Blue Light Special, downtown Minneapolis, shot from the car window, August 3rd, 2007, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
I’m a creature of the night, a night owl all the way. On Friday afternoons, I’m pondering the wonders I’ll accomplish when daylight melts to dark. Maybe I adopted the tendency from my Mother. She was a night owl, too. And on a recent trip to Georgia together, we’d be up all hours of the night, writing and working on the family tree.
When I was younger, Mom and I would watch Lou Grant (who I saw in a guest spot on Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm tonight) on the Mary Tyler Moore Show, or Sam on Bewitched; then I’d give her a peck on the cheek goodnight, and head to bed. I had school in the morning. But the highlight of Mom’s day was just beginning – blessed time to herself.
With six kids, she never had a moment’s peace. Unless she slipped into the bathroom of our small ranch-style home for a long soak in Avon lavender bath beads and SkinSoSoft. Or stayed up late, riveted to a Lauren Bacall film until “This Is A Test Of The Emergency Broadcast System…” echoed down the hall.
In the 1960’s, baths and late night television seemed like the only options for busy mothers to have time alone. I’m probably projecting all kinds of things on my Mother. All I know is I have no idea how she did everything she did, and still managed to keep her sanity – unless it was to steal a few moments after the sun went down.
As for me, I just plain love the night. And her shroud of darkness. It’s quiet. And still. The light is fuzzy and falls around me in rusty yellows and browns. The focus is warm, far less than sharp, and sooths my restless heart. When the rest of the world is lights out, a whole underground culture emerges. I love to go out photographing the city at night.
Thanks for reminding me, ybonesy, my 6a.m. friend, how much I love the twilight, the space between day and night, the sullen gaps of light that blanket the night dwellers.
Around sunset, when the light shifts and the moon peeks her ashen head over the oaks, I’m buzzing with electric energy. Except for tonight, when I find myself needing rest. The clock strikes 12 in a midsummer night’s dream; it’s been a busy month. And I have an early day tomorrow.
–Night Owl posted at Midnight on red Ravine, Friday, August 10th, 2007
-related to post, A Morning Person
UPDATE: the building with the blue neon ring is the top of the Fifth Street Towers I. The bottom photo on the link shows both towers at night. Fifth I is a little shorter than Fifth Street Towers II which was built later. See discussion in the Comments of this post.
Here’s a link to all the buildings on the Minneapolis Skyline: Buildings of Minneapolis. If you click on each of the links you can see photos of the buildings.
Let me be the first to comment this morning ; – ) … first, the photo is so cool. What is the blue neon light? It looks like a railing for a rooftop terrace.
You are a *true* night owl — not someone who simply stays up until 11 or midnight, but a hardcore night owl. I love hearing the connection to your mother’s nocturnal traditions.
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I’m a night owl, too:)
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lone beader, I just checked out your site and I think I’m in good company. Amazing Triumph GT6. Looking forward to seeing the beadwork. So do you stay up late at night to bead? How does your night owlism work in your life?
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ybonesy, yes, a true night owl. Funny thing though. When I’m in Taos for a writing retreat and get up early for the 7:30am meditation, it feels as natural as staying up late. There I would usually go to bed earlier.
I also had a corporate job (once) where I kept early hours to get into work. But then I wouldn’t go to bed early – I’d still stay up late. I think I was tired a lot. 8)
I wonder why it feels more natural to get up early for meditation in Taos, then go to bed earlier? Any ideas?
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ybonesy, I had to do some research on the name of the building with the blue neon on top. I even had to pull in the big guns – Liz helped me figure it out!
I look at that skyline every day and don’t even know the names of the buildings! But I found out on the KARE 11 segment, I’ve Been Wondering: Skyscrapers (LINK), that I’m not the only one.
From what Liz and I have figured out, the blue neon is the top of the Fifth Street Towers I (LINK). The bottom photo on the link shows both towers at night. Fifth I is a little shorter than Fifth Street Towers II which was built later.
Here’s a link to all the buildings on the Minneapolis Skyline: Buildings of Minneapolis (LINK). Maybe it’s not interesting to everyone. But it’s cool for me because I live here. So thanks for asking! If you click on each of the links you can see photos of the buildings.
BTW, the photo of the crescent moon in Minneapolis At Night (LINK) is part of 225 South Sixth (LINK) which used to be known around here as the First Bank building, then US Bancorp.
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Oh my gosh, I just looked at the Fifth Street Tower link and see that the neon ring around it is only one ring. Somehow I thought you’d managed to blur the bottom part of the your photo yet capture the multiple neon rings at the top. I just realized the whole thing is blurred and, thus, repeated. Does that make sense??
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Yes, I know exactly what you mean. When you shoot on the move (and at night) there are all kinds of mysteries and happy accidents that take place in each shot.
I was kind of surprised at how this one came out. Because the blue neon rings on top of the photo look more sharply in focus than the bottom of the photo – yet there is only ONE blue ring.
