Bittersweet sunrise

Ahhh, if only I had a camera that would/could capture the beautiful colors I am seeing right now. I am usually sleeping at this time, I am not a morning person, really never have been, I am very much a night owl. I awoke sometime during the night and couldn’t go back to sleep. I didn’t do a marathon session on the computer yesterday or last night because of the rain we have been having, it has really put a damper on the solar panels, so not much power=not much computer time. Oh well, it’s OK, I have found other ways to entertain myself.

So, this morning, while I couldn’t sleep, I got up and decided we should have enough power for me to get on the computer, I have been sitting here, catching up on the various sites I follow, of course it was dark when I got up, I just looked out the window to my left and caught a glimpse of the most beautiful colors in the east, the sun is just starting to come up, there are some clouds in the sky, the colors are delicate blue, layered with pinks and lavenders from the clouds, the trees are black in contrast, making the colors really pop. I have tried in the past to capture the colors of sunsets and I just don’t have a camera that is capable of capturing the colors the same way my eyes see it.

I think the reason that I am awake this early, besides the fact that I went to bed so early (for me), my Dad is leaving today. He came out for his yearly visit. He has been here for 3 weeks now, it’s has been so great having him here, he’s nearly 81 years old and is still in very good shape, he drove some 500 miles to get out here, his only companion on the trip was his little dog, Baby Girl.

Update, the sky is now full of brilliant oranges, yellows, golds, with a tinge of violet and blue, the sky is on fire, the birds are waking up, singing their morning songs, stretching their wings in celebratory flight against the backdrop of the most wonderful hues of a watercolor sky. The colors are so intense, it almost hurts to look directly at it.

Back to my Dad, it seems that when he visits, he brings the rain, last year, when he visited, the rain started the day he arrived and seemed to stop when he left. This time, the day he got here, within 10 minutes of him pulling into my neighbor’s driveway, the sky opened up and it began raining pretty hard. We walked up the hill to my house while large drops of rain pelted us from above. Fortunately it didn’t rain very much, but the drops were fat, and when you got hit squarely in the head, you knew it!

Update, I just pulled the curtain back on the window I am sitting next to, it faces west, the mountains on that side are tinged in a delicate pink and salmon color, I am seeing shadows and contours that I don’t often see on the mountain faces. To the east, I see a cloud, back lit by the still hidden sun, it looks like a violet colored fish bird, swimming/flying in the sky, fleeting beauty that will all too soon dissipate into this afternoon’s rain shower.

This last 3 weeks has been quite enjoyable, I am very close to my Dad, when I still lived within driving distance, I would visit at least 2-3 times a week. We used to have long talks about everything. Now I have to settle for phone calls, save for the times he comes out to visit.

Update, the show is over, the colors have muted down to blues and a pale, pale lemon cream stripe near the base of the sky, the sun is still hidden behind the mountain, the trees are now completely visible, their greens of the new leaves are competing for the second act of the morning show, the birds are getting down to the business of the day.

I just started water boiling for coffee, I will be waking my Dad in a few minutes. He wants to get on the road by 9am, this way he can hopefully be home by 6 or 7pm, well before dark, and this being Sunday, he will not be hitting heavy traffic when he gets back to the DFW area. I don’t want to wake him, I want another day, or week with him here, but it is something that has to happen. He enjoys his time here, but he needs to get back to his home, back to his own rhythm, his own life, his own bed (and toilet), I must say that he does pretty well doing his business in a sawdust toilet/bucket.

He has gotten better at climbing the hill to get to our house, the first week, he had to stop at least twice to rest, the second week, he only had to stop once, this last week, he has been able to walk up all the way without stopping. I made a walking stick for him in the first week, he had gone hiking around, though he didn’t go far, the ground is not level and there are lots of rocks and potentially snakes and other critters. I figured a walking stick would help stabilize him and give him a layer of protection against any potential critters that he may come across on his walks.

So now it’s been a few days since Dad left, he made it home just fine, and in record time. He left our place just a bit after 9am, he called me around 6:30pm, he said he would have gotten home even earlier but he hit some traffic on a notorious part of the freeway near where he lives, it’s always a bottleneck there, even on weekends.

So now life goes back to normal, for all concerned. Visiting is nice, but it’s equally nice to get back to your normal routine. Having a 2 room sky castle makes for not much privacy, but we managed just fine. I can’t wait for the next visit. :)

I love you Dad, thanks for everything. :)