Reprieve

So, anyway, when you live in the northwest you have to give yourself permission to rant and rave about the weather. We knew exactly what we were getting into when we moved here. It's the pacific northwest, after all, we'd heard all the stories. They're the same ones you've all heard, and they're all true. But here's the other thing--the thing that doesn't make it into the atmospheric reputation-- when it's beautiful here, it's drop dead beautiful.
The winter skies part at sunset. The colors are more vivid than any words in my lexicon to describe them. We are so glad for the light, the depth of the horizon, the far reach of sky into the bigger universe. We are free for a moment, not trapped beneath layer upon layer of cumulus, stratus, cirrus, and nimbus. Once we see the sky, we remember how far into the distance our eyes long to look.
As if on cue, an eagle flies from the west toward us. It's so far away it looks like a moving speck of blackness against the raging color. I zoom in and try to photograph it, despite the distance, because of that magnificent light. I think even a failed and blurred shot hints at the wild beauty of a winter sunset after days and days of rain. We wait for the moment, and it always arrives.

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I hope you have been saving your spectacular good earth shots to send to January's host the incomparable Laura of Somewhere in NJ. Please send her your photos depicting the beauty of our planet for this Saturday's Good Planets. Her email is lc-hardy at comcast dot net. Thanks everyone!