The Gift of an Hour

Many people's favourite day is June 21st, the longest day of light, or Thanksgiving when family and friends gather, or their birthday (oh, that's one of my faves too) or any number of other holidays or special moment kind of days, but I have to say that my favourite all around good-times day is the first day after the clocks have been turned back in the fall. I mean, a whole hour, for free. 

I hear myself and others say all the time that they wish there were more hours in a day, we need more time, more days in a week. The plea is always for: More. Time. So, this one day when we are gifted with an extra hour is just the best of all worlds for me.

When I was a kid, I would get up and rearrange my room. No kidding. Actually rearranging my room was a once or twice a month routine for me, but on this longest-of-hours-in-a-day day, it always felt like the perfect activity to start the day off. I don't remember exactly what else would fill my favourite day, probably some reading and some drawing, and playing with friends, I mostly remember that rearranging the room was the highlight.

So every year on this day, I awaken and think, what will I do with my longest day?

This year, I painted. All day. Painted joyously, all the day long and into the early arrival of evening. 

I know for many, it is the start of the darker and shorter days, and there are feelings of dread and sadness about the dark. Dusk seems to fall so very much earlier, and it is the pronouncement that summer is certainly over now. But that hour, that wonderful gift of an hour, still fills me with pure joy. 

Now, the dark, yes, sometimes the dark does get to me. But the dark of winter for me is that time to pull in, take stock, make lists and review. During all the sun and heat filled days, I find it hard to pull in and focus, there is too much to do, and the trails call to me, and the long light filled evenings are about gathering and playing and talking and experiencing. In the winter I get to experience more deeply, more closely, what is going on inside. 

And so I wonder... what did you all do with your gift of an hour this year? 

Comments

[kelly]

you are such a tease! i can't wait to see the whole image and the yellow! YUMMIE!

[m. heart]

i used my extra hour to paint too, except it was walls and trim in my kitchen! your piece looks really lovely, and i'm curious to see the rest.

this year in particular, the free hour seemed to make the day extra-long and productive.

[jess gonacha]

what a great way to look at the time change! for so many people it just means an extra hour of sleep-- my favorite part is getting up in the morning, not having changed the clocks back yet, and it's an hour earlier than it says it is. i guess i look at the hour as a gift, too-- i get to start my day an hour earlier! i love that you painted all day. :)

[Gypsy Alex]

oh! I'm just loving this painting... xo

[liz elayne]

these paintings look so gorgeous. i love the way you look at the world...

and i want to see more of those paintings!!