A sky like back home

In my last post I talked about the rain in Denver and took a more pessimistic position on the subject. This past Saturday morning, I drove to Home Depot to buy some soil for repotting my plants. I noticed something different about the way everything felt around me. Normally, certain parts of Denver, particularly the stretches of space between neighborhoods that are occupied with abandoned freight trains or huge warehouses, and in this case, Home Depot, have often felt like a vast, desolate, and harsh environment. The sun beats down on dusty roads and reflects off the concrete, irritating my eyes and skin. However, this Saturday the air was light, and fresh, and even the ugly highway systems showed pockets of green grass, nourished by the recent rain. Because the atmosphere is able to hold more water, the sun doesn’t feel as clear and intense on our faces, but also, you can’t see as far into the distance. It reminded me more of the northeast summers. It was crazy how a space that once felt so vast and unprotected suddenly felt like different pockets of green space that I moved through as I drove. It was the same sky I saw at 7 years old when I woke up early in the morning with my Dad to pick up donuts for the beach house. It is the same sky I saw in the mornings in Westhampton when I walked to the German Deli for a bagel! The sky was like a portal back home. A silver lining in the otherwise frightening effects of climate change emerging here in Denver.

To top it all off, I saw a family of geese waddling down 25 north. There was a mom and dad and about 20 babies. I hope they made it home safe. I wish I had a picture. Because of the lack of woods in Denver I don’t see much wildlife (besides the bunnies).