esrosedotblog

SIDEWAYS

I went to the store early this morning. I have a "long day" so I started at 615AM.

When I came back, the rising sun was just hitting the mountains in the west. Incredibly beautiful.

As I pulled onto Farrell southbound I gasped. The whole range of mountains with their white crowns were lit in that winter sideways light that shows every feature.

We get used to looking at the mountains. They are always there.

But sometimes they jump out at you.

In summer, the light is flat. Brilliant. In winter, the sun is in the southeast and catches all the edges.

The sun addresses the mountains at an angle. Sunrise is extreme. Low and to the side.

We always have this effect on the south facing mountains that mark the rise from the low to high desert. The Sonora to the Mojave. The sun meets these at an angle in all seasons. The evening is especially glorious as the sun is coming through the Banning Pass and is at its lowest level in the west. Filtered through all the smog out there we get a wide array of colors and hues.

This place is just beautiful.

The Native Americans who settled here did so for spiritual as well as practical purposes. The hot springs were part of it. The mountains were the other.

We have five canyons. They called our part of the valley the "hand of god". Five fingers, see?

Properly lit or not, they are a profound sight. All I have to do is look up.

There they are.

Here I am.

Wow.

Labels: desert