There’s nothing like a clear morning after a storm - especially after several cloudy days. I used to love those only for fresh powder skiing in my younger days. Now, I am so addicted to the sun at WinSol3 - for different reasons. The first storm last week was a pain: as unpredicted snow (level was supposed to be 6500 ft with less than 6")... and guess my surprise when I had to drive down to the big city at 6am with 10" of fresh snow.... not a problem, but still a bit of a pain at the hour in the morning when the main roads haven't been plowed.
Then there's the perfect storm yesterday where it was sunny all day... just after sunset the snow storm arrived - dropped about 1" of snow - and blue skies returned just in time for the sunrise - now THAT'S MY IDEA of a PERFECT STORM. The movie + book by the same name is kinda maccabe... it should've been titled something like the 'Worse possible storm'... but that wouldn't have sold or marketed that well.
There’s something about the first rays of sunlight rising up through the forest and shining its warm rays on WinSol3’s windows. Even though it’s relatively warm inside, there’s still something magical about the rays of sunlight coming through all the windows here.
Yesterday, I had such a moment, and was overwhelmed with feelings of joy, happiness – no, make that gratitude - , and that wonderful feeling of being alive. It’s all relative of course. If it wasn’t for the past few cloudy days, for the last month of being away, etc. it would not have felt the same. Walking out on the deck for my morning stretches (tai chi) and down to the Zen Deck and the forest roads always are magical.
In my walk through the forest after the rain, the incredible richness of smells were just intoxicating. My nose reached out to get every whiff, my brain trying to identify what type of tree it was. The smells were a cacophony of conifers + pine needles, dogwood, autumn leaves, rotting bark, mountain misery, dirt, water puddles… just plain ole nature in all its glory.
It is the grandest of moments for me. To wake up next to an endless forest with nowhere to go. For the last 35 days, I have spend ONE – yes 1 – day in a car. That’s my measure of my life’s quality. Talk about quality of life. Like most of my friends know: I used to measure the quality of my life by the # of sail and ski days per year. Now I measure it by how many days I do NOT get in a car.
This grandest moment here at WinSol3 is in contrast to a similar grand moment taking a walk with a friend early morning at the Bay Area marina, and as we approached the end of the headlands and viewed the harbor, the seawall and the Golden Gate Bridge as the sun was coming up... WOW... another grand moment in the middle of a huge urban, asphalt jungle... and my friend commented that he always likes to start his day this way... here, here!
I hope everyone who reads this experience a grand moment tomorrow morning. With love and gratitude...
