With the Sun

The sky is so beautiful this morning. Orange and gold smears of dawn light. A gossamer mist kisses the valley. I wait for the sun...

"I am lit with the sun."
~ Sidney Lanier

Thank you, Mountain Xpress & @michaelfmuller: Here Comes the Sun

Precious Gift

"Every morning, when we wake up,
we have twenty-four brand-new hours to live.
What a precious gift."
~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Don't Be Afraid to Hit the Ball

"Be bold.
If you're going to make an error, make a doozey,
and don't be afraid to hit the ball."
~ Billie Jean King

Dancing as the sun rises...
Happy Birthday, Carlos Santana: ♪♫ ♪♫ Samba Pa Ti ♪♫ ♪♫

No Smooth Road

"Life has no smooth road for any of us;
and in the bracing atmosphere
of a high aim
the very roughness
stimulates the climber to steadier steps
till the legend,
'over steep ways to the stars,'
fulfills itself."
~ W.C. Doane

My "sun" rise is more "fog" rise this morning.. Still very pretty, but sun is blocked by clouds. Rapidly changing... Always feel like I'm channeling the sun here on this morning deck, today is all clean with endless potential... Big difference from yesterday & today's sunrise...

My close up of the fiery sun through the clouds looks like lava flow...

Find Ways

"There is nothing like returning
to a place that remains unchanged
to find ways in which
you yourself have altered."
~ Nelson Mandela

♪♫ ♪♫ Sunrise, Norah Jones♪♫ ♪♫

What Autobiography Should Be

"People.
Wonderful, remarkable people
are what autobiography should be rich in--
the people who make up
a person's real environment."
~ James Cagney

Some mornings are golden, some are gray... This morning's sunrise is wet with heavy clouds and hints of orange. Still beautiful, wistful, and true.

Joy Made Double

"A joy that is shared is a joy made double."
~ English Proverb

No matter what heartache I may have, waiting then watching the sun rise fills me with hope and joy...

Sunrise salve. Free for everybody. All you gotta do is be there... Clouds, thick along ridge, cover the sun, but the light still blazes through... Waiting for sun to break through the clouds. I know it will...

Dreams Are Necessary

"Dreams are necessary to life."
~ Anais Nin

To Love Somebody

"The only way of full knowledge lies in the act of love;
this act transcends thought, it transcends words.
It is the daring plunge into the experience of union.
To love somebody is not just a strong feeling--
it is a decision, it is a judgment, it is a promise."
~ Erich Fromm

While everyone slept, I watched this magnificent display of clouds and gold and contemplated how my house... my heart... my life...is full with love...

Only Listen

"Stories are medicine.
They have such power;
they do not require that
we do, be, act anything —we need only listen."
~ Clarissa Pinkola Estes

In Rhythmic Measure

"The same stream of life
that runs through the world
runs through my veins
night and day in rhythmic measure.
It is the same life that shoots in joy
through the dust of the earth
into numberless waves of flowers."
~ Rabindranath Tagore

Stillness. Puffs of clouds are gray against orange sky. Airplane soars up into the color... oooh. Pretty. That sun knocks me over, then swallows me up, with its light... and colors...

♪♫ ♪♫ Vanessa Williams, Colors of the Wind ♪♫ ♪♫

Contemplated in Advance

"It's so hard when contemplated in advance,
and so easy when you do it."
~ Robert M. Pirsig

Drenched from humidity. Unusual sunrise. Perhaps the sun, like I, was spellbound by clouds' rapid movement and fog rising and dissipating?

♪♫ ♪♫ Shine, Collective Soul ♪♫ ♪♫

Listening From Within

"Can you hear it?
Your right brain speaks to you--
and guides you--in the subtle language
of impulses, feelings, hunches, and intuitions.
'I get my ideas,' said Edison,
'by listening from within.'"
~ Zane Vaughn

Subtle sun... Red, behind the clouds. Hanging there, like a mirage. No blazing light. Just waiting for us to take a glimpse... and listen.

Gate of Access

"Any object, intensely regarded,
may be a gate of access to the
incorruptible eons of the gods."
~ James Joyce

Silent, yet powerful sun. Rays shoot upwards, through the clouds, through the sky.

Wild, Unruly Things

"All of us need to keep in touch with wild, unruly things,
even if we do it in the tamest possible way."
~ Maggie Nichols

Lead With Your Heart

"If you lead with your heart,
it will carry you much further
than your brains will."
~ Sylvester Stallone

Gold, golden sun, blazing through the clean, clean sky. No clouds. Just the Big Blazing Star... And the feelings of leading with my heart and creative possibilities.

Do It

"In life,
you have to deal with your fear,
the part of you that says, 'I can’t do it.'"
~ Chuck Close

Nice walk w/Kolo. Nice spectacular sunrise... Not a cloud in sky...

...And Blues Traveler on my Sansa: Run Around

Dawn of Day

"Enlighten the people generally,
and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind
will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day."
~ Thomas Jefferson

Train whistle in distance. Crow perched on branch, squawking. Another red sunrise. THAT sun gives new meaning to "rise and shine."

Having a bit of trouble choosing just one sunrise photo this morning. Generous sun.

Full Measure

"A hundred times a day I remind myself that my inner and outer life depends on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the full measure I have received and am still receiving."
~ Albert Einstein

Gleaming Taper's Light

"Hope, like the gleaming taper's light,
adorns and cheers our way;
And still, as darker grows the night,
emits a lighter ray."
~ Oliver Goldsmith

Fog...mist...stillness...light. And the birds are chirping 3-part harmony... There's my surreal... silent... not-so-shy BIG red sun.

Nobody Else Has Thought

"Discovery is seeing
what everybody else has seen,
and thinking what nobody else has thought."
~ Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Some times the shy sun is content to rise behind the clouds. There's just no coaxing it out...

