Monday, September 22, 2008

A Gentle Morning

Dawn by Kathie 9-22-08 5:49 a.m. 52mm, 1/60 sec - F/4.5

Cricket songs and a hooting owl greet me as I step out the patio door in the predawn darkness. I’ve awakened early and after lying in bed for almost an hour decided to give up and get up. I’m not disappointed by this decision for it’s wonderfully peaceful outside. I take down the empty hummingbird feeder encrusted with splashes of dried nectar. The lesser long-nosed bats emptied it hours ago. I bring it into the house, clean and refill it, then set it aside to put out once the sun rises. I don’t know if the bats are gone for the night, but I’d like to sit outside without their company. I grab my steaming cup of Irish breakfast tea and relax into the cushion of a patio swivel chair.

From here I can view the sky in all directions. The outlines of my neighbor’s roofs and the dark edges of Mt. Fagan describe the line between earth and sky. Over head the half moon shines like a beacon still strong enough to cast moon shadows on the ground. Off in the desert a band of coyotes wails like banshees in the night. It is a haunting sound, yet somehow wild and peaceful all at the same time. Their cries carry me away, then set me down again in this desert place I now live in. A light wind brushes my face and causes the nearby flag to gently flap in a soothing rhythm.


Morning Tea by Kathie 9-22-08 6:51 a.m. 70mm, 1/320 sec - F/4.5

I snuggle my hands around my tea cup and spin my chair to view the starry sky. To the south Orion sails almost directly overhead in a charcoal sea. I watch the faint blinking light of a distant satellite as it makes its steady orbit east. I rotate my chair 180 degrees to see what the big dipper is doing. Its upended on its handle hanging over the Catalina Mountains with the two pointer stars on the end of the cup directing me to the north star in the handle of the little dipper. I am not an astronomer by anyone’s stretch of the imagination, but this little bit I know helps me enjoy the nighttime sky even more. The little dipper’s faint stars are almost lost in the glow of the Tucson city lights as its cup sinks lower in the sky. As night fades into day I think of how the stars will still be in their place but I will no longer see them as our morning star rises in the east and bathes the earth in its light. It is a gentle morning here in Sycamore Canyon on this first day of autumn and I am thankful to be awake to greet it.


Sunrise Ballerina by kathie 9-22-08, 6:42 a.m. 98mm, 1/500 sec - F/5.6

Click on photos to enlarge for best view

14 comments:

Quiet Paths said...

What a beautiful greeting to the new season. I am smiling and grateful too.

Kathie Brown said...

quiet paths, your smile is contagious! Thanks for stopping by!

Jim said...

Oh my goodness Kathie, you sure are an early riser! I might too if I had something different that the same old golf course to look at every morning.
I did get up before daybreak in Colorado while we were visiting our winter neighbors there this summer. It was nice to count the deer feeding in the back pasture and watch the other wildlife.
Then the sun started it's rise. All was very beautiful.
(My regular blog has some post of our Colorado holiday.)
..

Anonymous said...

I was surprised, yesterday, about the long-nosed bats at the nectar and equally surprised to see the feeder on such a loverly ballerina. Nice post.

I think the Brown Thrasher we have must go north of us in the spring as they just pass through here in April as does the Towee and Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

Ramosforest.Environment said...

Gentle pictures.
Beautiful.
Visit too:
http://www.ramosforestenvironment.com/

Deborah Godin said...

I just loved reading this, you words were so soothing and descriptive, I almost felt the atmosphere. I love the sounds of coyotes!

Ruth said...

How inviting!!

Anonymous said...

Kathie - A serene Lady at her authorial best.

Shelley said...

Your sky photo was breathtaking!

Doug Taron said...

That was beautifully written. I love early morning in the desert.

Celeste said...

What a great post! So soothing to the jangling senses of a city dweller!

Mary C said...

Kathie, I want to ditto what Doug wrote. And it certainly brought back memories of those few (too few) years I lived in ABQ. Early mornings in the desert is a piece of heaven in disguise. Thanks for sharing this with us.

Kathie Brown said...

Hello everyone. Thank you for all these thoughtful and kind comments. It's another beautiful morning here in Sycamore Canyon,and it's getting harder and harder to stay inside, but now the temperature is rising so I have come inside to visit all of you!

Larry said...

I get up at 4:30 almost every morning-it's my favorite part of the day-There's definitely something magical about early morning that you will miss by getting up late.-Unfortunately, my camera doesn't wake up until 8am.