This past Sunday, we marked Groundhog Day, and this year, Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow, so spring is on the way. Sunday also marked the first palindrome date in 909 years, meaning it is the same when read forwards and backwards (check out the title of this post).
I totally forgot about both because on most weekends, I just can’t ignore Mother Nature. The featured image at the top of this post was taken at 6:46 a.m. on my way to Goose Pond. I stopped here and texted the photo to my photographer friend, Michael, because I had a hunch the sunrise would be spectacular. Following is the sunrise sequence at Goose Pond:
Forty-nine minutes. Hand on heart, when I left Good Pond on 02/02/2020, I was reminded of this piece of wisdom from Ferris Bueller: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
Who would want to miss it?
Michael was, at one time, a full-time photographer with Smithsonian. About 8 years ago, he suffered a serious stroke and lost the use of his left side. Bella — a long-haired dachshund — is in training to stay on Michael’s right side. As you can see, she needs more training. Michael’s former service dog was Eva, his beloved pet that died last year. He’s still sad about it.
The last question in this post is kinda directed at me. When you are in the middle of a deep dip in your double depression, you ask yourself questions like that. Also questions like this: do you want to get out of bed today? If you do, do you want to shower? Perhaps change the clothes you’ve worn and slept in for the past four days?
Another beautiful, serene post to wake up to. Your pictures empower me. At 7:04 I begin to anticipate what will be coming. At 7:08 a tiny glimpse of the sun. At 7:13 I’m running up the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum telling myself that I can do it. With each picture I’m getting closer to the top. Then at 7:53 I have made it and am overcome with the feeling that I can conquer the world. Maybe I can even beat Trump in November. I wonder if they’ll erect a statue of me at the top of the stairs. Empowerment is grand just like these pictures. I’d never want to miss this. XOXO
Merrie Lee — I LOVE the empowering images that came to you when you looked at this sequence. Detailing your journey to the steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Arts is in itself, empowering. The second time I read it, I heard the voice of Rocky’s coach. ❤️
Just learned that the “theme” of COOO’s State of the Union address will be “relentless optimism.”
Republicans are calling the shit show in the Democratic Iowa caucuses, “Christmas Day” and “a major train wreck.”
I want to crawl back into bed.
Don’t crawl back in bed, Sharie. Grab my hand, and we’ll run up those steps together. By the way, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” is on my list of my 5 favorite movies. I have watched it a gazillion times. I love the quote you included in this post. So very true and quite appropriate. XOXO
Amazing how the view can change in 2 mins. A beautiful series of the sunrise.
The Iowa caucuses is a shit show. The Democrats need to pull it together.
The only positive for me at this point is Sanders has not been declared the winner.
Thank you, dear Adrienne. Your response means a lot to me knowing of your own keen eye while aiming a camera.
I agree with your assessment of the shit show and Sanders.
GAWD, even through the fog of depression, I see clearly how besieged our democracy is.
So beautiful. Thank you.
Thank you, dear Kelly.
It’s an overcast, dreary, dark day here which makes me feel like I’m wearing wet clothes. I don’t know what it is inside me that rises up to catch sunrises on weekend mornings, but at the moment, it’s keeping me tethered to this sweet world.
Sharon, these pictures are spectacular, especially given the grayness of the day and of the current culture in which we are living. I was struck by little Bella and her need for further training. Somehow, in the midst of the grayness through which you/we are living, you are training yourself to take in what I think of as the beautiful soul of our world. Are you aware of how your training is affecting the rest of us? You are our teacher, our “trainer,” opening us to the beauty to be found at sunrise by a simple pond. Your pictures are a mirror of Wendell Berry’s poem:
The Peace of Wild Things
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
Thank you!
Thank you, dear Carol. “The Peace of Wild Things” is one of my favorite poems, and your appreciation of MY appreciation of sunrises inspires a bit of sun to rise up inside me. Wish I was finished with my training, but of course, that will take a lifetime.
(I’m doing the best I can right now NOT to go back to bed.)
Sharon I recalled Rumi’s poem and quote the ending here. I just want to remind you that your photographer’s eye originates in the heart–you know about the space where the two worlds touch. —
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don’t go back to sleep.
Charlotte, thanks so much for reminding me of one of my favorite Rumi poems, “Don’t Go Back to Sleep.” Here it is in its entirety:
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don’t go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth
across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don’t go back to sleep.
Don’t go back to sleep! Soon we will be choosing a candidate and then we will be working our asses off. We may not be able to change our clothes, but it will be for different reasons. Your sunrise photos feature light on the horizon. Keep moving towards it. Our new President is out there!
💪🥊💜