Purple Haze

#6

01.06.10

Have you ever had a terrible day turn good in a flash of purple?  And no, I'm not implying that one minute you're crying because your friend just left you during the concert to hang out with cooler people, and then suddenly Prince just throws you his sweaty purple towel from the stage while you mosh through your tears in the pit.  (Do people really mosh at Prince concerts?  How sick!)   I'm talking about having a terrible, stinking, rotten day... only to have someone, or something, somewhere, flip a simple switch and make everything feel right?

Meet me, get to know me.  This is the story of my day.  I'll skip the terrible, stinking, rotten parts and jump straight to the "everything got good in a flash of purple" part.  I left work exhausted and deflated, and as I was walking to the parking lot I realized "I don't have a photo for tomorrow's blog".  I got to my sled, but before I could climb aboard I hear what I think might be a moose in the trees.  That actually occurs rather frequently; and twice I've seen black bear right there too. So I looked up and did not see any wildlife, but noticed that there was a purple haze hanging over the beautiful snow-covered spruce that line the parking lot.  And I mean purple-purple, as in 'Donny-Osmond's-socks' purple.  It was a dark and cloudy night; but through some strange physical phenomenon the atmosphere and the light from the street lamp created this  delightfully bizarre reaction.  

Presto!  There was my photo.

I only took about 5 shots, and I really would have been pleased to post any one of them here.  They all turned out wonderfully in my mind; and I was even checking them out on the iPhone during the ride home to make sure I hadn't imagined it.  

Above you see the one I decided I liked the best due to the odd angle of looking up while kneeling on the ice.  It adds an element of dimension and curiosity in my mind's eye.  The whole scene looks artificial, like I was doing a macro on a train set with fake plastic trees and snow, right?  (Fake Plastic Trees - excellent song by Radiohead; but it doesn't fit the vibe of my post tonight.  Sorry, MCD.)

I didn't have to alter or digitally process any of these photos tonight; how they appear is how they appeared right before my wondering eyes just an hour or so ago.  Here are a few of the other angles and pics that I shot:

I couldn't be any more pleased with the photos.  My earlier worries of the day have disappeared in a soft purple haze. 

No, I'm not going to choose Jimi Hendrix's 'Purple Haze' for todays soundtrack.  That is a great song, but it's too obvious, and it'd break my streak of folk singers since blog #2.  

So tonight I've selected an upbeat "hard folk" bordering-on-pop-rock tune by Brandi Carlile from the Seattle area.  She has a very strong voice, but tones it down a little for this song.  I have it on my snowblowing playlist on the iPhone, and it's my favorite song she sings.  I like the verse:

Have you ever wandered lonely through the woods, 

And everything there feels just as it should?

You're part of the life there,

You're part of something good.

If you've ever wandered lonely through the woods.

Really nice!  That's the song that came to my mind as I stared at those beautiful evergreens covered in snow, bathed in a purple haze.

Until tomorrow... thanks for looking, listening and reading.  CCE