Look up!

We have been having some spectacular sunsets recently. There are ample opportunities to ooh and ahh each evening as we watch a new array of colors and clouds across the sky. I am most often inside our apartment looking out and up into the sky but I need to make an effort to head outside and really look up when the sky is showing off so beautifully.

One morning when we were at the beach recently, at the encouragement of our children and grandchildren, we got up at some ridiculous hour when no one on vacation usually chooses to get up, and made the short trek to the beach. Oh, what a show it was! So worth getting up at that early hour (even when it felt like the middle of the night) and going out to look up as the sun rose out of the ocean.

As I sat in our apartment this past week I found myself looking up. I looked up at our very white ceiling. We still have what is called a popcorn ceiling. If you squint you can imagine how it got its name as its bumpy texture (sort of) looks like squashed popcorn kernels. This style of ceiling became popular for a period of time because it was easy to apply and it was also good at hiding imperfections. But the real bonus is that popcorn ceilings provide sound-deafening properties which is a plus for apartment living. Just to be clear, there is no popcorn in a popcorn ceiling nor has there ever been popcorn in popcorn ceilings. Today those little bumps are made by tiny particles of vermiculite or polystyrene in the paint. It is these bumps that give the sound deadening quality to the ceiling.

I rather like popcorn ceilings though many people do not and my understanding, from watching way too much HGTV, is that popcorn ceilings are neither popular nor chic these days.

At one time (pre-1970’s), popcorn ceilings contained asbestos but that is no longer true. Some still feel that modern asbestos-free popcorn ceilings are not as healthy as flat ceilings because the popcorn texture can hold more dust and potential allergens. Even though I know popcorn ceilings are not fashionable these days, I find it far more interesting looking up at these unfashionable ceilings that gazing at a flat ceiling.You can see all sorts of patterns in the popcorn if you just take time to look.

There are, of course, many more spectacular things to see by looking up, even when one is inside. You can be rewarded many times by just taking the time to look up, in great Cathedrals and in far simpler dwellings. Looking up can be very interesting indeed.

Of course there is nothing quite as lovely as looking up when you are outdoors. I still hope to one day see the Northern Lights, the Aurora Borealis.

But for now I will happily settle for a sunset over the mountains or a sunrise on the beach or just looking up and getting lost in the clouds.

What do you see when you look up from where you are?