I am gazing out my window from our 4th floor apartment. We have a beautiful vista view of the sky with Biltmore Estate and the mountains far in the distance. Yesterday was a very grey day. Today has been a very grey day.
I am not really a fan of grey days. I do much better with blue skies and sunshine.
It was the hardest part for me about living in Vermont for those five years. There were a lot of grey days, mostly in the winter and early Spring months. Of course there were also a lot of gorgeous sunny days, too, though mostly in the summer. My friend Paul used to say that if it wasn’t for the weather, everyone would want to live in Vermont. He was not wrong. Vermont is a beautiful place—except for that overabundance of very grey days.
People are often shocked that a Southerner like me would have been able to live in Vermont. They often wonder how I endured the snow, the ice, the deep cold. Yes, but those were not the hard parts for me. It was the grey.
Winter was long. A long grayness that delayed spring flowers appearing when I thought they should already be sprinkling the landscape with dabs of color. My first year in Vermont I felt that Spring and flowers would never arrive. They did, of course. But it was much later than I was used to and the grey landscape lasted much longer than I hoped.
The mountains of North Carolina suit me better. We do have grey days like the past two have been, but we have a goodly amount of sunshine and clear blue sky days in every season, too.
To everything there is a season. A season for sunny blue sky days and a season for grey days. The truth is, wherever we live, we are going to get them all.
Since I started painting, when I look at the world around me I often think of paint color names—”Oh, look it’s a Payne’s gray sort of sky,” or “The sky looks rather cobalt blue this morning…”.
Grey days give us a chance to find little things that make it feel like a blue sky day. If not a whole day, at least a blue sky moment. Maybe it is just a funny meme on Facebook that makes you laugh and hit share. Maybe it is a phone chat with a friend, especially when that friend has good medical news that you have been waiting months to hear. Maybe it is the Christmas lights hanging on your neighbors’ balcony making a dark night seem magical.
I will probably always be a blue sky sort of gal but there is a place for these grey days, too. How about you?
I lived in the Florida Keys in my high school years. It was relentlessly sunny. Ever after I have loved gray and rainy days. And snow days. Of course I still love sunshiny days with bright blue skies. So I’m with you, Jeanne. The mountains of WNC are perfect for me.
I actually like grey days. They help me to feel
cozy and calm. Sometimes I feel hugged by grey days. I lived in Colorado where there was sunshine all the time and I yearned for a few grey days. When I lived in England a sunny day was most refreshing.
As this year is about to come to a close just want to say “thank you” Jeanne for this blog. Look forward to 2024 readings. 🙂🙏👍