Sunrise

Coneflower Big Sky Sunrise, Echinaceae purpurea 'Sunrise'
(Click picture to enlarge)

"As I work among my flowers, I find myself talking to them, reasoning and remonstrating with them, and adoring them as if they were human beings. Much laughter I provoke among my friends by so doing, but that is of no consequence. We are on such good terms, my flowers and I." ~ Celia Thaxter, 1835-1894

I am trying to rise earlier, perhaps not as early as the day my brother arrived and I smoked a Boston butt roast; that day it was 4AM. I started the coals in the dark, watching the temperature rise on the smoker with a tiny flashlight and finally after an hour and a half, I saw the tinge of color in the morning sky... just a lighter shade of darkness at first but then, blue and streaks of red and finally the yellow sun.

It's another world in the early morning... the humming insects and the tiny tree frogs are getting ready for bed and the birds are just beginning to wake. I saw a hummingbird come to the feeder, then turn and head for the Lantana 'Miss Huff', where it hovered and drank deeply from the nectar of the blooms. I had never seen them feed on the flowers before, what a wonderful sight. The bees were already happily flocking to the hyssop but the butterflies are a lot like us, they would rather wait a bit until the sun is out to make an appearance. The coneflowers, however, don't seem to care about the time... they carry the sun's rays in their petals and the sun's fire in their cone.

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