Golden Hours

The storms rolled in around 04:00 this morning, though I think it was the screaming sinus headache that woke me.  The kind of headache that only coffee and being vertical will alleviate.  I had hoped to sleep in a little this morning, with DH having the day off, but it was not to be.  Even the dogs, disrupted by the thunder, had to contribute their cold-nose alarm to the mix.

I staggered out of bed, downed a couple Vitamin-I, and head toward the kitchen for the juice of the blessed bean, knowing IT will be the thing that mostly removes the pain in my head.

Seated in the breakfast nook, at the little table that looks out over the back yard, sipping java, the light begins to change, even as the storms continue.  Dark initially, when I came out for coffee, slowly a pinky yellow light crawls over the land.  I know it is the storm clouds filtering the rising sun.  But it is beautiful.  I also know the camera won't do it justice, so I must make do with my mind's eye.

I know this time is called the photographic golden hour.  I've seen its effects before, but seldom have captured it with a camera.  Wiki defines it thus:  In photography, the golden hour is a period shortly after sunrise or before sunset during which daylight is redder and softer than when the sun is higher in the sky. This is the opposite of blue hour, which is the period just before sunrise or just after sunset when light is diffused and even.

As the light brightens, I see rain splashing on the water out back, I see the hens huddled underneath the coop--the storms and the sun having driven them awake and outside to their run to forage, even though there is a feeder in the coop for them.  The world outside, and my aching brain slowly come awake as the light changes.

Time, coffee and verticality all serve to ease my headache.  I see a finch perching on the downspout, searching for bugs to eat.  The squirrels come out, and the storms move away east.  The golden hour is past...

The Golden Hour light