Red Sky at Night

It is the start of September, and last night I did the half hour drive home from Jiu-Jitsu into a gorgeous, fiery, spectacular sunset.

I hated it, but how can that be?

I love everything about summer. I treasure the long evenings. For months I've been doing every drive, including the evening ones, in daylight.

Winter here is just the opposite. Not only will I be coming home from Jiu-Jitsu well after dark, but also driving to get there in darkness. On Canada's west coast, there is often buckets of rain pounding down to go with the darkness. The drive is not fun.

So last night it was technicolour skies. That means in a few weeks the drive home will happen after sunset. Soon it will be happening in full darkness. After that, the light will begin to fail on my drive two hours earlier. This lasts until spring.

That's why the beautiful colours bothered me so.

The good news is that my Jiu-Jitsu drive will not be bad when the true depth of winter strikes. I'll get a week or so of reprieve as things shut down here, and we go visit family in Victoria for Christmas.

After that, Helen and I head to Los Angeles for a couple of months. The length of day there is similar, but there will be nowhere as much rain and cold. We will also be staying about one mile from the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu main school. The sunless drives will be on well-lit streets and last about two minutes....three if there's traffic.

We should be coming home again early in March. By then, my drive to class will already be in daylight, and the drive home getting close.

When I start seeing red skies on my way home after class again I'll be happy.