A Celebration of Sunrise

So much to do today and so little time. I'll be burning my candles from all ends - front, back and center while I run around to do errands and try to get two repairs finalized. I have the normal "day off" stuff to get done - laundry, housecleaning, grocery shopping - but there's a pile of stuff next to me that also has to be dealt with today. Hmmm ... looking at my clock, I have twelve hours before I talk with Aearwen and start to wrap up my day. That's probably not enough time. 

Sunrise and mountains - two things I love. I'm looking
for beautiful sunrise and mountain photos for you
to enjoy today. 

Time - it's really not our friend in so many ways. There's always something that's left undone at the end of the day. Of course, optimists might look at that undone item as an unspoken guarantee of awakening the next morning. Pessimists might look upon it as one more indication of poor planning, inefficiency, and general malaise. I just look at it as normal - I don't think I'll EVER actually get everything done that I have pending on any day's agenda. 

I love the lighting in this one, the clouds, the reflections below. What
a wonderful and happy way to start the day! 

Highly organized people make lists - "To Do" lists of various complexions. I've always found keeping a list or a journal or similar things to be time I really don't have. My journal is my daily blog - whipping thoughts into organized chaos. My to-do lists often are photos of things I have to remember to purchase when I go shopping. Everything else exists in piles around my workspace. Not very efficient, but when dealing with a physical reality, not a writing task, the "everything else" actually takes up physical space. 

I'd probably call these mountains a bit closer to hills, but it's
still a wonderful and celebratory sunrise to share with you. 

Thus, around my desk today are two beading repairs that HAVE to be wrapped up, a pile of cyber-notifications that have to be dealt with, and some photography and product scan experiments that I have to try out today to move forward with the latest major project for the shop. It'll be a cold and busy day for me today. 

Here's hoping your Wednesday turns out to be spectacular. Stay happy, stay cozy, and spread love. I'll be back tomorrow, hopefully feeling much more accomplished. 

Disjointed Meandering Through the Colors of My Mind

Is it silly to awaken on Saturday morning but only think about sleeping in on Sunday? Usually I'm pretty used to my crazy schedule - I've been an early morning riser since my college days and I just kept pushing it earlier and earlier rather than later and later. Now I get up at 3:15 am during the week and 4:00 am on Saturday so that I can write my blog, check my emails, and get to the gym when they unlock the door. If I'm in the pool at 5:05 am (6:05 am on Saturday), my day gets off to a good start and the pool isn't super crowded until after at least 30 minutes of swimming. Still, I love the fact that I allow myself to sleep in on Sunday mornings.

I wake up really early, but I enjoy early mornings. I get my quiet time, sometimes
I write a little fiction,. I search for photos, write my blog, and slowly
wake up in time to leave the house 90 minutes later. 

I love seeing the sun rise. When I sleep later, I feel as if I'm missing the best part of the day. I also love seeing the sun set, but since I'm usually still stuck at work when that happens or I've already arrived home and am inside, I miss the incredible beauty of the light, the colors and the paintings that are made by the sun's rays and the clouds. Sunrises are usually a bit less strident across the skies - they can have the orange and pink coloring, but more often are a gentle progression through the pastels - faint yellow through to blue or grey.

I love a gentle sunrise although the bold colors of some sunrises are beautiful.
Even though sometimes the sunrise can be brilliant orange to
scarlet colors, I prefer the gentle rose through yellow to blue
ranges that often happen in our winter months. 

The colors of the sky are reflected in jewelry and ornamentation, household effects, paintings and clothing through the years. It appears that this year's fashion clothing will be lots of fringe, jewel-tone colors (think Byzantine for the colors - emerald, sapphire, ruby, all set in gold). To break the glitzy monotony, there were splashes of bold colors in olive green, neon orange and hot pink. Dark backgrounds with lots of shimmery fabrics are everywhere. There were some really pretty things on the runway at New York Fashion Week, but none of them will find their way into my closet. I love fashion but don't have any reason to wear gowns like these. I'm basically a denim and sweatshirt kind of gal.

I have this purple swimsuit along with one in
royal blue. It was hard to turn down, it's a style
I love and the two together were less than $40. 

I did indulge in a new swimsuit, though. I asked Santa for two new suits for Christmas, DH told me to buy them and give him the bill. They weren't expensive, and they'll get me through this year's pool days. I indulged earlier this week, the purple one is now getting daily use.

Disjointed thoughts are all I'm writing today. Good thing I'm not writing
any of this for a story. 

