Sunrise After Four Sunless Days

 I opened my eyes this morning and looked out of the northwest window across from our bed and saw the reflection of the sunrise on a distant mountain.  I love the marmalade color that mountain turns minutes before the sun rises over the eastern mountains.  The valley where we live still has a bleached white sky, and then suddenly a slice of orange shows up on the western mountain.  I hopped out of bed and ran to get some paints.  As soon as I had painted the west view, I ran into the back of the house where the southeast-facing mountains across the valley were beginning to turn buttery yellow at the tops.

 Minutes before the sun actually rose in the valley these mountains were turning yellow all over except in the shadows of other mountains.

Then suddenly the kitchen filled with light and the sun popped over the rim of an eastern mountain!  I glanced over at the southeast-facing range and it was solid gold, and the snow on the top of the mountain behind it was glowing white.  As soon as the sun was up, the white sky turned blue and stayed that way all day long.  I walked 5 1/2 miles along the snow-covered trails with M and H this afternoon.  We still have a lot of digging out to do, but it is such a pleasure to see the sun again.