light

At 7:37AM the first bright gleam of sunlight appeared between the trees, over the stone wall, on the north side of the little roundtop by the barn. The stone wall on the east edge of my property runs north-south, and for months the sun has been appearing over the stone wall on the south side of the roundtop. By midsummer the sun will be rising so far to the north along the wall that I will only catch that first moment of light through the forest if I am already outside at dawn. Fortunately, I very often am outside at dawn. 

It's well below zero F again this morning, and after just one rainy day last week my world is now entirely encased in frozen snow and ice. In particular, all my chore paths are now ice. Regardless: the first morning when I see that sudden bright gleam on the north edge of the roundtop is always a thrill. 

Well, it's time to dust off the ice cleats. Here's hoping we all stay on our feet today.

~~~~~

dawn

I'm generally up well before dawn.

In the wee hours of the morning, in fact.

Some would say "the middle of the night."

When it's completely dark outside, unless there's a bright moon.

I do some routine morning things in the house: breakfast for Moxie and Della, breakfast for Piper (unless she's sleeping in and "will have brunch later, please"), unload or reload dishwasher, clean litterboxes, tend the woodstove, have something to eat or drink. Random puttering. You know the type of thing.

So when I first go outside, here is what I usually step into:

Can you see the string of fairy lights between the barn and the workshop?

(May have to left-click the image to enlarge.)

Those little lights give me a cheery lift every time I see them.

They will probably be up til Spring.

Maybe year-round.

The view from my window looks very much like that picture right now, so out I go.

LOTS going on today...will plan to post pictures and words tomorrow!

~~~~~

just before dawn

There isn't much light for photographs right now.

The first hint of dawn is just peeking through the trees:

That bright spot isn't the sun; it's the lightness well above the sun.

It snowed all day yesterday, and most of the night.

Heavy, wet snow. Some is already dropping in big wet clumps.

I'm hoping for a light wind, to bring more off the trees.

If it freezes or if we get a strong wind,

there will likely be a lot of breakage.

 This squirrel was quite perturbed by the snow on the feeder.

In a dozen photographs, that tail never stopped twitching!

More snow is predicted for Saturday.

This is the time of year when one does not "put off til tomorrow."

If something can be done now, then "now" is the time to do it.

As soon as the sun is up, I will be outside.

I hope wherever you are, the sun comes up on a peaceful world.

~~~~~