Sunrise

I’m not exactly a morning person. In a March 2009 post, I wrote that generally I wake slowly – preferably without an alarm clock. I’d rather my body - and more importantly my mind be wakened gradually than by the sound of an alarm clock or a clock radio. There are of course other ways I’d like to be woken but that is another post!!

My body isn’t overly coordinated in the first place but seems to be a bit more unruly first thing in the morning. I suspect that is at least partially due to my vision loss. My eyes always seem to need a bit of extra time to adjust to light and any amount of focusing.

That being said, I actually love this time of year for getting up in the morning. Most mornings, I tend to be up around seven – give or take a half hour. It really varies depending on what I have planned for the day.

Here in the ‘Peg, the sun rises quite early in the summer – around 5AM or so. It can start getting light by 4:30 or so during the longest days of summer. I don’t tend to see the sunrises that much in summer unless of course the birds are chirping loud enough to wake me or Mother Nature alerts me to a different call!

Sometimes, I’m actually coherent enough to grab the camera and take a few shots of the skyline outside my apartment window. My windows actually face north, but if there are a few clouds in the sky and the light is just right the sunrise can be absolutely stunning!

There was at least one of those rare mornings back in the spring – May 4 - that I was awake to view the predawn light that gave an interesting pinkish glow to the clouds. This shot was taken at 5:01 central.

Sixteen minutes later at 5:17AM, the sky looked completely different. A little more gloomy to the north but still quite lovely.
This shot was taken on September 6 at 6:54AM. Yet another beautiful skyline to wake up to!
In mid August, the sun is rising just before 6:30, so I tend to be at least semi conscious on a few mornings.

One of the best mornings, was back on August 12. I was up by a little after 6 and doing my stretches when I happened to look towards the bedroom window. It had rained overnight and it was still partly cloudy but the sun was just rising and there was a hint of gold on nearby buildings. I sat there for a moment just looking then realized that I should grab the camera and capture the view before it disappeared.

There wasn’t enough time to dress and head outside so I grabbed my robe, glasses and the camera and went to the living room window.

This pic was taken at 6:29, looking towards the northeast.

However, my favourite sunrise shot so far was taken that same morning just 1 minute earlier at 6:28 looking to the northwest. The golden glow of the rising sun reflecting on the buildings and the rainbow in the distance was amazing! I have used this photo as my desktop pic for the last few weeks.
Now I know, I’m not the greatest photographer by any stretch of the imagination and my camera isn’t really top quality so my pictures aren’t always clear. But, even the slight blur of these pics can’t take away the beauty that I captured through my window on those mornings.

Not half bad for being taken through a window by a semi conscious legally blind woman!!

Last Wednesday, September 22 - which also happened to be the first day of fall - I woke about 5:15. I hadn’t set the alarm and I really didn’t want to get out of my nice warm comfy bed. It was still dark, but I knew I had a busy day ahead. I needed groceries and I had several errands and an appointment to keep. By 5:30, I finally convinced myself that if I got it all done that day, then I could sleep in on Thursday.

I did my stretches, had breakfast, got dressed and headed out about 6:50 to catch a bus to the grocery store. I was wearing a warm hooded sweater with my denim jacket but it was nippier than I thought at only 6C. As I walked to the bus stop, I was a little on the cold side, but the sky was at that beautiful stage of predawn that can make you forget the autumn chill in the air. Light to the east and a graduating palate of colours from the horizon up into the sky. There were a few of those long narrow puffy clouds partway up the skyline and they seemed to have absorbed the brilliance of the autumn colours from the rising sun. It was beautiful. I watched the sky lighten and do it’s magical colour changes as the sun came up while I rode the southbound bus to the grocery store. I wished I had my camera with me.

By the time I came out of the grocery store thirty minutes later the sun was completely up and at that awkward point of being right in my eyes as I walked to the corner to cross the street and catch my bus back home.

My love affair with the sunrise was over for yet another day!

I slept in on Thursday morning.

dn