Found myself awake early, way early. Four-something, a bit shy of 5 o'clock, the world outside dark and quiet in the way it gets out here in the country. Got up, went to the window. Stars shone cold and sharp above; dim, diffuse light at the southern horizon indicated Montpelier way off in the distance. Went back to bed for a while, drifted in and out. Gradually became aware that a long day awaited, realized I wouldn't be sinking back into real sleep. Hauled myself out of bed around 6 a.m., too bleary to grumble about it.
Stumbled downstairs, went through the ritual of cleaning out the stove/filling it again/getting a fire going. Clouds had drifted quietly in during my last hour of semi-sleep, the day's first light revealed gray sky, gray landscape. The teeniest bit of light showed above the eastern horizon, a faint blush at the lower edge of the cloud cover, and as I got the stove cranked up, that blush swelled, the clouds breaking up a bit, all of it working to produce a sudden dramatic display. Didn't see it until it was in full swing. Ran upstairs, grabbed camera, pulled on down vest, hurried outside, caught the tail end.
It faded quickly, gray sky reasserted itself.
A friend is in the hospital in Burlington -- Kay, of Kay and Mo, my downhill neighbors (their house can be seen in the first of the three pics posted in the 10/23 entry). I'll be making the hour drive to spend some time visiting, then will spend much of the afternoon with another friend not far from there, possibly do some horseback riding. We'll see.
The day moves on.
rws 9:34 AM [+]