My Circle Just

"Thy firmness makes my circle just,
And makes me end, where I begun."
~ John Donne

In Us

"The sun shines not on us, but in us."

~ John Muir

The clouds, the sky are spectacular this morning after rain. Stunning pastel shades of lavendar, pink, blue... Wisps of fog in valley... clouds moving quickly across sky. Ridge ablaze. Here comes the sun...

Beautiful Day

"It's a beautiful day.
Don't let it get away."
~U2

Golden sky--blazing sun crests ridge in quiet magnificence: Joy!
U2, Beautiful Day

Lump in the Throat

"A poem begins with a lump in the throat."
~ Robert Frost

Well, that was quite exhilarating... & Life Affirming.

Appropriately enough, an acoustic version of a song that starts my MP3 player each time: Dave Matthews, #41

Be Good

"I demand that the world be good,
and lo, it obeys."
~ Helen Keller

Golden promise of light, just before gray clouds sucked sun away...

My Mind

"My mind is the key that sets me free."
~ Harry Houdini

Sky is bright red fire w/smears of clouds, just along ridge. Catching my breath. Gray-blue Asheville mountains against sky awash in red, turning golden... Beauty, power, mystery... Toward Mt. Pisgah, cloudless blue sky.

Walked off deck, around yard & garden. Every sunrise photo, a keeper. Ahh, choices...

Light

"Light is the shadow of God."
~ Thomas Browne

Looking...

"Stop thinking and start looking."
~ Thomas Merton

Sun bathes ice on branches... snow, light, brilliance.

Turbulent Pleasure

"Every personal consideration that
we allow costs us heavenly state.
We sell the thrones of angels
for a short and turbulent pleasure."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

No sunrise, just turbulent clouds in a myriad of colors... and strips of clean, gold red light.

Point of Power

"The point of power is the freedom to cultivate roses."
~ Erica Jong

Oh, God, look at the sky!

More?

"Is there more? More than Love and Death?
Then tell me its name!"
~ Emily Dickinson

Spring Comes

"When Spring comes the grass grows by itself."
~ Tao Te Ching

Good Bonfire

"When you do something,
you should burn yourself completely,
like good bonfire,
leaving no trace of yourself. "
~ Shunryn Suzuki

Breath of Flowers

"In my nostrils still lives the breath of flowers
that perished twenty years ago."
~ Mark Twain

Sunrise checklist: Netbook, check; camera, check; mp3 player, check; coffee, check; jacket, check; shoes... damn, I still need my shoes...

Lots of clouds, but the sun, like love, won't be supressed. Light shines through every sky opening so rays illuminate the horizon. Gorgeous.

My camera's not doing this justice. I've got rays, God's light for sure, breaking through thick clouds.

Secret is Patience

"Adopt the pace of Nature; her secret is patience."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Clear toward Asheville... Great white Clouds churning & rising like smoke... but think it's too gray here for a sunrise. :(

Red cardinal, perched on nearby bare branch, waits for sun to rise through sky of cold clouds. Scarlett on gray...

And just when you're ready to give up... the sun breaks through...

Don't ever give up.

In the Dusk

"People live for the dream in their hearts. And I have yet to know anyone who has not some secret dream, some hope, however dim, some storied wall to look at in the dusk, some painted window leading to the soul."
~ Zane Grey

Rainy morning and dry afternoon... Sunset... we wait (and hope) for tomorrow's sunrise...

Outside Himself

"A person starts to live
when he can live outside himself."
~ Albert Einstein

Today is my baby brother's birthday... and Albert Einstein's birthday... Perched on this lanai, I'm on top of the world...Every sunrise glows promise, that no matter what, today will be better...

Barefoot, humming, reaching upward, outward, together with sky, clouds, light...Celebrate! Celebrate! Rattle dem bones. Smile and let the sun kiss your face.

Our spirit is stronger than steel...Light, like an angel, tickles the dark places. Erases pain...Why not believe that today will be the best day ever?

Golden Eternity

"Remember the golden eternity is yourself."
~ Jack Kerouac

Fog in valley, but ridge is golden orange... Well, that's pretty extraordinary. Fills my chest with love.

Play With Your Pain

"In order to laugh, you must be able
to play with your pain."
~ Annette Goodheart

Wall Between Two Gardens

"Sadness is but a wall between two gardens."
~ Kahlil Gibran

Oh, the sky is smeared orange this morning...Sometimes you need a new perspective, so I walked around the backyard for different vantage of sunrise...Looks like the bare branch from this tree is holding up the sun.

(Better understand sun's analemma, thanks to info sent by @jensaylor. Thank you!)

Genius of Women

"The special genius of women I believe
to be electrical in movement,
intuitive in function, spiritual in tendency."
~ Margaret Fuller

Oh, what magic 24K gold of a sun, cracking above the dense purple clouds... Quick change master. Now the sun's light blazes orange, glowing, promising the fulfillment of every dream, every possibility.

Into the Masterpiece

"You lose your grip,
and then you slip
Into the Masterpiece."

~ Leonard Cohen

Sitting between Asheville and Mt. Pisgah. Clear, startling visibility, freezing, sitting cross-legged. Waiting, with REM in ears, for the sun... Golden ridge. Clouds are white smears against baby blue. Snow cold. Half Moon to my right, a saucer. Need more coffee...

There... it...comes... Glorious gold...

Fingers frozen on netbook, Got Jackson Browne strumming Cohen in my ears & sun a fireball, rising. Wake up! Wake up! 1,000 Kisses deep.

Back inside. Can't feel my fingers or nose. THAT was spectacular. Please wait for photo. Wish you all were with me on ridge to see first hand.

Couldn't choose.

Singular Act

"Excellence is not a singular act, but a habit.
You are what you repeatedly do."
~ Shaquille O'Neal

Thousand Mysteries

"The thousand mysteries around us
would not trouble but interest us,
if only we had cheerful, happy hearts."
~ Friedrich W. Nietzsche

Light Gets In

"There is a crack in everything;
that's how the light gets in."
~ Leonard Cohen

It would be so nice if sun could break through that small gap in thick clouds and add colors to the beautiful white valley.

(Quote via @tinyquote. Music: Nina Simone - Here Comes The Sun via @joanne_cooper )

Pillar of the World

"The pillar of the world is hope."
~ Nigerian Proverb

Gray, everywhere I look, except toward Asheville, where the sky glows with orange hope.