Daylight savings, eh? Here in the North Bay, the first day of daylight savings had no daylight to save. It was dark and ominously cloudy all day long, especially early in the day when I was trying to get used to the time change. I slept obscenely late and accomplished nearly nothing, but at least there was no sunshine to entice me outdoors.

It did start to clear off late in the afternoon, but since the family was going out to dinner (to celebrate Eric's and my birthdays), I had to close the blinds early anyway. Tomorrow will have to be the first day I can say, "Oo ee! It's almost eight and still light out." If it is light out tomorrow. That would be a nice change from today, when the weather guessers promised sunshine and failed to deliver.

But there's no reason for a lot of sunshine on the shortest day of the year, as far as I'm concerned. I was way too sluggish to enjoy it. I'm not likely to have my inner self adjusted to the new hours for several days. At least tomorrow will have the regulation 24 hours in it, and I can start thinking about the time shown on the clock as the real time, and not what time it would have been or should have been.

On the other hand, it didn't have to start raining on me as soon as I was far enough from the house this evening that turning around for a jacket was out of the question. I was already grumpy from a rocky night of little sleep, so the rain just ticked me off that much more.

But I got over it. It only took two glasses of wine. I hardly ever drink at all, and I hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast, so that was all I had to drink (other than water) the rest of the night. I hadn't planned to drink at all, since I thought I'd be driving my car to the restaurant, but when I found out I wouldn't have to drive, I allowed as how a little viognier would not be something I'd turn down if offered.

We had a lovely time exchanging gifts. I made Eric go first, since his birthday was three days ago and mine isn't until two days in the future. We were both pleased, as much (or more) with the company as the gifts. Although I was very pleased with the gifts, I must admit. Clothes, books, and a certificate for the fish tank I've been talking about for years. Way cool, all of it.

When we got out of the restaurant it was nearly eight o'clock and not completely dark yet. That's the good side of the first day of daylight savings, the realization that it really does make a difference in the length of the better part of the day. Since I will never ever be a morning person, sunshine before nine or ten o'clock is wasted on me. Sunshine after six in the afternoon is like a special treat from Mother Nature (or maybe Father Time).

Although I don't adjust well to the time change, I don't object to taking advantage of the benefits.

If I didn't laugh when I was alone, I wouldn't be a very cheerful person. I'd get out of practice. I actually laugh quite a lot, at turkeys and hummingbirds, television shows, jokes I read online. But I laugh better — warmer, I guess — when I'm with my family. We know each other so well that it doesn't take much to get us going. When the context is understood, we can go directly to the payoff. The setup doesn't need to be spoken for the punch line to make sense.