Morning light

View from Carolyn's cabin, April 2, 2013

April has such a nice morning light.  The month falls on the opposite side of our yearly orbit of the sun from October, so perhaps the lovely light shouldn’t be so surprising. October, of course, has gorgeous leaf color to enhance the golden color created by the sun’s angle, so April is at a disadvantage there. And while October’s light seems prettiest to me in the late afternoon, in April I think the morning light is nicest.  

The forest here at Roundtop is still sleeping, at least on the outside.  I suspect that underneath the ground plants are stirring and getting ready to push up and will only need a little encouragement from the next warm day. That warm day isn’t due here yet for another day or two so. Until then the light itself is the star, with no competition from October’s golden leaves or the first shoots out of the ground.

That golden light is enough.  Enough to stop me in my tracks as I hurry to finish feeding the chickens. I stand, bucket in hand, and watch the shade deepen and brighten over the mountains to the west, a kind of alpenglow of the Appalachians, or appalachianglow. The rising sun strikes the upper reaches of the trees first, not yet penetrating down to earth where I stand. I watch the sun move slowly down the tree trunks. At this hour the sun’s travels are visible, though once the light reaches me on the ground, I lose much of that sense of how quickly it traverses across the sky. I must hurry. The chickens are waiting and I am already late.