I begin every morning by feeding the bottle babies, opening the coop, putting wood in the stove, and feeding and watering the chickens and the pigs. This time of year I also check on the goats to see if any kidded overnight. After checking on those in the pasture closest to our house, I walk to the other side of the farm and check on the goats there.
Last week I captured two beautiful sunrises over the more distant pasture. These were taken on consecutive days. The photos don’t do them justice, but they at least hint at how glorious they were.
Until I saw these photos, I never had thought about something else you have on the farm that city-dwellers don’t: a horizon. I wonder if anyone has done a study on the differences among people who live with and without a horizon. Sailing brought innumerable changes to my life, but I’ve never considered what influence living with that more expansive horizon might have brought.
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Great point. For me personally, there is something about wide-open skies that makes me feel like I can breath more deeply. As a city dweller in a town that has up until recently had only one and two story buildings, the recent development of a number of 10 story buildings downtown has drastically changed the skyline in ways I’m not liking at all.
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I appreciate this reminder. It’s something I ought not take for granted.
Your comment also brings to mind a song I really like. I’m sure you’ve heard “Cowboy Take Me Away” by the Dixie Chicks. There’s a line “I wanna look the horizon and not see a building standing tall.” If you know that song, read the lyrics or listen to it and mentally edit out the word “cowboy.” It gives it a whole different meaning.
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Calendar…… 😊
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We’re actually looking into the calendar idea thanks to you. The second picture would be good for one I think. Right now we’re (that’s “we’re” as in “Cherie”) is working on a seasonal eating cookbook.
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sunrise on your shoulder makes me happy
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Now why did you have to go and do that?
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Washington D.C. – Saturday, February 7, 10 am – 1:00 pm;
Sunday, February 8, 12:30 pm.
Dr. Norman Wirzba, Professor of Theology and Ecology, Divinity School, Duke University,
will be next McClendon Scholar in Residence. Focus of the weekend
will be “Food, Eating, and the Life of Faith.”
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Excellent. He is a fine scholar and probably the leading voice in the food and faith world these days.
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Bill, some folks like sunrises and other enjoy sunsets. I like them both but if I had to choose, sunrise would be it. I’m sure that I’ve mention in a comment some where on this blog about how much I enjoy the sunrise while watching the world wake up from night time slumber. I have a cedar tree that grows right outside my bedroom window. During the warm months of the year I open the window to allow the night sounds to sooth me to sleep. For years around 5:30am or 6am, a bird would sit in that cedar tree and sing to me. It would be the first thing I heard every morning. I’m not sure if it was the same bird every year or if it could have been offspring but it was the best way to wake up ever. Alas the last couple years, my singing bird has not been there to sing me awake but I still have sweet memories of those days when a bird would sing to me every morning.
Have a great sunrise on the farm day.
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We open the windows at night too, once winter is over. It’s great to wake up to birdsongs. But in our case they have to compete with rooster crows.
I like sunrises too. It’s a great time of day.
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Very beautiful! And let’s just say your landscape looks a tad different than the landscape in Maine right now 😉
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I’ll bet. 🙂
Even though we’ve had a couple of really cold spells, it’s been a mild winter so far. We haven’t had any snow yet.
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Gorgeous!
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This morning we had an El Greco sky. Blue and white and gray and black. It was beautiful.
But alas, I took no photo of it. 🙂
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Awww! Think we might be in for something like that
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Like Shoeacres, my first thought on seeing the photos was ‘horizon’. I live in an apartment with other buildings nearby, but at least I see branches of the tree outside. I only see the sun for a few hours as it is hidden by the buildings – no beautiful sunrise or sunset for me unless I go elsewhere. You are fortunate to have the open and fresh spaces, but I do not envy you on the hard farm. I would enjoy the farm products, though 🙂
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I love farm life. I find it to be far less demanding than my city job was. It’s more physical labor of course, but a lot less stress and conflict.
And the food is definitely better. 🙂
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My favorite one was the second one, Bill, especially the way the sun filters through the winter trees. I lived in a city far too long, but always managed to escape through the wilderness trips I led. Now I have returned to my country roots and enjoy beautiful sunrises and sunsets daily. –Curt
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They’re definitely one of the great perks of rural life.
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That they are.
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Sunrise is one of the best things about getting up early. Love your photos!
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I agree. Of course, it’s not too hard to rise before the sun in the winter. Summer sunrises are harder for me to catch sometimes. 🙂
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I have lived with a horizon, here, and in Two Rock, for eight years now, after 25 years in the city. It continues to take my breath away, daily. I love the ever-changing play of the light on the land and the way you learn to measure the passage of time by the light. I heard a disturbing thing recently–many friends have been posting amazing sunrise and sunset shots–pinks and apricots skies, oranges streaked with indigo, parfait skies with pink and blue layers. A friend in the science community mentioned that the intensity of color of late is because of nuclear contamination from Fukushima–the light passing through radionuclides and changing the spectrum. I don’t know if it’s true, but I found it deeply disturbing, because it does seem that the sky is more intense lately. Since there’s nothing I can do about it, I’m trying to accept the beauty, without wondering if there’s something more sinister in play.
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“Learning to measure the passage of time by the light.” You’re right of course. And isn’t it sad that we’ve generally lost that in our culture? Here the sun determines our work day, as it has for humans for thousands of years. In the city, for the most part it’s irrelevant.
The contamination possibility is disturbing. Let’s hope it isn’t the case or that if it is the effects are short-lived. We play with such dangerous things.
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Moments spent pausing and looking at the sky are never wasted, no matter the time of day, but sunrises tend to be, as you say, glorious 🙂
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You’re right of course. We’ve had cool clear days lately and with no humidity the sky is magnificent, especially at night. One can never go wrong with skygazing.
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beautiful! A stunning sunrise is just the icing on the “morning cake.” Love the horizon comment from shore acres, it is so true.
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Agreed. I like saying good morning to the sun. 🙂
I love the horizon comment too. May I never take it for granted…
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Glorious indeed!
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The sunrises have been beautiful lately. And tonight we’re fortunate to have a clear sky for the gorgeous full moon.
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