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Thirsty Thursday: The Morning After

Rambler: Beth

Drink at Hand: Trader Joe's Cinnamon Blossom Tea...served hot!

Thirsty Thursday here again...time to pour something yummy (or something warm) and make those weekend plans. And since the photos below have an icy feel to them, I highly recommend that TJ's tea to keep you warm.

These photos are from our trip to Iowa. The morning after our arrival, which was a day late due to the raging blizzard. The day after a cancelled flight, a delayed flight, an aborted landing, an actual landing, a bag stuck in airline bag jail, a crazy drive home past the truck grandpa put in the ditch, and a generator-powered evening catching up with my parents, I woke up early, bundled up, and wandered around the farm at sunrise. The 50 mph winds and driving ground blizzard were gone. All that was left was a brilliant sky and clean, white snow.

Wind Sock

Twilight Tree

Fence

Loop

Broken Tree

Pine

Driveway

Windbreak

Bins

Soybeans

Beanstalk
Wire

Snow Ripples

Feets

Snow shapes

Fence Line

There is something magically beautiful on the first clear morning after a Midwestern blizzard. I'm just glad I don't have to deal with them too often anymore. Get out there and find your own beautiful morning this weekend!

UPDATE: If you'd like to purchase any of these photographs, they are available on our store under the Iowa Gallery.

Thirsty Thursday: Golden Gate Bridge Sunrise

Rambler: Beth
Drink at Hand: Ghost Pines Zinfandel

Usually Thirsty Thursday is about pouring something yummy and making those weekend plans. This week I'm changing it up a little bit. Instead of weekend plans, this week's post is about very early morning weekday plans that turned out pretty well.

A few weeks back I had to take Terry to SFO on a Friday morning for a ridiculously early flight. The problem with a flight out of San Francisco at 6:15 means that we have to leave home around 3:15 to get to the airport on time. That's 3:15 with an A.M. after it, or 0315 for my military friends. That's not even early...that's middle of the night. I grudgingly rolled out of bed, fumbled around enough to somehow get coffee in my travel mug (thank goodness for automatic timers on coffee makers!), and put myself and my camera gear in the car to take my darling husband to the airport.

As I dropped T off at the airport, the sky was still dark and traffic was still light...plenty of time to get across the Golden Gate Bridge for sunrise. I could see stars which meant the problematic SF Bay fog wasn't going to get in the way of a good sunrise. As I pulled into the first turnout on the Marin County side of the bridge, I was excited to see some clouds over Angel Island! Given my recent string of shooting sunrises with absolutely nothing in the sky, these clouds made me happy. Of course, as I headed over the little hill to get a good view of the bridge, my excitement quickly dropped...not a cloud in the sky around the bridge. Just clear, blue twilight. Since I was there, and for the first time ever there was no wind, I decided to play around with some different foreground compositions while optimistically hoping that the clouds further north would drift overhead. I gave up on the clouds over the bridge and went back to the clouds. So, yeah, I went to go shoot the Golden Gate Bridge at sunrise and it wasn't everything I wanted it to be. But, I still saw an absolutely beautiful sunrise over the Bay. It was just a beautiful morning in general in every direction. After all that beauty and a quick walk with Massey, I still made it to work just a few minutes late.

Get out there and watch a beautiful sunrise this weekend...or maybe even tomorrow morning!