I am joining Chrisy at Living A Good North Coast Life for her "Reconnecting With Nature" series. As we bloggers sit around connected to our computers, it is a great way to force us to step outside and maybe notice something new in the natural world or just appreciate something that we see every day. Read more about the Reconnect with Nature - one photograph at a time idea here.
Last Monday morning I went for an early morning run by myself and saw a beautiful sunrise and I wished I had my camera with me. There are several hills in my neighborhood and I have a lot of vantage points to enjoy the view of the sun rising over the mountains (we call them mountains, but they are Pennsylvania mountains, meaning not very big). On Wednesday I went out at 7am and it was still dark. I made one big lap around the neighborhood and when I came around a corner, saw an awesome sight. Just cresting the horizon was this deep orange glow. In the still black sky, it was fantastic. I changed directions and headed home to grab my cell phone. I thought if I ran fast all the way to Hell Hill I could get a great shot. When my husband and I are torturing ourselves on that hill, we have seen many beautiful sunrises but have never stopped to take a photo.
So I ran inside, grabbed the cell phone, and then busted my butt to get to Hell Hill, less than 10 minutes away. As I was running, I was thinking that I should be seeing a bit more color in the sky by now, but thought that by the time I came around the top of the hill, the sky would be aglow.
Ran around the top, watching the icy spots, but I didn't want to slow down too much because I was afraid I'd miss the awesome light. Ran down the road facing southeast, getting ready to see it any minute. Yeah, no glow. Just gray clouds with a touch of pink, barely enough to notice. So I continued running, trying to keep my eye on the sunrise peeking between the houses. I decided to run to the park, where I would have an open view of the sky. There, finally I saw something worth photographing, but definitely not what I had expected. Why did it fizzle out? There was such potential in that first fiery orange glow beyond the horizon! Oh well, that is Mother Nature. I can't press a button and have the sky change to the colors I want to see NOW. And when my little babe is old enough to comprehend and ponder the question I asked my husband, "Why is the sunrise so colorful and beautiful some days, but not others?", it will be a good learning experience for her to research and find out.
(At least my running outfit was colorful, even if the sky wasn't.)
I had a request from a fellow blogger and runner to help her win a trip for her and one of her readers to the ZOOMA Women's Half Marathon in Napa. Since I was writing a post about running, I thought this would be a good place to spread the word. Laura Pyne of Take Two blog is a mother to two young boys who attend my mom's daycare. As a mother and runner myself, I know how hard it is to carve out time for yourself. Even though your children are your top priority, I believe that woman need to continue to have a life and goals of their own. It sets a good example for children to see their mom working hard for something, especially if that something is good health and fitness.
In order for Laura to win the trip, she needs to get as many votes on the ZOOMA Facebook page featured below. If you want to help out another mother, please stop by and cast a vote for Laura. You can vote once a day. Here is the link: