
I happened to get up at about six last Thurs. morning, just before the sunrise, and caught this unusual glow in the sky. It looks like northern lights, but it did not shimmer or throb as northern lights are wont to do (not that I pretend to be an expert on northern lights, having only seen a few faint shimmers). I think it's the sun's rays filtering through some gauzy cloud or mist, although it's rather high in the sky for mist. "Red sky at morning, sailors take warning" -- & sure enough, there was a severe thunderstorm later that day. Maybe that's an explanation for any high-hanging mist. Click on these photos, and they'll fill your screen.

"The crack of dawn". That reddish glow, of course, had disappeared by this time. Below, another view, with the camera tipped vertically. This is of course is the kind of light favoured at the ends of sentimental movies, covers of Watchtower, and the like. Unfortunately, those tacky associations do take away from the sort of amazement I ought to feel.


Well, here he is: Mr. Sol himself. Not so unusual a photo, that's for sure. Of course, it's my camera lens that has broken the sun's rays into a ringed spectrum. But that glow in the sky I captured quite accurately up above. It's not due to any trickery on my part (I'm incapable of that) or the camera's -- although perhaps my only witness is the little guy below, who sat perched on this rock and seemed to watch this whole spectacle with me. (Unless, of course, he was dozing. Quite likely. Dzzzzzzz.)

Why at sunrise or sunset does the sky glow orange or red? If you need an explanation or refresher on that question,
here's a good site.
P.S. That Emil Nolde painting I chose seems to have been prophetic.