The sun is rising slowly behind the mountains, drifting into the low lying, billowing clouds just above the water.

The hue is pure God.

Crayola has nothin' on this.

The hue is an orangey pink that drifts upwards and fills in every gap in the cloud that seeks to hide it.

The sky above is blue and clear with only one star visible after a nightime of gleaming orbs dotting the heavens with their fire.

The water, no longer like the glass that shone under the inimitable moonlit sky last night, now laps gently at the shore.

Slowly, ever so slowly, the orange remnants give way to a glorified rose'. No dull pastel is this but the clouds seem literally on fire with the glow. As the ball of fire coming from the east edges it's way from behind the hills, barely visible, yet the effects of it seen clearly, the color of it intensifies to neon strips of light. Soon, the sun, in it's magnificent glory will be up and over the house, hanging in the blue sky to bring a sunny day for Gabriel and I to be outside. For now, God is blessing me with artistry beyond compare.

I respect the art that man creates, I love it.

I am related to one of the most well-known American artists of all time, aren't I?

Yet, God's art........GOD'S art...........well, that's just a different league altogether.

The birds who dared stay for the harsh winter, more will come as spring hastens into summer, fly low to the water, snagging a bit of breakfast on this new day.

This scene sits framed by my front window. God made this sunrise, He fixed and ordained it just for me.

Oh, He didn't you say? He made it for the whole world?

Ahhh, maybe so. But I am just stubborn enough, and in love with my Father enough, that I am blind to the throng of 'others' who congregate around Him. It is just He and I, and the sunrise He set apart just for me.

Thus begins the new fast I am embarking on today.

I was feeling in an Otis mood this morning......and was going to post something by him for the Saturday evening blog crawl....

Sittin' by the dock of the bay......since I'm sitting by the water today

or

These arms of mine...........for no reason but I love that song

or

I can't stop loving you..........................

I decided not to. Maybe another day.

The sun is rising bright and clear in the blue sky over the lake outside my window. I wish Randy was here to take the picture. I'm sure it would be better than anything I could manage and it IS sooooo beautiful. At John The Squabbler's this morning I was reminded of the old Beatles song (I thought it was Lennon, but he told me it was Harrison and I never squabble with a squabbler........) Here Comes The Sun.

Oh, that song brings back a flood of nostalgia for me. No specific memories, just an overwhelming feeling of a time frame. It was 1968 or 69. Somewhere in there. I know I was in tenth grade because that is the year my parents sent me to boarding school. 15 going on 16 years old. Oh, that age should be illegal...........or somethin'! Growing up............. but still a kid inside. I came home for Christmas and that album was out. We had it, one of my sisters must have bought it, and I played it over and over and over again on the mono record player that passed for a stereo in our house.

Rubber Soul and Laura Nero (I can't remember the name of the album now)........they were my faves that year. That was before I went Motown. Maybe next week I'll get my Otis mood back.

For now it is enough that the sun is coming to New York and is rising above my lake. It's been a long and cold winter. Not lonely though. I have you guys!

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Oh, btw, I don't know what made me think of this but I was suddenly remembering that movie Benny and Joon. It came out in the ninties but I was too busy to watch TV or movies then. I didn't see it until a couple of years ago when I found the DVD for $7.50 at Wal-Mart. While I am not a fan of ALL of his movies, Johnny Depp has become for me one of the foremost actors on the scene today. The man knows the art of becoming the person in the role he is playing. I've watched this movie three times and could see it any number of times again. I love it, I love it, I love it. If you want to see the whole scene of Depp's performance in Riverside Park go to YouTube, it's there. I almost posted that instead but I felt like this one would give you more of an overview of the movie in case you are interested enough to see it.

This is part of my buddy Monster's third gig as a stand up comic. He makes it look so easy, doesn't he? I know I already posted today.....but I couldn't resist. Good job, Caleb......I am soooo proud.

I got the idea to post this because John The Squabbler mentioned his recumbent exercise bike in a recent post at The White Lodge.

Mr. Hope and I visited the very shop that is in this set of pictures when we went to see our daughter at her college recently.

The shop is around the corner from her school which is not far from where we live. The shop itself is not big by any standard, but they are one of the foremost distributors of recumbent bicycles on the East Coast. They also sell tandem recumbent bikes which we are actually thinking of getting even though, because there are so few of them, they are even more expensive than buying two single ones. About the price of a good used car.

We are saving our money and planning ahead. Right now, we don't have the time to do any serious biking, but the boomers that we are, we grew up biking EVERYWHERE, when we were kids, and enjoy the wind at one's face experience , if you know what I mean.

We were able to try out the two wheel recumbents while we were there. The store has a policy that they will almost not even sell you a bicycle unless you try it out first. We tried the two wheelers and both of us enjoyed the experience tremendously, although POH will prolly go with the three wheeler when it actually comes to buying it *sheepish grin*. The more stability the better, I always say. I always was a leetle klutzy! *blush*

The recumbents are not only more comfortable but much better for your back then a regular bike and it is my opinion that the sale of them will skyrocket over other types of bikes as the baby boomers increasingly age. Anyway, lest you think recumbent bikes are a new thing, apparently they were being made as far back as the 18th century.

Oh, and by the way, Einstien is not riding a recumbent bike, but it does say something, doesn't it, that people who are smart will ride a bike! *wink* Also, none of these pictures are of Mr. Hope or I. I got them all off the internet. That is the shop we were at though.