Feels Nice

"If it feels nice, don't think twice ."
~ James Taylor

Colors continue swirling to my delight... THAT was remarkable. Utterly life affirming & making me bow down with humility.

Wish you all goodness, salve for every heartache, and endless celebrations... Video: Shower the People, James Taylor

Look Around

"Life literally abounds in comedy
if you just look around you."
~ Mel Brooks

Edge of Something More

"I'm always saying something
that's just the edge of more."
~ Robert Frost

Time Doesn't Matter

"Peace is when time doesn’t matter as it passes by."
~ Maria Schell

Going On

Logan Airport, Boston

"Going on means going far,
going far means returning."
~ Lao Tzu

Hopeful Symptoms

From I-85,
near Charlotte, North Carolina

"The impulse to travel is
one of the hopeful symptoms of life."
~ Agnes Repplier

Care Enough

"You can make a difference in your life
and in the lives of others
if you simply care enough to try,
and care enough to persevere."
~ Daniel K. Inouye

Thank you, Mountain Xpress & @michaelfmuller: My Sunrise

Greatest Gift

Happy Father's Day

"My father gave me the greatest gift
anyone could give another person,
he believed in me."
~ Jim Valvano

Explore and Explore

"Explore, and explore.
Be neither chided nor flattered
out of your position of perpetual inquiry.
Neither dogmatize, or accept another’s dogmatism."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Walk Tall

"Walk tall.
Or don't walk at all."
~ Bruce Springsteen

Luck of the shuffle, today's sunrise crested as "He's singin'" refrain from New York City Serenade hit my ear. Religious experience.

Video: New York City Serenade, 7/11/09

Find Time

"We all find time to do what we really want to do."
~ William Feather

Back from walk down my mountain. Surveying the forest damage from yesterday's hail storm. Remarkable... Blackberries everywhere...

All Earthly Dignities

"A peace above all earthly dignities
a still and quiet conscience."
~ William Shakespeare, Henry VIII

A peaceful morning, full of light-hearted possibilities...

Welcome the Ecstatic Experience

"A soul should always stand ajar,
ready to welcome the ecstatic experience."
~ Emily Dickinson

Looks like I'll be meeting the sun dancing this morning... Ahh, but dancing is quite a prayer... Dancing and the fog rolls in and in just seconds, I'm covered in a silky mist.So, is this a "Mist Dance?" ...That was wonderful! Now my blood is pumping.

Some Great Good

"The potential of the average person
is like a huge ocean unsailed,
a new continent unexplored,
a world of possibilities waiting to be released
and channeled toward some great good."
~ Brian Tracy

Just a fine mist in the valley. Orange sky is lightly seared with golden light. Dozens of birds chatter. Hues changing fast... Stillness. The rooster calls out from the valley below. I listen, spellbound, to the quiet sounds of dawn!

An airplane rises across the sky. The fog, gently hugging the tree tops, dissipates in seconds. The sun will be cresting & my heart beats.

Generous, generous dawn.

Red sun. Orange sky. Blue-gray mountains. Poetry. Faith. Possibilities.

Inhaling the Memory

"Inspiration could be called
inhaling the memory of an act never experienced."
~ Ned Rorem

Our Attention

"Whatever we put our attention on
will grow stronger in our life."
~ Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Can't see any of the cove, the fog is so thick, but the horizon is clear, which should make for a stunning sunrise. Counting the minutes... In just seconds, the fog has completely covered everything. Can't see my ridge, just mist and slender ribbons of orange light... Air is moist, in a dream cloud. Dozens of birds singing. Mist clings to spiderwebs. Sky toward Mt. Pisgah, blue with orange clouds.

Settle down, I say, now give me the sun!

Catch Excellence

"Perfection is not attainable.
But if we chase perfection,
we can catch excellence."
~ Vince Lombardi

Misty, golden sun rise, breath-catching, life-celebrating gorgeous.

Beauty in Things

"Beauty in things exists in the mind
which contemplates them."
~ David Hume

Forever

"Forever is composed of Nows."
~ Emily Dickinson

Bright, bright sun in a cloudless sky. The house and garden are streaming light...The bright light and clear horizon transform the mountain outlines into sensual curves. Beautiful, really.

Let the Glory Out

"Defeat may serve as well as victory
to shake the soul and let the glory out."
~Edwin Markham

Clouds and profuse light. The word "glory" keeps singing in my head.

Produce Joy

"Do anything, but let it produce Joy."
~ Walt Whitman

So many colors. Joyous world we live in... Feels like a Whitman sort of sunrise... :) while my 125 photos download, let me search my quote database... Ahh, technology.

Open My Eyes

"At any given moment, I open my eyes and exist. "
~ Ugo Betti

Nobody in Particular

"In heaven, an angel
is nobody in particular."
~ George Bernard Shaw

Orange is streaking horizon, across my ridge. My heart skips beat at thought of upcoming sunrise... (w/Bob Marley singing in my ear) Clouds makin' light soup out of sun. Orange blaze, sprinkles of gold, lavendar, gray. Rasta Goulash!

...Red sun, red sun, peaking cresting. STUNNING!

Tricky sun. Gave me 10 seconds only. Now it's chillin' behind clouds. Peek-a-boo you...Aha! You know you've got a special life when the sun starts listening to you...

All Experience

"All experience is an arch to build upon."
~Henry Brooks Adams

Do Good Work

"You learn how to do good work
by being honest with yourself."
~ Rodney Crowell

My cove is drenched in heavy fog. But tips of my ridge are visible. Color on the horizon is hope for a sun rise...The sun, a brief exclamation point. Cuddled by the fog...Hope my camera caught it...

How can my heart hold this much love?