{"id":5109,"date":"2021-12-09T08:59:55","date_gmt":"2021-12-09T13:59:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=5109"},"modified":"2021-12-09T09:34:04","modified_gmt":"2021-12-09T14:34:04","slug":"red-sky-at-morning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2021\/12\/09\/red-sky-at-morning\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Sky at Morning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is a part of the \u201cOutside My Window\u201d series in Our America. No great political observations, just what\u2019s going on \u2013 today literally outside my window.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sunrise in Pataskala<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Back to Normal?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Jenn, our son and I went to see a concert in downtown Columbus last night.  It was the band Genesis <\/em>with Phil Collins, on probably their last tour.  Collins has a deteriorating nerve condition, and performs from a chair at the front of the stage.  He was the original drummer for the band, and taking over the drum set was always a part of his persona.  Now he can\u2019t do that.  But he can still sing, and his twenty year old son Nic has taken over on the drums.  It\u2019s a passing of the torch \u2013 the son honoring his father\u2019s skill.  And it\u2019s still a really good concert with three of the original Genesis members, old school mates Collins, Tony Banks on the keyboards and Mike Rutherford on guitar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s another part of my \u201cDahlman Concert Tour\u201d, seeing the great performers of the past before it\u2019s too late.  This fall that\u2019s included outdoor concerts with the Rolling Stones and Billy Joel.  But Genesis is the first time indoors since the pandemic changed the world.  Next up:  James Taylor and Jackson Browne. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going to a concert downtown is such a \u201cnormal\u201d thing to do, but it\u2019s been such a long time since we could. There was dinner \u201cdowntown\u201d, and walking the streets of the \u201cbig city\u201d.  Then  we were in in the crowd on the floor of Nationwide Arena, taking pictures, drinking beer, with the normal wafting of concert marijuana smoke after the lights went down.   We were on our feet for more than two hours for the show:  so very normal, and exciting.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Genesis in Concert<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Back to the Pack<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This meant a late night both for the three of us, and for our pack of friends at home.  The five dogs did their sleeping while we were gone.  So there was midnight dinner (our Lab Atticus was too nervous to eat), then a romp outside, and a couple of hours of chasing around the house in the middle of the night.  They didn\u2019t calm down until two in the morning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But our elder statesman, Buddy, is the \u201ckeeper of the clock\u201d when it comes to breakfast.  He was lenient this morning, letting us \u201csleep in\u201d until 6:45.  Then it was time to get up and get breakfast \u2013 the late night was my problem, not his!  (Buddy, by the way, just went back to bed here at 8 am, the prerogative of an old border collie\/shepherd mix  I guess). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I need to thank Buddy later today.  He got us up for a beautiful sunrise here in Pataskala, the reddened sky peaking over the Christmas lights of this little town.  It was worth the lost sleep to witness it, and it recalls one of my Mom\u2019s old English sayings:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRed sky at night, sailor\u2019s delight, Red sky at morning, sailors take warning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Warning<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

What should we \u201cbe warned\u201d about?  That could be quite a list.  Maybe it\u2019s the weather, the temperature has been in the twenties, but will hit sixty by Saturday, with rain coming.  A mud mess for the \u201cpack\u201d in the backyard, I\u2019m afraid.  Or maybe it\u2019s the Omicron variant of Covid, so much more infective than the Delta variant which was more than the \u201coriginal\u201d.  To use another one of Mom\u2019s expression, I feel like we\u2019re waiting for the \u201cother shoe to drop\u201d on Covid.  We might be playing with fire when it comes to dinners and concerts \u2013 flirting with normalcy in an wholly abnormal world.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or maybe it\u2019s the economy, or the Russian troops on the Ukrainian border, or any of the other national or world crises we face.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s plenty to worry about, as our Lab Atticus can tell you. But there\u2019s good news as well. My ears are still ringing from Phil Collins and the group; I\u2019m glad we\u2019re able to have those experiences again. And there\u2019s plenty of coffee in the house. Other than getting the Christmas tree up (and fortified from the puppy CeCe) there\u2019s not too much on our plate today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe a red sky in the morning is just a beautiful way to begin a new day.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n