Wet and Aggressive Corella challenges Magpie

Wet and Aggressive Corella challenges Magpie

Sunday 5 January 2014

Sunday Selections #153

Sunday Selections was originally brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock, as an ongoing meme where participants could post previously unused photos languishing in their files. 

The meme is now continued by River at Drifting through life.  The rules are so simple as to be almost non-existent.  Post some photos under the title Sunday Selections and link back to River.

Like River, I generally run with a theme.  I am (at least in part thanks to the cats) an early riser.  I usually see dawn, and in winter I am up long before it.  Our dawns are often beautiful, but they are generally gentle in soft pinks and greys - galah colours.

Wednesday's dawn had nothing muted or subtle about it.  When the sky started to blaze I rushed outside to do my mad woman with camera dance.  It was just as well that most people were still on holidays.  I got most of these shots standing in the middle of the road.  I was in my dressing gown and I hadn't stopped to put shoes on either.  






125 comments:

  1. That is a very beautiful sunrise EC ~ worth the mad woman dance.

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    1. Carol in Cairns: I thought so - but was glad that there were no witnesses.

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  2. Your blazing skies look like a magnificent painting. Wish I could have seen your crazy woman dance, hope your feet are okay.

    be well, be happy EC n SP :)

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    1. Pam:) My feet are fine (I don't often wear shoes). And you really, really didn't want to see the dance. The sunrise was a different question.

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  3. ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!!

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    1. fishducky: Wasn't it? And since then, we have had gentle sunrises again. Also beautiful, but a lot less dramatic.

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    2. Those shots were so amazing that I've been back to your post 4 times today to look at them!!

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    3. fishducky: I have just sent you an email. Would you like copies?

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  4. I would be running around too if if saw these skies, absolutely gorgeous! :)))

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    1. DeniseinVA: I really couldn't resist it. And my mouth was probably open in awe the whole time.

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  5. That is a sunrise worthy of awe, isn't it? If such sunrises occurred only once a year -- the whole world would rise early to appreciate it, but alas, too many take such wonder for granted. Thanks for sharing. Worth more than mere words can say. :-)

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    1. Roland D, Yeomans: It was very, very special. And my greedy self enjoyed in, on her own. Probably more than if I had shared it with a cast of thousands. There is SUCH a lot of beauty when I open my eyes, heart and mind to see it. Every day.

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  6. Wow, those pictures are each worth more than a thousand words. Talk about making a grand entrance - this is the way to start the day. It brings to mind a line from one my favourite songs: "Excuse me while I kiss the sky." ~Jimmy Hendrix.

    And who needs clothes and shoes at a moment like this - the only thing you need to go with this picture is a deep sigh. Though that said, I heard the little men in white coats are looking for you :-)

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    1. Marie: Some days I would welcome the little white men in coats. But I would argue my insanity on a morning like that. It really was incredible. No doubt there is/was a meterological reason for the display, but I accepted it with gratitude and wonder. No questions asked.

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  7. Wow, is that the end of the world. Brilliant photography.

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    1. Bob Bushell: The start of a very ordinary day? Unless I got my omens confused - which is quite possible.

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  8. Just as well Canberra doesn't have any sailors! That'd be one one heck of a warning...

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    1. dinahmow: A few sailors. On the lakes. But it was indeed a heck of a warning (and a delight).

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  9. Wow! Double wow! That is one of the most beautiful sunrises I've seen in awhile. And your description of the mad woman who took these stunning shots is still making me smile! :-)

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    1. DJan: An in your face sunrise. I was home alone or I would have woken the skinny one. Which he probably wouldn't have appreciated.

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  10. I can see why you didn't even stop to grab your shoes! What a beautiful sight. Happy New Year!

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    1. Kathleen Cassen Mickelson: I wasn't going to miss any more of it that I could help. Shoes were definitely optional. Happy New Year to you too.

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    1. Lisa (aka Mollie's mom): It was. Such a treat.

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  12. Beautiful! So strange to think of it as being so hot there right now, when it is below freezing here for the next few days.

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    1. Lynn: It is cooler than it was (hooray) though still nothing approaching your temperatures. And I believe, hope, that central Oz has cooled down too.

