The Wonder of Wattie

I know, I know, you are sick of sunrise photos--but these come with a story. You may have heard that Cyclone Wattie is headed for New Zealand from Australia (or maybe that's not big news where you are). Don't panic, all we're going to get here is strong winds and heavy rain--no floods or tsunamis or anything dire. And some of you are probably grumbling "It's about time they had some bad weather--lucky ducks down there on the warm beach while we're freezing up here!"

Anyway...I had been up for several hours in the middle of the night, maybe awakened by the rising wind and, incidentally, completing some of my best pastel paintings to date (funny what inspires!), so I was planning to skip my sunrise vigil today. Frank, however, happened to wake at 5:30 a.m. and quietly nudged me: "Pretty spectacular sky out there." So I sat up and took this photo from the bed (yes, I do sleep with my camera beside me!)...and then decided that I'd better get up after all and brave the storm--it really WAS going to be spectacular.


The wind (though quite warm) was so strong that it was tough to even keep the camera still long enough to snap the shutter (which is why the first pic is a bit blurred)! However, the next ten minutes were incredible--I swear I haven't touched these photos--that's just what it looked like.







By the time the sun was actually topping the horizon, the clouds had thickened, so it all faded away to blue and grey, and I turned to come back inside. And what was Frank doing all this time, having pushed me out into the gale? See for yourself...


(Ok, the truth is he had already brought a cup of hot tea out to sustain me...what a good husband!)