Standard Time

Blue-gray light outside the bay windows at 3:30 in the afternoon. We've reset to standard time and the early darkening could quickly become depressing. We're lighting candles and drinking tea to feel warmth and keep light in the living room.

The secret is, this is exactly what I ardently wanted, during the season of north-formed storms in Yucatan. It was ugly, the threatening ocean rose closer. I felt cast out of civilization and the comforting culture of autumn in America.

There is a cozy consumerism and reassuring collective response to changing weather, shorter days, and impending classic holidays, my birthday included, that I longed for and could not create in the creepy tropical transition of November in Chelem.

I like that the buoy light is radiating warm on the yellow dollhouse table, next the the striped chair, on the Oriental rug, in the apartment I have always wanted. All of my surroundings are exactly as they should be. I am so contented to be home.