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  13. What a beautiful sight to wake up to.

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    1. Delores: I had been up for a while, but when I looked up and saw the fire in the sky I had to be not only up but out. Doing happy dances.

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  14. That was not to be missed. One for the camera!

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    1. Joanne Noragon: I am so glad I didn't miss it. One for the camera (well several), but rather more for me.

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  15. Not a lot of words required here. Breathtaking!

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  16. What a way to begin and end a day! What wonderful skies.

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  17. As you say, nothing subtle about the dawn on this morning. It looks like the dawn of a shepherd's warning. How did the weather turn out later in the day?

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    1. Andrew: The day was like all the other ones we have been having. Hot, a bit of cloud, some afternoon wind and NOT a drop of much needed rain. The shepherds were safe. Hot, but safe.

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  18. Really astonishing! I love the mental image of you dancing in bare feet in the middle of the road...
    Hope it wasn't a shepherd's warning!

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    1. Alexia: I would have loved it if we had got rain, but not a drop did we get. I probably (definitely) wasn't a pretty sight in the middle of the road - but tough.

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  19. Those are rather amazing. In winter, I'm often at work before the sun comes up. Scary, huh?
    Following now.

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    1. Alex J. Cavanaugh: I hope you are able to watch the dawn from work - and hope you get home at a reasonable time.

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  20. Great colours - not always easy to capture what the eye sees and do it justice.

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    1. J Cosmo Newbery: It was the sort of sky that I would have sniffed and said 'exaggerated' if I had seen it in a painting. Which is unfair of me.

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  21. Those pinks and oranges and oh, wow!
    I'm immediately reminded of an early 1970s dress I had when I was little, I loved those colour combinations...thanks for the trip down memory lane and for those glorious photos, EC xxx

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    1. Jayne: I had a dress like that too. And wore it to death (and beyond). I am so very glad you enjoyed it.

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  22. Wow and wow! Amazing place, this planet.

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  23. Ditto on everyone above and El Chi I am so glad you had that delirious pleasure. We must appreciate the things that do not involve expense.

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    1. Ann ODyne: No money and, as you said, delirious pleasure. Such a wonderful start to the day.

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  24. That's the most amazing dawn I have ever seen. It's brilliant! Thank you so much for rushing out to capture it.

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    1. River: Wasn't it incredible? I can't remember ever seeing one this vivid either.

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  25. I'm amazed you took the time to put on your dressing gown with such a wonderful sky show going on.
    I would have rushed out just wearing my camera!

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    1. Arija: I was already in my dressing gown - or I may have frightened the (non existent) horses. A not to be missed scene - except of course that lots of people did. Their loss.

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  26. Ohhhhhhhh, how spectacular is that!!! I have been know to run out into the yard in fairly scanty jammies...the neighbours think I am crazy.

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    1. Karen: I am pretty sure that our neighbours know I am crazy. Which is fine.

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  27. Pink marshmallow.
    Sorry, that's what I thought!
    Beautiful :)

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    1. wrodsfallfrommyeyes: Pink marshmallow? LOL. Where is your romance woman? Pinker than any I have ever seen anyway. Whatever it reminded you of, it was indeed beautiful.

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  28. Hi EC. What an amazing dramatic sky. Fantastic to see.

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    1. Margaret Adamson: Spectacular it certainly was. Thank you.

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  29. It's been too hot up this way to expend any energy...so I haven't...other than on the remote control. With the tennis and cricket to keep me leisurely occupied, I've grabbed the opportunity...and remained almost completely still with it! ;)

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    1. Lee: I have been seeing your temperatures. And shuddering. Hot here, but not that bad. Rest up and emerge when the weather calms down.

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  30. Dawn. DAWN?! You get these kind of skies in the morning too.....you live in some kind of natural Nirvana you know misses, and I appreciate your efforts at running about like an escaped bedlamite in order to get the shots and then show them to us. They are duly nicked.

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    1. All Consuming: Not every dawn. Amazing wasn't it? And this escaped (sometimes) bedlamite it more than happy to share.

