I just had a lovely moment out on the front lawn of the school I work at, so I thought I’d share my experience and ask you all for yours. For me, there are two times when the world just looks amazing.
The first is when I’ve been lying in the sun with my eyes closed and I finally sit up and open them. Everything’s overbright because I’m not used to the light yet, but it just makes me happy. I think it’s the associates with my childhood.
The second is a whole lot cheesier, but I noticed it the other day and thought this thread would be a good place to include it. Whenever I open my eyes after kissing my girlfriend, it’s always really nice just to look at her. To tell you the truth, I think she finds that a little odd, but I’m not going to stop!
Anyway, those are my stories. When do things look their nicest for you? When do you open your eyes and just smile?
I like the point just after a rain, when the bark of all the trees looks several shades darker and the leaves are deep green with few dustly highlights. And even ratty grass looks perfect.
Have lots of pictures taken in those conditions around my office.
And waking up from a good dream (it doesn’t necessarily have to have an overtly pleasant theme, but it does have to be interesting). That always puts a big smile on my face.
Summer twilight. Everything is bathed in purpley-slate and it feels like if you were to take a walk somewhere something magical and literary would happen to you.
The darkest blue-grey clouds imaginable, the world is a few shades darker, but the colours are more vivid, deep - yet also sombre and calm. Brown and yellow leaves sweep across the view in slow circles and spirals. You can feel the coming rain and the landscape looks cleaner already.
I always think everybody else’s ‘miserable weather’ is great.
The last hour of sunlight, everything has this nice golden glow to it. A magic time.
It makes me think of Halloween as a kid in a safe neighborhood. All the kids were out, decorations and celebrations everywhere and the promise of more candy then you could carry.
The last two posters beat me to it, although I’d modify Buckler’s cold autumn day to an Indian summer day, an unexpectedly warm respite with brilliant foliage.
when nobody’s awake, and even in the city there streets are nearly deserted. My dog and I go running and the world is so peaceful… the way the streetlights glow, the way the cars sound when they pass, the sound of the early-rising birds… it’s like we’re the only two “people” alive and that part of the night belongs to just us. Everybody else is resting. It’s like the world can finally breathe again for a few hours before starting another frantic day.
Two winter scenes: late at night after a fresh snowfall of the sparkly variety. The streetlights, moon or other light catches the ice crystals in the snow and it’s like the whole world’s been glittered for my enjoyment.
Also (but I’ve never seen it concurrently), a winter morning when everything got “iced” the night before. When each branch-from the big climbing branches to the littlest twig, is surrounded by a perfect stocking of clear, shiny ice.
Early morning or late evening fog. When the air is oversaturated with moisture and a super fine mist covers everything. The world is quiet as if everyone and everything is intentionally still and silent. Feels like peace.
Also, few things look better than the view from behind the helm of a sailboat on a fast reach.
If I’ve been dreadfully sick for a few days, the time when it finally goes away is wonderful. I feel alive and human again, and I’m glad to have my world back again.
When the air is barely below freezing, and we get a short, heavy snow, everything is outlined in snow; every branch, every sign, every wire in a fence. I have tried to capture this beauty with a camera, but you just have to see it in person. It is a brief, temporary condition. After a few hours, the snow slips off half the branches, and the snow on the ground is all glop and slush.
Mine are the morning twilight before the sun rises above the horizon and those 15 or 20 minute before a thunderstorm opens up and you can see the huge dark clouds rolling in with a bright horizon on the other side. Very cool.
Many of mind have already been mentioned: The last rays of sunlight giving everything that golden glow, the heavy fog laying thick on the ground, making the world seem quiet and etherial, the dark midnight sky sturred with a thousand stars.
I will add a unique one (I think). Being alone at the pet cemetery where my beloved Gordons are buried with the dogs I have now. It is set on 17 acres of rolling hills, surrounded by woods, and it is the most beautiful, peaceful place I have ever been. I love letting my dogs run there; I find a peace ion my soul.
