andrei headed out this morning to wisconsin to visit their family for a week. i got a bunch of stuff done at home while i waited for the car shop to look at my car.
they called and told me that my front control arms were worn out, and needed to be replaced, along with the sway bar links. it was a hefty chunk of change, but my car seems to be in otherwise decent condition, so i went ahead with it. i felt stressed out at the unexpected expense, but i guess i sort of knew i was going to have to do something to the car and was delaying taking it in until now.
thankfully, the shop was able to finish the repairs this afternoon so i could still leave for my trip to visit my family in upstate new york. on the drive up, i saw some breathtaking views, which were particularly impressive because i have lived in the mountains for a lot of my life and am somewhat desensitized to their aesthetic value. but i was driving west up into them right at golden hour, and there was mist involved, so. fill in the blanks.
there was also this amazing cloud situation with a bunch of different layers and textures of clouds, all lit through from behind by the sun, with lots of detail and contrast. it was like one of those hyper realistic HDR photos of the sky or an exaggerated sky in a video game. as if that wasn't enough, there was a large sundog about 20 degrees to the left of the setting sun. as the sun turned more orange, the sundog became this shard of flame hovering in the air. i was like, holy shit. but i was also driving, so i couldn't really take a photo of any of it. though possibly it would have been quite difficult to capture anyway.
when i saw that, i decided that i was going to let that moment be the deciding factor of the mood of my day, rather than the car situation.
i hung out with my family, ate some dinner, gave my mom and sibling the birthday cards i made them. now it's dark and hot and misty and i can hear the stream through the open window and i am going to sleep.