Wednesday, 12/12

I'm amazed at the difference. You'd think I wouldn't be after all these years, but I am.

I had to go through a bunch of pictures yesterday to find one that Jack & I can use in our “What's Up, Dock” program for the Marquette Regional History Center next month. And as I was looking for the picture, which was taken during the summer, I was struck by the amazing amount of color in some of the shots I took. It's almost like Marquette in summer is on a totally different planet than Marquette during the winter. Nothing is gray, nothing is dull, nothing is gloomy.

The difference is mind blowing.

Don't believe me? Here are a few pictures I took one afternoon back in June--

And then one taken out the front door at work yesterday--

See? It's like it's an entirely different planet. Six months ago Marquette was exploding with colors that go across the spectrum. December? Well, there's gray. And brown. And more gray. The only “colors” I can see are in the Range Bank sign.

Sigh.

I shouldn't be so shocked that it takes me by surprise, but every year it does. The gradual loss of color comes about so slowly that we don't even notice it's happening, much like the proverbial frog being boiled alive by the steadily increasing temperature in a pan of heating water. We just become used to the dullness without even noticing it. For me, at least, it's only when you look at the polychromatic majesty of Marquette during the summer that you realize just how big the change is.

And that change is huge.

But at least we only have, uhm, another five months of dullness until the colors start to pop out again. Hopefully, by then, we won't forget what the greens and purples and reds and yellows in nature look like. Because if my mind—or yours—was blown just by looking at pictures of color, imagine what we'll be like when we see them live for the first time in months.

(jim@wmqt.com), eagerly awaiting summer.