WINTER SUNRISE

 It's here. For now. At least for today. Ice. Cold. Crisp air. Some frost. Not much though. The ice cream pail of water I leave out for the neighbourhood cats froze last night. I dump out the ice, and the lick it furiously. Happy cats. I refill the bucket with warm water and put it back in its place.

 And in the early morning, caught the sunset  at the base of the mountains, hitting the windows of houses , cradled in their arms.  Was beautiful.

 A few minutes later the sunrise softened. "For each new morning with its light........we are thankful" (Emerson)

 Mr. Finch ( one of many) are hanging around looking for seeds again. Every monring. Twitter. Twitter. They have their own way of telling each other to come for breakfast. They are fat and happy. I have heard of a disease that is affecting finches and making them blind. I haven't heard of that before. But will have to keep watch on that.

 Always amazed at the dogs behind us. There are three of them. Happy as larks. The biggest one likes to throw himself up against the fence, every morning, and have a look. He is huge. Size of a dinosaur, I believe.....He watches the cats, the birds, me. Not even a woof.

 And the finches keep coming. Fat little guys.  They really get the dog behind us all excited. The cats not so much so. The cats seem to like to chase the juncos instead.

 "It is only thru the morning gate of the beautiful that you can penetrate into the realm of knowledge. That which we feel here as beauty we shall one day know as truth." ( Schiller)

The neatest thing about photographs is that they change with light, dark, exposure. The sunlight this morning hit the fir trees colouring them rusty red. No tricks. No fiddling with the mechanics. I used a Landscape  lens and the colour turned the trees on fire.I have never seen the forest below us look like this.

"If the day and the night are such that you greet them with joy, and life emits a fragrance like flowers and sweet-scented herbs, is more elastic, more starry,more immortal, that is your success." (Thoreau)

 Always funny to watch the cats. Spencer especially. He thinks he owns the fence. He always falls asleep, with the finches all round. To sleep, perchance to dream...........