watching the sunrise from a plane

i had the privilege of watching the sun rise over europe as i headed from copenhagen to paris (and on to valencia) last week. it went from purple to pink to purple again and pink again and finally, as we were coming in to land at CDG, i could even see the eiffel tower. and i felt consciously aware of the profound privilege of getting to travel again. the world is a wondrous place if we pay attention. and i'll admit it also helped my appreciation that i was in business class, even if it was a short flight.

sense of place: civilized sunrise

the sun makes its way slowly (and perhaps a bit lazily) towards the horizon.
blazing a trail of yellow, orange, red and purple more reminiscent of sunset than sunrise.
but sunrise it is.
at the very civilized hour of 7:40 in the morning.

the first frost carpets the grass.

a stillness fills the air, broken only by an occasional bird call.

everyone was sleeping in, even the birds.

smoky puffs of breath hang visible in the air for a moment before dissipating.

cool air rushing in on sleepy lungs,

bringing with it a cool clarity.

there's an expectancy in the air,
waiting for the sun to finally burst over the horizon.
and the day, with all its promise still intact, to begin in earnest.

a totally civilized sunrise

i like that sunrise now happens at the decidedly civilized hour of around 7:30 a.m. happy friday, one and all...