So what a meander through my disjointed thoughts this morning. The only thing pulling all of it together is color, and since I love color, I guess that'll work for me. Have a wonderful weekend and I'll be back on Monday, hopefully with a more coordinated blog post.

Good Solstice To All

It's Solstice, and isn't that a wonderful thing? Whether it's your Winter Solstice as it is for those of us in the northern hemisphere, or the Summer Solstice as my friends in the southern hemisphere will experience, it is a day of celebration. Once more the sun will arise and (for the north) our daylight will now begin to gradually increase once again. That's a VERY welcome thing.

I'll start out with Solstice at Stonehenge. Although I feel a greater
connection with Avebury, I am always amazed by the power and the
sheer scale of Stonehenge. 

DH always gets really grumpy in the dark of the winter, and I don't do so well myself when my daylight is this decreased. I am very grateful that I don't live even farther north because I'd be more than cranky - I'd be unbearable.

At Newgrange, Ireland, there is a roof box that
allows the sun to shine into the chamber on the Solstice. 

As always, I pray for peace and understanding for this coming year. I look at the world as it is, though, and know that is a dream that will likely remain unfulfilled. Hatred closes people off, it restricts their hearing, filters their sight, and colors their world. Too much of today's world is writhing in pain now and too many head-blind people are roaming around, painting the world in the dark colors of Mordor. Sauron wasn't slain, he was transmuted and he still spreads hatred across the lands.

In this wonderful photo, the sunrise is altered by the shadow cast by
Mount Rainier. The peak is located in the Pacific Northwest of the US,
in the state of Washington. 

Please, celebrate this beginning of a new solar year by doing something kind and unexpected. Just a little thing -  buying someone a cup of coffee or pushing a child in a swing. Spread the love. Love is a powerful force when it is turned to acts of kindness.

I had a similar photo last week, but I fell in love
with this one as I was looking for pictures. It's
a stunning, and very cold, photo. 

Have a wonderful full day of the Solstice and get your last-minute holiday shopping done. You're running out of time! Happy Tuesday. As promised, I have sunrise pictures for you today. Blessed Be!

Good Solstice to All - Pictures

So the Chex Mix is made (and happily being eaten), the prime rib is in the refrigerator awaiting cooking for Christmas Day, I'm picking up our ham this morning and DH bought his spritz cookies last night.  Solstice has now arrived, the fires have been rekindled and the sun is beginning the return voyage to the heat of the summer.  The lean season is beginning, but it is starting with a feast of friends, food and festivity.  To honor my friends and to celebrate the Solstice, I have sunrise pictures to share with all of you today.  Thank you for enriching and enlightening my life over the past year.  I look forward to sharing the next with all of you.

Finally Friday!

Although my Saturdays are actually my Friday....OK, let me digress and explain a bit here. I work on Saturdays, therefore they are actually what most people would call their Friday. Now...back on track. So, even though my Saturdays are actually my Friday, I plan to enjoy today. Of course, I plan the same thing every day, waking up in the morning and being amazed and pleased that I can spend another day writing, talking with people, meeting creative minds in my shop, and generally talking either in person or through printed words to people throughout the world. What a wonderful thing! I love it. So, I am going to embrace today, because I think a Friday in early November should be embraced and enjoyed.

I have a story in the works that is undergoing it's umpteenth "comb it with fine teeth" look-through. I'm a tinkerer, and I've learned a lot over the months of putting stories up to be looked at by my friends and acquaintences at my writers board (waving to my LC friends here). I have started learning what to look for in a good story and have tried to incorporate that into my writing. I have revised this one several times already, and thought I had it ready to pass on last night, but started reading it again. *sigh*. No, it's not ready to pass on yet. It still needs some more red pen (or use of the delete key in my case). So I will continue to edit it tonight and it will be the stronger for it. I'm very grateful for all of the lessons, LC friends. Very grateful indeed!

What will you do to bring a smile to someone today? It could be as easy as giving someone a hug, or maybe a piece of chocolate, or maybe carrying a bag for them, opening a door for them, or telling them that their dress/shirt/jewelry is lovely. But do it. Bring a smile to someone today because each smile brightens our all-too-dark universe :-)

I SO Need a Weekend

I think I have a mouse in my heating system again.  And that most certainly does NOT make me happy.  At this time of the year, as well as when we get a lot of rain, I get mice trying for a better life.  As much as I understand their desire to better their living situations, I do not welcome them in my home.  I'll have to tell my DH today so that he can increase his trap surveillance.  We try to keep up with it, but when snow covers the ground, we can't find where the small holes might be that they are using to get into our sub-basement.  I may have to break down this year and actually hire a real exterminator - another expense. 

