Saturday, August 31, 2024

The sun and the moon and the stars

 My recently retired friend was game for a early morning trek.

Not on foot fortunately.

We planned on going early Thursday up on the Blue Ridge Parkway to see the sunrise. Well, I'd never seen a sunrise on the mountains here, so I thought I'd better check that off possible events of note.

She retired in January, and goes to a South Carolina beach for long weekends and sees an ocean sunrise there. I've done that too.

Then there was an announcement on Facebook that 5 planets would be in alignment with the crescent moon on Wed. Aug. 28. We agreed we'd try to see that too by going on Wed.

As it happened...



We could see the crescent moon and several stars right above my trees, though the silly iPhone messed up the setting and washed out the moonlight. I may have not held the phone still for the whole 3 seconds it took either. 

Once we got to our seats at the overlook, we could still see the moon, but the stars were harder to see as it was getting lighter out.




First light gave us plenty of light, but where was the sun?




Our cameras picked up some orange in the sky which wasn't very evident to the naked eye.



The mist in the valleys seemed to grow as it got lighter.


There were others there also to view the sunrise. Two vehicles (one a camper) had children in pajamas walking around barefoot, while they also had some food to keep them busy. A car with an old guy who was observed smoking a cigarette which fortunately didn't blow smoke our direction also stopped. He had two dogs, one on a leash. The other was tiny and the kids enjoyed him.




Yes, it takes a village even to watch a sunrise apparently.

The weather people said sunrise was at 7:00 am. We sat there as this perfectly nice dawn light was all around us, waiting for Old Sol to make his appearance.



At 7:18 it looked like it was on the verge of  appearing.

And at 7:22 it really shot into our eyes.




So I took a selfie with the sunrise, and went to breakfast.
After two coffees, a scone, and hours of being out and about, I went home and slept for 2 hours!

Today's quote:

It isn’t more light we need, it’s putting into practice what light we already have. When we do that, wonderful things will happen within our lives and within our world.

PEACE PILGRIM









17 comments:

  1. Hello,
    Beautiful sky captures! I am a morning person and love being awake to watch the sunrise.
    Beautiful photos of the sky from the parkway overlook. Have a great weekend.

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    1. Second try to reply...wonder why my comments disappear...not as spam. I said I live where trees block the sunrise until around 8 am, when it comes in windows and doors.

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  2. ...worth getting out of bed for.

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    Replies
    1. There are definitely reasons to get out of bed...this was one!

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  3. Beautiful sky photos and a lovely selfie of you and the rising sun. (NewRobin13)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Robin. I enjoyed the clean air up there too.

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  4. What a great morning outing. I always like mountain layers photos.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, the distant mountains are always so different, each a bit paler, a bit more purple.

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  5. This was wonderful and healing. Thank you dear. Aloha

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We sure did think it worth doing. At least once.

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  6. A bucket list item checked? You had a nice clear morning for your viewing.

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    Replies
    1. Never have made a bucket list. But the idea just came upon me, so we did it. I'm glad my friend wanted to go with me too.

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  7. A wonderful outing, got some nice photos and then a nap. Sounds like a great beginning to the day.

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  8. A wonderful outing, got some nice photos and then a nap. Sounds like a great beginning to the day.

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  9. Hi Barbara, The only time we get up early enough to see the sunrise is if we're headed out on the first day of one of our road trips and have a lot of ground to cover. Normally Laurie turns of her reading light bed at Midnight or 12:30 AM and I hit the sack at around 1 PM. The few times we've seen the sunrise over the lake were indeed eye-catching. The weird part about the lumber companies around here is that after they clear cut the land, they sold the land to the Forest Service. Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

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    Replies
    1. I believe the national forests also allow lumber cutting (not sure if clear cutting is the same). Land management has been kind of sloppy these days, is my guess. It's all about the money.

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There is today, more than ever, the need for a compassionate regenerative world civilization.