Forecasting Fun

Maybe I’m just a bit thick, but is there a difference between ‘Partly Sunny’ and ‘Mostly Cloudy’? The handy pictures are identical, so why the clever shift in wording? Here is the forecast for this Thursday and Saturday from the National Weather Service.

Thursday

Partly Sunny
Partly
Sunny
Hi 56°F

Saturday

Mostly Cloudy
Mostly
Cloudy
Hi 45°F

Maybe they’re just having fun? Maybe I’m getting too much free time? ‘Tis a good thing though. Most all of the adrenal fatigue symptoms have abated in these few days back in the US. Yesterday I even found a bit of nature within walking distance.

Where I live (little green arrow) and a chunk of nature, complete with a pond, a stream, birds, and lots of trees to the right.

Never mind the (in)famous ‘Capital Beltway’ to the left and the Dulles Airport Access Road across the top – there is nature here. Oh, and never mind that the nearest ‘grassy knoll’ from here, just below the apartment on the map, is private property owned by a super huge ‘What’s in YOUR wallet?’ banking corporation, complete with a big security guard with one of those silly little golf carts to chase off meditating Buddhist philosophers. Nope, never mind any of that, because there is nature here. And for that, I am grateful.

Sunday I got out for a drive and a metro ride with my friend Ramadan to Alexandria to view an apartment in Old Town, which is a really beautiful area – definitely a potential place to live. The down-side of the day was my drive home – getting lost: driving to the White House, then back south to the Pentagon, then up a bit to DC National Airport, then finally getting on track and back to McLean with a little help from Ramadan on the phone. I was in no hurry and traffic was mostly light, but it was still pretty tiring.

Lastly, in addition to finding nature, I also found my way back to meditation yesterday. My good friend in Bristol, Achintya, is running a meditation group there that started up last Tuesday, the day I serendipitously met up with him for lunch (wow, it’s hard to believe I was in Bristol seven days ago). He happened to have a spare workbook on him and offered it to me, inviting me to join the group. So, while I haven’t kept up with the daily commitment for the first week, I have set up for myself a small shrine/meditation area here and did my first meditation last night (a guided body-scan from a CD in the workbook).

Partly Sunny, Mostly Cloudy… Either way, things are looking up.

Forecasting fun