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  31. Am running very late today...it's 11.18pm in Perth right now. Those photos of your sunrise are some of the best, if not the best, I've ever seen. Thank you for sharing them. I seldom see the sun rise as if Precious wants to go out when it get lights our back door faces the wrong way (or that's my excuse anyway).

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    1. Mimsie: Thank you. You are welcome whenever you arrive. Mind you by 11.18pm I am very rarely awake. Which explains how/why I see the dawn.

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  32. I am a horrible photographer. Now I know why. I dress first. Next time I see the right opportunity for a good picture I'm going for it even if I'm naked. Hopefully the scene I am capturing will draw attention away from my state of undress:)

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    1. Grannie Annie: A new trend? We have had the naked chef, now the naked photographer!

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  33. Hahaha! I can picture the barefoot madwoman swinging a camera around in the middle of the street! I can also relate to her.

    It was so definitely worth it, though. Those pictures are gorgeous! So many times I've taken a photo like that only to be disappointed when the colors didn't come across as vibrant as what I saw. My cheap cameras, no doubt.

    Thank you for sharing these. If they cart you away for your odd behavior or dress, I'll come bail you out. :)

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    1. River Fairchild: How nice to think that you will bail me out when it is necessary (next). True friendship.

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  34. Fire. Magic. Heavenly!

    Sending you love from 55 below zero Minnesota, dear. Xxxx

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    1. My Inner Chick: It was all of those things. Sending some of our (excessive) heat your way. Stay warm, stay safe. Hugs.

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  35. What amazing colours! I've never seen such combinations in person so I'm very glad you took these pictures and shared them with us.

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    1. jenny_o: It is a very rare dawn combination here too. Generally our morning skies are MUCH more subtle. And taking photos of it was a compulsion.

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  36. Wow! Amazing colours :) I had a similar evening with colours while driving back from work. But I had no camera with me :(

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    1. WildBlack: I think it is almost a rule that you will see the most amazing, incredible, rare things just when you have no camera. Or the battery is flat. I store them in my heart and mind, and take them out from time to time. I can't display or share them, but they are no less precious.

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    2. Yes, all my encounters with Aileen the Alien when my camera just doesn't seem to work. I blame her. Still, at least I have been able to get it all down in words. But your pictures are worth thousands of words.

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    3. Andrew Maclaren-Scott: It is always good to have someone to blame. Here the fault is usually a screw loose in the operator.

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  37. "my mad woman with camera dance"

    The results were stunning, thanks, but I would like to see the dance too :)

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    1. Andrew Maclaren-Scott: You wouldn't. Really you wouldn't. Trust me.

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  38. Stopping to put shoes on? With a sky like that? waste of time, it might have gone.

    Did it presage storms or other kinds of bad weather as it would do here?

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    1. Friko: Time was indeed of the essence, and there was no thought to getting dressed (or shoes). And no, strangely it didn't presage any change in the weather. It remained fine, with a few clouds, all day.

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  39. I bet that sky tastes of cirtus. Yum!

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    1. John Wiswell: It tasted of joy, of wonder, of delight. Yum indeed.

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  40. Ha!! In the middle of the street in your nightie and bare feet (lo, a poem!) - signs of a true photographer! :-) And who could blame you for your state of undress with a gorgeous sunrise like this one!! Spectacular! They linger so very briefly, you probably would have missed it if you'd stopped to do anything more than grab your camera. Well played!! :-)

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    1. Laloofah: I wouldn't/couldn't have done anything else. If I frightened passersby, so beit.

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  41. oh! what a beautiful song the sky played for you!
    So much joy streaking across the big blue....thanks for
    sharing the view:)
    -Jennifer

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    1. Jennifer Richardson: It was a truly magnificent salute to the sun, and new day.

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  42. Thank you, EC, that is really a stunner. Our surrounding trees block both sunrise and sunset - not fair as we get a glimpse but need to drive to get a good look, and of course that takes too long. But last night, early morning actually, I caught a glimpse of the Southern Cross and that made me very happy.

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    1. Carol: We can only catch glimpses from the back yard, but wandering out the front and into the street gives us stunning views. Mind you, surrounding trees have some real pluses too. And seeing the Southern Cross is always a win.

