Something about the Sky

There is something about the sky in these days leading up to the winter solstice that I find fascinating. Early morning will often display some lovely shades of peach, pink and lavender as the sun makes its way lazily up. Though I haven't verified it, I think that sunrise is around 7:30 a.m. or so. Most days lately are cloudy, so I haven't seen as much early morning color, but that's okay. My December wish is coming true--for it to snow every single day this month. Two for two so far.

This photo was taken late this afternoon, when the sun was beginning to set. We didn't actually see the sun at all today, since it was snowing. But by late afternoon, when I was heading to Diamond Willow cabin, a thin stripe of blue was evident, and the cloud just below it was pink and gold. It was hard to capture it on the camera (I can no longer say "on film"), but it was great to see in person. Just three more weeks until the solstice. I wonder what else the sky will have in store for me?

So often my visual focus is on the lake. It is more than a ritual to look out the window first thing in the morning, to get an idea of what the weather might be like based on the mood of the lake. We now have a wonderful new and larger window in our room, so it is possible to see both the south shore and the north shore when we first wake up. Such a luxury! Maybe we'll actually have a better view for spotting wolves, once the ice forms. We'll see. In the meantime, I also snapped a photo of the only white caps that I saw today:

Icy white caps or hats on top of the rocks near shore. The water was churning all day, but it wasn't sending up much steam. Tonight we might see temps below zero for the first time this fall. That should do some good towards lowering the water temperature in preparation for the freeze-up.

While traveling to Montana last year, I was pondering my connection with our lake, and my enjoyment of watching it. If I lived in a place without that water, what would I do? I came to the conclusion that people in the western states must watch the sky in the same way that I watch the water. The changing patterns of the clouds would be like the waves, and the colors would offer constant variety as well. It's all in how we study it, and record in our mind the observations we have made. Though some of it is definitely repetitious, it always seems new and exciting to me.