Ambient - meaning to exist or be present on all sides.
We all know about ambient light. It is what gives a city its eerie night-glow that can be seen in the horizon for miles away. If approaching a city or town in a vehicle or boat through relatively remote territory, ambient light is visible with the intensity of a billion glow sticks. A friend of mine complains that her bedroom is awash in unwelcome ambient light, during the night, since a gas station was erected next to a freeway on/off ramp near her home. With our ever-reaching urban areas constantly expanding, ambient lighting is a fact of modern life. When I have been in a geographic area that is isolated from human inhabitants, the stark darkness is startling. The galaxy's candle power is seemingly magnified a million-fold compared to the sky when gazing at it from a city location.
It is hard to escape ambient lighting. It is also difficult to avoid ambient noise.
Ambient noise creeps into our daily living with surreptitious ease. Many of the appliances that we take for granted in our respective worlds come with standard whizzes, whirs, chirps, burps, and dings. A gas, air-flow furnace is the obvious winner for creating background noise that we become accustomed to. The air conditioner is a close second in the winner category. My oven is exceptionally noisy as is the microwave. We won't even discuss the sound that the diesels make when our aqua RV is underway.
As I was ultra-sensitive to ambient noise today, I was taken back, in my memory, to past visits to the North Channel of Lake Huron when we are 'on the hook' (or at anchor) in some secluded nook and cranny of the many inlets there. The sound of silence is almost deafening and you can actually hear your own inhalations and exhalations.
I think I need to get back to the North Channel, if only in my mind.
Do you have a 'North Channel' place that you can go to for escape from ambient noise and light?
Let's go together, shall we?
Ancora imparo
