Sun spots

I learned all about sun spots in astronomy class. But I still think of cats curled up on windowsills when I hear the phrase.

My window faces south. After looking at the Google map of East Grand Rapids for three months, I have a very good sense of direction in this neighborhood. I look out at a line of trees that block the view of the convent and the garden. Oh well... What's important is that the sun looks in at me. All day long in fact.

My bed is on the west side of the room. In the morning, at about 6:40 the sun starts making my curtains glow a bit. I turn over and go back to sleep. At about 7:40 he has managed to send real solid rays into my nightstand. I usually close the curtains - if they aren't already - to try and keep him out at this point. But I'm glad to see him at 8 when I actually have to get up. It's really a waste of perfectly good weekend hours to sleep any later than 8. The morning might be cold, but my windowsill is a warm little sun spot. My little bottle that I made in ceramics this spring sits there in the absents of a cat, looking all warm and cozy, if lacking a tail and whiskers. The marble apple that used to sit on Dada's desk never gets warm, but it shines and makes me think of Dada and home. Always a comforting feeling.

By the end of the day, the sun spot has spilled over my room and made the it kind of stuffy. I don't mind so much. Our hallway is cold. I don't know why, but it's never warm. Even when the setting sun comes stretching into the window at the west end. The rays make the ugly yellow carpet look almost attractive, but it never warms up. Maybe this is why no one is ever in the hall. It's kind of funny; the hall looks warm. It is lit it cozy yellow light and has a very (ugly) yellow carpet. But it never feels warm in any way. My dorm is just the opposite. It's bare and gray mostly, with some off white and brown. Very cold. But it's always warm, and it almost feels like home. I've managed to shake off the feeling of being in a place that doesn't belong to me.

I think I want a small plant. Something that likes sun and is easy to care for... or hard to kill. The sill looks very austere and bare. It would be nice to have something alive sitting between hard stone and hard baked clay. Something ought to be allowed to soak up that beautiful sunlight while not here to enjoy it. And I really need a rug.