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110 - Calm After the Storm

201102_03_01i - Calm After the Storm

201102_09_01i - Snowfall

201102_09_02i - Branches

One of the small things in life that I truly enjoy is the calm after a storm. One moment, it's thundering and lightning bolts touching down all around, and the next, the sky is clear and the sun is beaming, as if it's happy to be back. Maybe it's the quick reversal of weather that intensifies the beauty that's all around that makes me not take it, at least for a short while, for granted.

Last week, I had a moment when I was waiting for a bus, after the big "snowmageddon" (and I use that term in quotes, because it wasn't a bad storm at all, at least not by Ottawa's standards) where, yes, it wasn't the best weather to be commuting through, but the next morning had a certain crispness to it. It was calming, despite the traffic zooming by. It's that feeling that, if it could be bottled, I could make a fortune. I took a picture instead.

And yesterday, it had started snowing in the afternoon. Seemingly out of nowhere, huge flakes began to fall slowly, as if each one was taking it's time. The thickness of the snowfall muted everything, which also created a certain serenity. If every snowfall in winter was like that one, nobody would be as quick to have groundhogs see their shadows.

I want to get using this blog (again) the way I wanted to when I first created it. A blogging hero of mine, Joseph Mallozzi (http://josephmallozzi.wordpress.com/) says that a writer should write everyday. And in the three or four-plus years that he's been blogging, he hasn't missed a single day. Then again, he is a writer. And he eats a lot. I'm not committing to updating this that frequently, but I would like it to inspire me to take more photos so that I can share them here (and of course, on my flickr account, http://www.flickr.com/photos/myutopian).

Last year, despite going on two (2!) trips, I only took pictures on 77 days, which is the lowest it's been since I got a digital camera! I would love to get back to 100+ calendar days this year, though probably not my peak year of 190 days back in good ol' '06. So, please enjoy and tell me to take more pictures!
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Comments

Keenan Wellar said…
Hi Ben, interesting blgo, I think to argue the ridership game actually plays into the hands of those who favour trimming or cutting local routes. If public transit was simply about economics, it would actually make the most sense to cut just about every route except those where the bus is always full. To advocate for those who are most reliant on local bus service as a basic quality of life issue, it's important to include in the discourse support for public transit as a service that people can't live without, and therefore that is worth paying for - even local bus routes that don't make sense if their only reason for being was to make money.
February 19, 2011 at 1:43 AM
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