The Fog (Could Have Killed Me)

Fog brings up so many memories for me. It can be pretty, pretty scary to drive in, and even mystical to gaze upon. This past week, I was lucky enough to encounter a kinder, gentler fog. Leave it to me to turn it into a story. It's air, for crying out loud. It's water. It’s vapor, mist, haze. It's purely precipitation, in its simplest form. Saying that out loud just made me slip into a daffy duck voice. Please note that I am totally okay with that. Go ahead, try it. Ith fun!

"Ith purely prethipitashun in ith thimpletht form." Now, wipe the spit off your screen and continue.

Mmm, back to the fog. I leave my house dang early in the morning to take the kids to the bus stop, normally an uneventful thing. The sun is barely up at 7 a.m.  It’s still wiping the crust from its eyes while I’ve been up doing laundry, showered and dressed, gotten my husband and kids going, and if I’m lucky, had time for a cup of joe. This particular day, I crested the top of the hill near the bus stop and let out an audible gasp at the scene before me.

The Ocean of Fog  ©  Cindy Brown 2012

“The fog! Oh, I need my camera! I have to go back and get my camera!”

Figures, the one day I didn’t have it in my purse, there is a spectacular display of nature awaiting me at the bus stop. In the valley below lay an errant cloud fallen from the sky. It reached as far as my eye could see, as vast as the ocean, rolling over the landscape and covering everything in its path with mystical beauty. I felt almost afraid, but excited at the same time. Would I drown if I descended into the ocean of white? Who knows what lurks in there? Wild animals? School buses? No, silly, you can't drown in fog... or can you? Muwah-ha-ha-ha-haaaa!

Luckily, the bus came quickly. I did not miss my date with the fog. It’s such a fickle lover, fog. There one minute, lifted and gone in the next instant, without so much as a goodbye. I had no idea if it would be there when I returned or if it would look or act the same, for fog changes quickly. It's a shapeshifter, and you have to catch it quickly before it disappears into thin air. Literally.

Foggy Road  ©  Cindy Brown - 2012

I stopped on my road no less than three times for photo ops, and then ventured on my way for the day. I could see plenty far ahead of me, so driving in it would not pose a problem. I had a long drive, so I was thankful it was not “the scary fog.” As a teenager, I once was sure I would be killed by a blind date who was speeding so fast in his car through the thick fog that I literally cowered in fear in the floorboard. I was skeered, as Oprah would say. And I'm practically fearless! Worst. Date. Ever.

This, in contrast, was the pretty fog, the enchanting fog. This, my friends, was the best fog I’d ever had the pleasure of being involved with.

Nevertheless, I had places to go and little time to be stopping every whip-stitch to take pictures. So, here’s the part that could have killed me. Flying at approximately 55 miles per hour down a two lane highway, I decided to photograph the fog through my window as I was driving. Never mind the fact that I was actually pulled over by a policeman once for AMWD (Applying Makeup While Driving – I actually made the cop laugh when I told him why I had swerved), I was taking my chances. It was too beautiful not to photograph the scene before me.

You’ll be happy to know that I kept both hands on the wheel (I’m covering my butt just in case there happens to be a law enforcement officer reading this post today) and I never took my eyes off the road (thank you, invention of the 3” LCD). Was it worth the risk of dying? I’m not sure, but I think it might have been. My little black box (gold box, in this case) would have told the story of my demise in pictures. What a way to go! I can see the headlines now, "Area Woman Killed by The Fog." It sounds like that old horror movie. But for real.

I don’t even know how to describe the picture that I’m about to show you. I did nothing to the settings. I didn't apply a filter. It was taken through the front windshield of a 2002 Ford F-150 Lariat, not clean of debris either, mind you. It was taken with my Canon PowerShot SX210 IS, not a professional camera. I don’t know where the sepia toned effect came from. I don’t know how the planets aligned. All I know is that the result is one of my favorite pictures of all time. I was very satisfied with my fog experience that day and I have pictures to prove it.

© 2012 - The Fog, by Cindy Brown

If you want to see the entire "The Fog" album, you may visit this public link to the album, but please remember to credit me for the photos if you share any of them: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3164396842091.142136.1630481512&type=3