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  43. Fire in the Sky photos, I'd say. Very nice....:)

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    1. troutbirder: It was a delight. It is rare to see so much colour in the morning here, and I loved it.

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  44. Oh my, just wonderful ! The best place to see the setting sun here is slap bang on the train tracks, even with shoes off not a good choice! Have you got an email, would love to exchange book titles?

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    1. Gillie: The road outside our house is perfectly positioned. If I look up, I am looking East, down to the West. So sunrise and sunset are both readily viewed from just outside the front door. Bliss. I suspect that even I would baulk at standing on the train tracks. Probably.

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  45. Oh EC!! You never disappoint!
    You are a trooper, in your dressing gown, and shoe-less to boot!
    Sooo worth it. Love it!

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    1. Vicki: No, not a trooper. It was completely irresistible. So very beautiful. And I didn't have the time to waste in getting dressed or shoed. And am not sorry.

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  46. Our high bedroom window faces East, we have beautiful sunrises too; if only I was up that early, groping in a drawer for a camera would take second place to a cuppa
    Oddly in 2006 we moved from Mosquito plagued waterfront address called Sunrise Avenue .Budgewoi. On the NSW Central Coast

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    1. Vest: I had a cuppa well before the sun came up. And the camera is always within reach - mostly for the birds. Or the cats.
      So there was no virtue in my early dash.
      Mosquitoes are not my friend. I can remember camping on the South Coast as a child and being bitten on the inside of my lip and on my eyelid. Both swelled dramatically. And lasted for days. And I still tend to blow up like a barrage balloon when the vicious little beasties attack.

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  47. Stunning! Have you ever been on a cruise? Reminds me of some of the sunrises/sunsets we saw from the ship -- way out on the ocean... sigh.

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    1. Ms. CrankyPants: Not a cruise as such, but I travelled to Antarctica on a ship. And yes, the skies were magic.

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  48. It's quite pleasing that you do the mad woman with camera dance. I want to thank you and the cats for being part of you getting out there and taking such amazing photos.

    Gary :)

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    1. klahanie: Dear Gary, please don't thank the cats. They might start to try and get me up even earlier.
      I am glad, very glad, that you enjoyed my splashes of hope.

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  49. Wow. The colors of the sky are just so breathtaking. Thanks for sharing the photographs.

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    1. Laura: It was. I am so grateful to have seen it.

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  51. Oh, look at that. Warmth and color on the other side of the world. :-)

    Pearl

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  52. Wow! Those are incredible. You must get up very early.

    We had a neat sunset the other night - all pink and blue. I was driving in traffic so I couldn't capture it :(

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    1. Riot Kitty: I do get up early. And it seems to be getting earlier. Frustrating when you see an amazing sunset/bird/sunrise and can't capture it.

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  53. Another lovely Sunday selection and I sure would love to see a photo of your old teddy :)

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    1. DeniseinVA: Thank you - and someday (perhaps). Dirty Uncle Teddy, Panda and pink puppy (who isn't pink anymore) are old, battered and cherished.

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  54. Those colors are incredible – they look almost artificial. I go to bed late – not before 1:00 am as I read in bed every night. We get good colors for sunset but there are so many trees that we can barely see the sunset. That is why if I am somewhere with a good sunset I take many pictures (such as in the middle of the ocean.) At home, I get up after the sun usually – around 8:00 am or so.

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    1. Vagabonde: They do look artificial - but I can assure you they aren't.
      I too read in bed every night, but go to bed much earlier than you. My partner is a night owl, but I am definitely not.

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  55. I'd rush out too with all that beauty in the skies! Wonderful shots.

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    1. ladyfi: It was completely irresistible. Thank you.

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  56. Gorgeous! I've missed your photos, so I'm going to scroll around and enjoy myself for a few minutes :)

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    1. Carol Kilgore: What a lovely thing to say. Thank you - and I hope you found things to make you smile.

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  57. Wow. Incredibly beautiful. Thank you for sharing.

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  58. You got some pretty pics even if you were in your:)

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    1. Kim @ Stuff: Thank you. The skies were much, much prettier than I was/am.

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