anti:freeze

In Portland, the light is so blue during winter. Darkness falls early.

Look at the Bagdad last summer, only slightly earlier in the afternoon:

Strange how it seems so much brighter, even with the lights switched off.

Do you ever think about how cities change with the seasons? Not just in terms of temperature or precipitation, but in the actual energy they emit.

Shops and theaters, cafes and bookstores, are not so different from the deciduous trees that line my front walk. When coldness creeps across the land, they change. They seem to fall asleep or even die. (And those with fancy lights disappear in the garish colors, blinking bulbs, and neon tubes. In a sense, they are more obscured by light than darkness).

Or is it our mood projected back on the world? In a real sense, light and color do not exist outside our perceptions. They are not particles. They are waves. The question, then, is not what you look at, but what you see. (Was that Thoreau?)

The Steel Bridge in winter:

The Steel Bridge in summer:

Either way, I can hardly wait for spring.