Yearning for Blue

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Austin enjoys a sunny disposition, gloriously supplemented by blue-filled skies.  Spring sparkles with new green, stunning colors, and a crystalline overhead.   Summer shines, luscious foliage providing relief from the toasty Texas sun, while puffs of white float lazily across azure heavens.  Autumn–when it arrives–is subdued compared to its Northern brethren.  It unfolds in weeks of muted rusts, golds, reds, and browns, all in contrast to the hopeful sapphire above.  But reality bites and Austin, from time to time, must endure some rain and gloom.  Truthfully, I’m usually grateful for that change.  Rain is a good thing, though sometimes we have too much.  For now, it’s cloudy and dreary, and yesterday, heavy, steady rain fell.

Our weather is in an autumn-to-winter pattern and I’m missing my blue skies.

The rain has ended for now, flood warnings have all expired, but leaden skies dominate–as is appropriate this time of year.  I crave light during the dark, and recall a recent day infused with sunshine, where garden critters echoed the blue Texas sky.

This cheery Blue Jay, Cyanocitta cristata, bathed with abandon.

The ‘Blue’ and ‘Cyan‘ parts of his name are descriptive of his good looks.  The joy he exhibits while bathing always brings a smile to this fan of the feathered.

That same bright afternoon, a Familiar Bluet, Enallagma civile,  posed on foliage which hadn’t turned.

It flitted here and there, wings shimmering, blue body glistening.

I feel better now and I’ll stop my whining about the rain and gloom.  When it’s dry, I’ll rake the soggy leaves which trees have relinquished, and await the return of the promised blue sky.

25 thoughts on “Yearning for Blue”

  3. Lovely description! We just went through that crazy storm as well, being just north of San Antonio. But today you must be enjoying the blue sky again because there isn’t a cloud in the sky here!

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  4. Tina the Blue Jay how nice it is to bathe. The family Bluet has a beautiful blue color. It is normal to remind you of a blue sky without clouds. When it rains, it’s always sadder because you do not feel like walking down the street getting wet, picking up the car and enduring the traffic jams. I stay at home reading. When the sun shines, although it is cold, it makes you want to walk through the countryside, go to the parks and observe the birds. I am glad that the storm has passed and the sun has risen again. Have a great week. Greetings from Margarita.

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  5. Look up, quick!
    People often look at me oddly when I say I moved here for the sunshine. If they don’t look at me oddly, I know they, too, have spent enough time farther North to understand.

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  6. Can you imagine what cold, gray, and rainy-damp does to those of us who have to have decent weather (or at least not damp or rainy) to be able to work! Nothing is bette than rain coming on the weekend — except, of course, that means I can’t get out with my camera, either.

    I’m with you on feeling “enough, already,” though. Part of the trouble this year has been that the fronts have followed one another so quickly that we’ve only had a day or two in between, rather than the three or four days that have been common in the past. There have been many other years like this — I’m just happier when they stay away!

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    • Yes, weather doesn’t always cooperate with jobs or hobbies! I have a new camera and haven’t been able to do much–everytime I have a spare moment, we’re in some sort of wet. It’s been a chilly fall and I don’t have any real complaints, just wish the sun would stay around for a day or two before the clouds roll back in.

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  8. “Sapphire” is really the perfect word to describe the Texas sky. And I love blue jays so much – they are one of the very few birds that I feel comfortable identifying. There’s no mistaking a blue jay!

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    • It’s certainly easy to spot blue jays, with their color and calls. It’s fun to learn about birds and here in Texas, we have a great variety and so many migratory birds, too.

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  9. We recently went through two or three weeks of gray skies every day. The blue skies have returned for now, though. I do enjoy watching Bluejays, despite the racket they make. I’m sure you will have blue skies again before too long (isn’t there a song along those lines?).

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  10. I’m with you, Tina. For as much as I love and appreciate rain, when the days drags on for weeks with only soggy, wet, leaden skies, even I long for that exhilarating shred of blue. Hope you get enough to recharge yourself before heading into the next stretch of gray.

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