Happy New Year!  Hopefully everyone had a relaxing holiday and got to spend plenty of time with family and friends.  As previously mentioned, Lucas and I spent Christmas in Indiana with the Means family.  We had a very nice Christmas and a good time in the Hoosier state with them.  I picked up some sweet new scrapbook software and put together a 13 page album of our adventures over the holidays here in our gallery.  We’d like to do more scrapbook pages and eventually get a digital scrapbook up for easier browsing, but that will require Lucas’ coding genius.  Maybe after he finishes another programming project he’s currently working on we can pull something like that together.

When I leave the house in the morning, it’s pitch-dark.  It feels still, and even though there’s traffic on the road, I can’t help but feel like the world has barely stirred.  But on my way to the school I’m teaching at for the day, especially when I’m going as far south as High River, I get the pleasure of watching the sun wake up. 

It starts off slowly, like a reluctant child who doesn’t want to get out of bed, and I don’t see the first true signs of morning until I’m well outside of the Calgary city limits and in a more rural setting.  This makes the whole event even better because in the wide open Alberta skies, the transition has nowhere to hide.

First there’s a crease of yellow across the sky that penetrates the darkness right at the horizon line, as if someone took a highlighter and underlined the dusk that was still lingering from the night before.  This grows gradually, making the heavy, low clouds turn more of a navy purple colour rather than black.

And then come the oranges.  And once the orange starts, the whole process seems to suddenly speed up.  The bright streaks of orange and pink stain the sky and clear away the bulky clouds with a triumphant push and send them on their way, leaving behind a little blue that pokes its head out in between the brightness, rubbing its eyes at the light of a new day.  The blend of colours highlight the clouds with a pinky purple hue that makes me think of thick cotton candy you’d see at the fair.  I love the way the farmhouses and trees look silhouetted in an inky black against the yawning horizon.

And all the while you look to the west and see darkness and imagine people still nestled in their beds fast asleep, unaware that morning is so nearly upon them.  When you are driving straight south like me, with the magic happening right before your eyes on the left side of the road and the darkness of morning still lingering on the right side, you can imagine that the transformation you see when you look straight ahead is pretty incredible.

As the orange and pink now fully dominate the east, the sky ahead turns a paler blue than what you see to the west, except for those random dark navy clouds that are dotting the skyscape as if a child had accidentally spilled some too-dark paint and tried to blot it up with a paper towel.  I hate when that happens.  But it sure makes for a beautiful drive to work.

And then I take my exit west into town and watch the sun fully rise in my rear view mirror, greeting me for another day.  Good morning!  Alberta is such a beautiful place.  I love it here :)  And I guess until I can take some pictures you’ll just have to take my word for it.  May 2008 bring you much love and happiness — and as a quick side note, only 164 days until our wedding!  Take care :)