Nitrogen-Blue Skies (2006)

Introduction

We began including essays in our newsletters in the autumn of 2006. They would later become a feature of our weekly newsletters. But today we thought you’d like to take a walk down memory lane with us and read the very first essay we published in what was then called “Cloudeight InfoAve Premium” and now called “Cloudeight InfoAve Weekly”. The essay was called “Nitrogen Blue Skies”. The title came from Carl Sagan’s TV series, “Cosmos”.  And this was written and the summer slipped into autumn when trees were ablaze with color. May this essay serve as a reminder of how quickly time passes and how much we all need to stop and enjoy the beauty and wonder that surrounds us and remember that our time on this Earth is limited…

Nitrogen-Blue Skies (2006)

“Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree.” (Emily Bronte)

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” (John Lennon)

I woke before dawn this morning. It was chilly and very quiet; my favorite time of day to work. As I always do, I made a cup of coffee, sat down at my computer, and began to answer the business email that had come while I slept.

A few hours later I noticed the first brightening of the eastern sky; dawn was approaching.

I continued to answer emails and browse the Web. As always, I was looking for news and ideas for Cloudeight and Information Avenue. I should have spent more time browsing and reading but just then morning broke and shattered the bonds of night, I glanced out my window at the brand-new day; I was captivated. To my surprise autumn had suddenly arrived. What happened to summer? Was it autumn already? It must have crept in on cat’s paws. That serene autumn scene had probably been there for days but I had not stopped long enough to notice.

The new day dawned beautifully; a picture-perfect autumn day. A dazzling, nitrogen-blue sky and leaves of gold, red, and orange, brilliant and resplendent beneath it, captured my thoughts and my heart. The scene compelled me to reflect. And, at once my reflections made me happy and sad.

All the things that seemed so important just moments before – the spyware, the spam, the emails that had yet to be answered, the bills, the cynicism, and the Internet, all dissolved in the bright October sun. This bucolic autumn morning took my breath away and its tranquility transformed me in an instant.

For the first time this morning, I realized that summer was gone. It had come and gone on gossamer wings and I barely took notice. And, thinking back, I cannot remember spring either. It too had swept silently past me.

I became melancholy as I thought of those wonderful spring and summer days that I had missed. All the spring flowers, the greening of the trees, the smell of fresh-cut grass, and the sound of children playing outside reveling in spring’s warmth after a dark, cold winter. I thought too of something that novelist Dean Koontz wrote: “Everything I do I rush through so I can do something else”. The more we rush though life the more life rushes past us.

I can remember only one memorable summer day. It wasn’t even a summer-like day. It was cold and rainy. It was a day, though, that was special because I shared it with a dear friend. He had traveled nearly a thousand miles just to say hello. We sat here in my garage, with the door open, shelling peanuts and watching it rain. It was one of those simple times that mean so much. A storybook day that now seems so far away.

This autumn, the beauty of the season will not escape me. I will slow down and take time to enjoy all the things that make this season memorable. The simple things like high school and college football, the sound of dry leaves crunching underfoot, the apple cider, the big, fat, cake donuts, the musky smell of the autumn woods, the crisp, clean, October air, the pumpkins, the ghouls and goblins who come knocking on my door, the trees adorned in a splendid mosaic of color, and the quiet, solitary walks down a favorite trail that winds serenely through the colors and smells of fall under the canopy of nitrogen-blue skies.

So, I will take some time away from the spam, the spyware, the Internet, the computer problems, the software problems, the updates, the upgrades, the downgrades, the phishing, the subscriptions, the bounced newsletters, the complaints, the scoundrels, the “blogs”, the tips, tricks, geeks, gurus and all the rest in the “cyber world”, and I will appreciate the gift of a beautifully real autumn day. I will take time to experience the joy and reflection that this season brings. Autumn looks exactly the way it should. It is perfectly painted for us all to enjoy and all we have to do is take the time to look.

I hope each of you will take the time to slow down and enjoy the change of seasons. Take the time to enjoy all the beauty that surrounds you. Each of us has been granted but a short stay on this Earth and we have only a limited number of seasons to enjoy. In the blink of an eye, autumn will be gone.

I am reminded once again that the smallest pleasures make the greatest treasures. I wonder how many more of these small pleasures I would have had if only I had taken the time to look…

The Color of the Wind

Breaking hills, horizon sings.
Mixing night and hazy dawn.
All across the land a breeze
Rustles restless through the trees.

What color is the wind, I wonder?
I look upon the lake’s soft swells.
What color is the wind that blows?
It seems to me that no one knows.

We cannot see the wind that curls
Around the forest trees in swirls;
Yet we know the wind is real
For its effects, we see and feel.

So it is with God:

The Hand of God
We cannot see,
Touches you
And touches me.