Mice are so cute.  I remember rescuing and playing with them

when I was a child growing up in the Colorado mountains.  But

I don't want them in my house. 

I am still keeping up with Back 2 Middle Earth and I am totally amazed.  I am really enjoying writing these short stories, even though they certainly take some time to write.  I really love it when the subject appears to me immediately when I read the daily challenge theme.  The days when that does not happen make for some long days thinking about various characters and how they might act.  Today is asking for reactions from a race other than elves, and my DH has been pushing me to write about dwarves.  So that gives me my race, but I still need to figure out the context.  It wil work out though, I have full confidence.  Fun, fun. 

Don't forget to Spring Ahead. 

And don't forget to set your clocks ahead tonight before you go to sleep.  Dalight Saving Time (a rather silly law that is used for most places, although not all places, in the US from March until November) requires us to "Spring Ahead and Fall Back".  The only good think about this is that I will once again be able to see the sunrises as I go to work, and sunrise is my favorite time of the day.  Have a great weekend! 

Accomplishments

So yesterday was my "day off", my "studio day", my day to accomplish errands, laundry, and personal goals.  I began the day by going to my silversmith's location, with a repair.  I knew that his business had been falling off, and indeed, his business was closed and his space was empty when I went there.  So, that means that any repairs that I can't do in-house will not be able to be accepted from this point.  Ho has been a friend for many years, so I will try and track him down and make sure that all is OK with him, his wife and his kids.  It's really a shame how many jeweler friends of mine have been unable to survive our current economic situation.  Then I came home, unlatched my DH's computer from his plugs, loaded it into my car, and went up to Dale's place for him to find out why DH's computer wasn't turning on.  After turning it on and off numerous times and having no problems, he cleaned up some resident evil from the registry, I wrote him a small check, we bandied about various computer issues and I trotted the CPU back home to find out which component had died causing the CPU to malfunction.  After trial and error, the battery backup system was found to be the culprit, so I purchased a new one, plugged things back in to the new block, and all worked properly.  One miracle accomplished, and half of the day gone. 

Diamonds in the snow.  Surely there are few things more

beautiful about winter. 

It was the drive home from Dale's that made my day.  Winter is not my favorite season, but when she shows her best, there is nothing better.  Yesterday was cold and stunning.  The sunrise had been picture-perfect framed behind the naked limbs of the trees and making the clouds molten silver and gold.  The skies then cleared and a few fluffy clouds populated the field of blue.  The cold kept the snow crystallized, and when I was driving by, it was so beautiful.  The fields of white looked like white buttercream frosting over which Eru had generously sprinkled ultra-fine glitter so that it sparkled like diamonds from afar.  As I drove, the sparkling was so intense it was dizzying and sent prayers of thanks from my soul.  These are the winter days that I live for - the extreme beauty. 

In Paris, everything is romantic.  Even slogging through the snow. 

But today we are back to snow, so enjoy this lovely picture of a couple in the snow in Paris.  Because if I have to deal with snow, I think I would much rather deal with it in Paris, even though we are really good at handling snow here in the Twin Cities.  I hope your Thursday brings magic to your lives today. 

Sunrise - The Best Time of the Day

I know I have mentioned how much I love sunrise.  When the sun comes up, I feel that the day is full of possibilities and the path that you choose to tred is open and unwalked before you.  I grew to love sunrise while I was in Middle School.  Since we lived quite a way from the school (walking usually took almost an hour) we were picked up and dropped off via school bus.  The corner where the kids of the neighborhood waited for the school bus faced East and there were no houses across the street to block our view of the sun.  In the winter, when the temps were so cold, the sun would rise and place the world into a red-golden glow.  Shadows would stand in high relief.  Features were demarked with a kiss of gold.  And the sky would alight in a multitude of colors.  I am still amazed, almost 50 years afterwards, by the daily display of hope that occurs in the sky. 

And so I share with you two pictures of sunrise that I have seen in the past two months to paint your own day with colorful possibilities.  The first picture is of a sun dog that occurred three days ago.  Unfortunately the true rainbow light of the side lights didn't come through in the picture so you'll have to take my word for it.  But the two curved side lights were actually rainbows, and the center sun pillar was a golden/red shaft of light.  Stunning. 

And the sunrise above was late last year.  It was such an extraordinary sky that I pulled off the road into a parking lot to take some pictures as it painted the sky in vivid colors.  I share these with you today to brighten your day.