Sunrise at Sawmill Road

We had heavy rain pretty much all day on Thursday, but on Friday morning, I drove to work under clearing skies. The time just after a change in the weather sometimes provides magical moments. Is there anything more dramatic and welcome than the sunrise that follows a storm?

Better yet, I get to watch the progression of the sunrise as I am driving. I often start out by leaving my house under darkened skies. But by the time I get to Sawmill Road, the show is in full swing. I couldn't help myself: I pulled the car over and just had to take a few photos of it.

I stopped the car again just a mile or two down the road, at Skytop Farm Pond, a little pond I love, which has graced these pages quite a few times in the past four years. I pass it once each way when I drive to and from work.

The clouds were turning a lighter pink and the shining orb of the sun was just about to pop up over the horizon. The reflections were lots of fun and I strolled around quickly, taking many photos. One of them is included in the extra photos area for your enjoyment.

And so it is that days have dwindled down to the darkest time of the year. The daylight is short and the nights are long. In central Pennsylvania, we have just had a lot of rain. Before that, the days started out misty and ended up mostly cloudy and overcast. There are days when we never even SEE the sun.

It was a cooler morning than we have had in a while, and so it was finally starting to feel a bit like winter. As I stood watching the sunrise, I thought about our love affair with the sun.

In summertime, we do not always love the sun because it beats down on us too hotly from the sky. But in winter, we become sun seekers again. And so it is that we stand with our eyes turned skyward searching the heavens, we lovers of the sun.

The soundtrack . . . I have loved the Scorpions since I first heard Klaus's marvelous voice back in the early 1980s. You might say it was love at first sting. The song to accompany these sunrise images is the Scorpions, with one of my all-time favorites (yes, it gives me absolute CHILLS, even after all this time): Still Loving You. I stumbled across a bonus version from The Voice Russia that is pretty amazing also, so I'm including it: here's Nargiz Zakirova, with the same tune.