Orchid

I actually drew a picture today! Nothing profound or anything, just another of my rather typical doodles...

I'm not quite sure how much I like it...it's a bit wild on the color side for someone like me who typically gravitates toward black and white. In fact I took a photo of it in black white and am almost inclined to prefer this version...

Either way, I'm relieved to have experienced another day of creativity...I was beginning to think I'd lost the muse entirely. Plus, it was fun to listen to about 5 full hours of RadioLab and Radio West: two of my favorite public radio programs.

Birdsong

Today's sunrise was peaceful. Rather than just snap a few photos and hurry on to school I sat for a good long while on the piled-rock wall that runs all along Evanston's lake shore and watched the sun rise behind a curtain of clouds and turn the sky into a rainbow.

When I finally gathered my stuff and continued on up to NU, I noticed the air was increasingly filled with a near cacophony of birdsong...probably a bunch of amorous he-birds simultaneously advertising their desire to mate.

Until about a week ago the dominant seducers had been the cardinals...

but lately, bunches of red-winged black birds have taken over. I was fortunate to catch this one mid squawk...check out the way he puffed himself up and flared his wings...all part of the show.

And then of course there were the impatient screams of ubiquitous seagulls. I'm really proud of these next pictures by the way...it was a real challenge to get good mid-flight close ups!!!

There were also mellow warblings of robins, tweets and chirps from a bunch of little finchy-looking things, caws of mischievous crows, and a bunch of new songs from birds I'm as yet unable to name. Seems like the whole neighborhood's been catching spring fever! Me included...

Coolest Sunrise Ever

...but you have to look closely.

Sunrise Sequence

I'm about to head to the library and put in some good long hours writing the final paper for my Music & Memory class. It's turned into quite a project--I have 9 more pages to write before Saturday mid-day and really need to get busy.

Sunrise this morning was exquisite...and what's even better is this lovely ball of gas is predicted to raise our temps into the mid 50s today! I guess that's extra incentive to get a lot done on my paper--won't have to feel guilty about going out to soak up some sunshine!

It begins...

Nice eh!?

Red Sky in the Morning

Sunrise sequence...doesn't get any better than this.

Good Riddance

Happy 2nd day off of daylight savings time...yawn.

Sure is nice to be up for sunrise again.

Spring Ice

I know it's not spring yet, but the ice formations I encountered along my walk to school this morning seem to be the kind that could only occur when a sunny-warm-soggy-muddy day precedes a below-freezing night--and that feels a little springy to me.

This footprint for instance...

Yesterday afternoon--while the sun was shining and it was warm enough to walk around without a hat--some unlucky soul slogged through a muddy patch of grass on his way to firmer ground. Maybe he cursed under his breath upon realizing the extent of the mess accumulating on his shoes. Behind him, each footprint filled with water seeping up out of the over-saturated earth. Hours later--if one listened closely enough--the stillness of the frigid night was intruded upon by faint crackling as frost crystals began to grow from the pool of water still present in the footprint.

Here is a further sampling of some of the frosty formations I found this morning. The sun has been up and gleaming for a few hours now, so I bet most of these pieces have long since melted back into mud and sogg...

Though I'm certainly looking forward to warm summer days, I have to admit I'll also be missing all this amazing ice.

Happy March!

The Necessity of Sleep

Alright. I'll admit it. I've missed some sunrises this week. Now that the days are getting longer and longer and the sun is rising earlier and earlier, I've started losing more and more sleep in order to keep posting these day by day sunrise blogs. I've reached a point where the sleep I'm losing is beginning to interfere with my mental and physical wellness. It might surprise some of you to hear that playing a brass instrument is not only mentally demanding, but also highly physical. To perform effectively and avoid injury, (to which trumpet players here seem especially prone), the body must be kept limber and hydrated and muscles must be allowed to fully recuperate in between days of heavy playing.

Most of the body's rest and repair happens during an ideal eight hours of nightly sleep, and there are consequences when that time is shortened or disrupted. My spirit is fueled each time I'm able to witness a beautiful sunrise, but though a regularly rejuvenated spirit is important too wellness too, when the rest of me is struggling with the consequences of sleep deprivation--lack of energy, difficulty focusing, moodiness, etc.--even a spectacular sunrise can fall flat.

So--I've decided that rather than a daily sunrise, I'll return to my habit of posting occasional sunrises (whenever I'm lucky enough to be up and about when they occur) along with whatever other moments of loveliness I encounter throughout the day. Now that spring is approaching, there are sure to be lots of other things I can share with you!

Getting up every day to watch the sun brighten the world turned out to be the best thing I could have done to get me through the worst winter months. I've never enjoyed winter, and before moving to Evanston dreaded having to stand up to the notoriously blustery Chicago cold. I worried I'd be in danger of losing my mind and asked everyone I could about how to survive the harshness of the season. Thinking back over the last couple months, I now feel I've triumphed--I actually enjoyed myself this winter--I don't even think I would've minded too much if the below-zero temps had stuck around another few weeks--just think of all the crazy ice formations I'd continue to run into!

No, winter is not yet over, but signs of an impending spring are increasing every day. The lake is almost entirely free of floating ice chunks, and rain is more common in the forecast than snow. Brilliant red cardinals have begun belting out mating calls from the tops of medium-sized trees (it's funny--I never see them in enormous oaks or willows, but always perched atop the very highest branches of varieties that top out at 15-20 feet), and mid-day sunlight has taken on a decidedly golden caste--as opposed to the cold silvery hue it exhibits in the dead of winter.

As a sort of "sunrise" today, I want to share a poem my dad sent me in a recent email. It's from a song by 60's folk singer Melanie Safka:

Why sleep when the day has been called out by the sun

From the night 'cause the light's gonna shine on everyone?

Why sleep when the sleep only closes up our eyes?

Why sleep when we can watch the sun arise?

We were meant to see the beginning of the day,

I believe it was planned to lift us this way.

Take you an apple and take you a song

And watch a baby day be born...

Thanks Dad