Thursday, July 30, 2015

Back Porch Dawn



This morning I got up even earlier than usual, feeling my way through the first hints of dawn light to the back porch. Usually it is chilly out there in the morning, as it is on the north side, but in the present heat wave it is delightfully cool. The overseas planes, which I have watched many times, were moving down the lake toward Zurich airport, and this morning I suddenly realized that I can see the trains across the lake as well. Tiny moving bands of light, following the shore and disappearing behind trees or buildings. In 11 years in this apartment, I have never realized that the trains that I enjoyed watching from my former apartment also make a brief appearance in my line of sight here.

Chastened, I fetched breakfast and sat down on the porch to
watch the dawn, another first from this position. Following on the gradually increasing light was the sudden rosy pink illumination of the clouds nearest the horizon. As I watched, the clouds higher up glowed pink also, until the strips of cloud that always seem to hover in the east became a study in pink and purple. The color intensified and then the rim of the sun appeared, and the center spectacle moved from east to west. The trees on the hill glowed gold, and then the field further down, and finally the trees outside my building. The day had begun in beauty; something to carry with me throughout the hours to follow.

It’s easy to do things the same way every day, and of course routine is efficient and comforting. Once in a while, though, it is refreshing to break the pattern, even in small ways. Good for the old brain, too, from what one hears!

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