An Erubescent Sky| AliceNine.net

SOL26-0120

Here in the Northwest, the sun rose about 7:43 today. By that time, I had eaten breakfast — two thick slices of smoked pepper bacon, scrambled eggs with pepper jack cheese, toast slathered with butter and a thin layer of Kelly’s Habanero Pepper Jelly — and was relaxing with my second cup of coffee.

Sipping my coffee, I leisurely watched the dark sky begin to lighten as the sun began sending its rays over the southeast horizon. Then, suddenly, in the moments just before the sun rose, the sky turned pale blue and its rays caught the underside of the clouds turning them a beautiful rosy hue in every direction you looked so that you could not tell where the sun was rising.

From my window, a small patch of sky framed by dark tree silhouettes was breath-takingly beautiful. I set down my mug and rushed outside. I was instantly surrounded by the fog of my breath. A heavy frost covered the ground and neighborhood roofs, and ice was on car windshields. And like a crazy woman, I ran around our house — without a coat, in my flip flops, my iPhone point skyward, snapping shots.

I’m glad my immediate neighbors are family.

By the time I was ready to get a sky shot to the east, the rose hue was gone.

Back in my warm house, I texted a picture to my DIL who lives on the east side of us. She responded, “Too bad I didn’t have my blinds open yet; the kids would have had fun watching Gramma run around like that. Also, too bad I missed that beautiful painting in the sky.”