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Well QM,
I’m a night owl as well. I love to stay up late…when it’s all quiet and the rest of the world has shut down. Unfortunately I have a job that doesn’t allow me too many late nights. The Printing world starts very early…with or without me…
I laughed out loud remembering the “skin so soft”. I have a friend that (I swear this) used that stuff for everything from bug spray to hinge squeaks. She always had a big bottle on her dresser. I don’t know if they still make it in Avon World but I’m going to email her and find out.
Bless your Mother…
If I had 6 kids I probably would have drank the stuff 😉
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Skin So Soft ***IS**** the best thing around to repel mosquitos and noseeums. It’s the miracle oil. And, yes, Avon still makes it. I have a giant (I mean, GIANT) bottle that my former neighbor, a 76ish-year-old woman gave me the other day when I went to our old house to weed and got attacked by mosquitos. I sent Em over to Gwen’s house to see if we could buy a bottle, as I hadn’t brought any in my car, and Gwen sent Em back with the biggest bottle I’ve ever seen. It will last us for years, I am sure.
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Well, now I know what to mail her for Christmas!
Hey yb, aren’t you supposed to be in bed? That post is from 9:34pm. You’re edging in on QM and my night hours. What will the chickens think?
😉
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You are ever observant. Yes, it is 11:33 pm, and I just posted a piece. I’m about to hit the sack. The turkeys will be scandalized that I’m sleeping in tomorrow ; – ).
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Ah, Heather, great that you’ve picked up on the SkinSoSoft. I actually went to the Avon website link and they do have products based around SkinSoSoft. I also found a ton of web posts on SkinSoSoft as insect repellant. We used to use it, too, when I was a kid. You have a great sense of humor, BTW!
ybonesy, didn’t we use SkinSoSoft when I was at your house in July, sitting on the patio? Or maybe it was somethign else. Glad you’ve gotten the HUGE bottle from the neighbor!
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My natural tendency is to nightowlism too. Don’t why exactly. My dad chose to be a graveyard shifter and in his retirement years definitely preferred the middle of the night….
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neath, it really makes me wonder, after reading about your dad (and my mother), if we are night owls due to something passed down to us in the family. Or are we just naturally prone to love the night as part of our personal makeup?
I guess it’s the old argument – nature vs. nurture. It would be a good study. I’ll have to ask my 5 siblings what they prefer – morning or night? I want to get a better sense of this. Hmmmm.
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[…] to lunch weekends ah, it’s nice to have a break blue nightowl […]
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Hello,
I am a reporter for the Columbia News Service, a features newswire affiliated with the New York Times and I am working on a piece about night owls.
I love your blog and wonder if you (or anyone you know) would like to be profiled in my story. It would be sent out to about 400 newspapers across the country that subscribe to the wire.
If you (or others) are interested, please email a bit of information, including contact information, at my e-mail address: omp2111@columbia.edu by Friday.
Thanks,
Olga
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Thanks. That’s really cool. It’s good to know that journalists are finding us. (We’ve had queries on other topics that we sometimes write about as well.)
As far as interviewing someone, certainly wouldn’t be me. I wish I were a night owl. I actually can stay up very late working on my creative projects. Last Saturday I stayed up until 3a to finish a post I did. I was not the least bit tired — I was jazzed.
The problem came the next morning. I couldn’t sleep in. I got up at my usual time, and then I was exhausted all day. And the next day. And the next day. Finally yesterday, I didn’t feel like I had to take a nap in the middle of the day.
So, my interest is mostly in how night owls compensate for the awake hours. Do they naturally sleep later? And if someone’s body wakes them up early naturally, does that automatically knock them out of the night owl potential? Seems like that’s the case with me.
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Olga, how delightful that you found us. I, too, find it energizing that a few journalists are reading us.
As I mentioned in this post, I’m a true Night Owl. I also live with a Night Owl. And my mother is a Night Owl. I think it’s great you are doing a piece on the nocturnals. The whole idea of what makes a morning person, what makes an Owl, is fascinating.
I’m working on a writing deadline myself this week. And don’t know if I’ll be able to respond to your request by Friday. But I’ll give it some thought. And maybe there are others out there reading us who will respond. Thank you for commenting on red Ravine.
ybonesy, I think everyone can adapt to a certain extent – sometimes stay up late if they are morning people, or sometimes get up early if they are Night Owls. But I really found out what my natural rhythms were when I quit my corporate job and took a year off to write, rest, and focus on transitioning into my writing. As soon as my body was allowed to do exactly what it wanted to do, it fell into a natural rhythm that was certified Night Owl!
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[…] -related to post, Night Owl […]
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[…] this photograph was taken, they were sitting to the left, signing books. The blue lines are the Fifth Street Towers. Photo © 2008 by QuoinMonkey. All rights […]
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[…] Night Owl […]
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[…] Night Owl […]
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