out and do things, but the fog seeps into my thoughts as I do them. It adds thought and and element of mystery to the commonest of activities: given a deep enough fog, even taking the trash out becomes something of a meditative adventure into the unknown as the common landmarks between here and the dumpster are erased except for the brief moments that they hove into view.
Would I like fog all the time? I suspect not: too much gloom is bad for anyone's soul. But I surely grateful for it when it appears now, a haunting condition that teases me with mystery and thought and can, at least for a little while, make the world almost an adventure.
I have a particular fondness for night fog.
ReplyDeleteEd, I do as well.
DeleteDoesn't get foggy often around my neighborhood and when it does inside is where I stay. Give me sun anytime TB......:)
ReplyDeleteThe Ravishing Mrs. TB would agree with you on the sunshine, Nylon12!
DeleteIn my days as a tadpole radio reporter, I had regular conversations with an old farmer who swore that 90 days after a thick fog, there is always a major snowstorm. So batten down the hatches around Jan. 31, TB.
ReplyDeleteWarren - Done and done! I have heard colloquially that it is a going to be a hard Winter, so we shall see.
DeleteMy brain seems to be full of fog. Its been that way for a decade or so. Keep hoping it will clear.
ReplyDeleteBuddeshepherd -That would be hard. That occasionally happens to me and it is frustrating.
DeleteNot a fan of fog I’m afraid TB, perhaps tis the Viking within that fears the dulling of senses and the disorientation that it brings. Give me the crisp, clear and cold air of an autumnal day anytime over the smothering blanket of a dense fog.
ReplyDeleteGood point John - Tactically it is not good at all. Probably too much of the poet in my soul.
DeleteFog. Hmm. I hadn't thought about liking it. Or not liking it. I definitely don't like driving in it. It has a sense of stealth-mode to it, but I would miss the view if we had it too thick and too often.
ReplyDeleteLeigh, driving in it is definitely not one of my favorite things. But I sure like walking in it.
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