Happy Friday everyone!

The sunrise yesterday was spectacular. I had just enough time to grab my camera and go out on the deck to photograph the eastern sky through the trees before the colors faded. Look at those colors!

Sunrise, sunset, and clouds

And the sunset night before last was also beautiful. There were the most beautiful clouds scudding through the sky at sunset. I woke up in the middle of the night and when I looked out my window saw a dark sky filled with more bright light clouds floating through the sky. It too was beautiful, but I wasn’t awake enough to try to photograph it.

Sunrise

You can
die for it–
an idea,
or the world. People

 

have done so,
brilliantly,
letting
their small bodies be bound

 

to the stake,
creating
an unforgettable
fury of light. But

 

this morning,
climbing the familiar hills
in the familiar
fabric of dawn, I thought

 

of China,
and India
and Europe, and I thought
how the sun

 

blazes
for everyone just
so joyfully
as it rises

 

under the lashes
of my own eyes, and I thought
I am so many!
What is my name?

 

What is the name
of the deep breath I would take
over and over
for all of us? Call it

 

whatever you want, it is
happiness, it is another one
of the ways to enter
fire.

The clouds floating through the sky remind me of how thoughts move through our minds. Sometimes when I meditate I imagine that my mind is as big as the sky and the thoughts that occur are simply clouds floating by. It helps me stay centered in awareness and not get hijacked by temporary thoughts.

When was the last time you noticed a beautiful sunrise, sunset, or clouds scudding through the sky? They are there for us, not all the time, but often enough to be a cause for joy, wonder, and celebration.

May you walk in beauty.
If you look closely at the sunset image below you can see several starbursts in the tree. Starburst effects are caused by light diffraction (a slight bending of light and spreading out around small obstacles). As light passes into the camera through a small opening (f/16), it bends around the edges of the aperture blades creating a star effect. The number of rays from each star is related to the number of aperture blades of the lens.
Here’s a closeup of the starbursts. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this happen before in one of my photographs. I’m guessing that each starburst is from an area of the tree where the sunlight appeared between different branches.

Marilyn

Photographer sharing beauty, grace & joy in photographs and blog posts. I live in the Twin Cites in Minnesota, the land of lakes, trees, and wonderful nature.

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