I got up early this morning- 6 AM – as I have tried to do on recent Saturdays to just try and write a little. I am not really a morning person- sleeping in is one of my favorite things- but when I do get up early, I am always happy to watch the start of a new day, when the sun slowly slips up into the sky, throwing color over or under the clouds in the east. Each morning has its own temperature and feel and disposition.

This morning, the house was cool. There is a window upstairs that is always propped open in the cat room, and in the fall, it lets the mild temperatures outside roam the unoccupied spaces of the house during the dark hours.

This morning, the house was cool, and the sunrise was a straightforward submission of muted blues in a cloudless sky.

It is the first morning of Balloon Fiesta 2017, which always creates excitement across the city. The sky over the valley, weather permitting, will be filled with flying dots of color each morning for a week and some, stifling traffic everywhere. But that is forgivable- the balloons are fascinating to watch, circling up and down over the city.

The Balloon Fiesta is always an endorsement to me that fall has arrived, though. Summer’s heat is finally broken, and the regions mountains cloak themselves in the yellows and oranges and reds of trees turning colors, dawning foliage befitting a fall festival. There is more darkness. Sniffling and runny noses and fevers lurk around the corner. Football asserts itself as the seasonal sport, while the best span of major league baseball is played in October. Soon, the chile pepper plants in my backyard will give up and shrivel in the falling temperatures of fall, and the plant box will stop receiving water and go dormant.

The cycles of the seasons.

This morning I listened to mellow jazz as I tried to write a portion of an unformulated story. There were moving orchestrated themes from movie soundtracks in the mix, as well as some celtic overtures, which, blended with the golden morning light and crisp air, made me wistful.

Life always moves forward. Grateful it is resplendent of moments basked in physical and emotional beauty. Fall mornings remind me of this. Quiet, cool, and washed in warm light, these morning moments remind me tha, despite the chaos of daily activities and events, there is beauty in every season of life, unsolicited and ever present, if we look for it.

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A favorite sums up this morning’s light.