Sunrise Around the Corner

Sometimes sunrise around the corner of a building is just that, sunrise around the corner of a building. Or an illusion of a sunrise. Maybe a sunset. Maybe a mirage or a mural depicting a sunrise. But this sunup snapshot, captured from the south side of Rosslyn, peering around the southwest corner (outside the dining room), and looking northeast across Lake Champlain toward Vermont’s Green Mountains is no optical illusion.

A phone-fuzzy photo (that accidentally suggests the slow slide toward blurry vision my 52 year old eyes have been making in recent years) as unstaged and spontaneous as the early moments of a new day can be. A world illuminating, gradually coming into focus, details taking shape, inky mysteries retreating, hues brightening, clarity coalescing, optimism transforming the black-and-white of night into technicolor possibilities.

All that speaks to sunrise, my favorite time of day. But what about spying sunrise from around a corner?

More than magical metaphor, the pair of images in today’s post are meaningful for the location and the date. Rosslyn. Outside (above). And inside (below). Made on July 28, 2022 — exactly two years ago today — they foretold, both then and now, the dawn of a new chapter. Sunrise around the corner did not become a blog post then, but reviewed two years later, from the vantage of an immensely satisfying two years of daily Rosslyn blogging that began on August 1, 2022, augurs remarkably prescient.

Literally photographed around the southeast corner of our home — why? no idea! — and figuratively suggesting the very nearness of something significant about to happen, I can’t resist the temptation to see something symbolic in the fact that a few days later I would set out on an ambitious then yearlong goal to resuscitate Rosslyn Redux with the hope of coming to terms with my relationship with this handsome home.

This second photograph, no longer peering around a corner, offers a bit of backstory.

Windowframed Sunrise

I imagine that I awoke early, as often. Headed down to the kitchen with Carley. Started a cup of tea. Fed Carley while my tea steeped. And then headed into the parlor to sip my way into the day. But the early morning light, as so often, distracted me. I imagine standing up and looking out the window to enjoy the burning orb rising up out of the Green Mountains. It was 5:52am. And three minutes later, at 5:58am I took the corner photograph at the top of this post. I’d likely around taken Carley out for her morning constitutional prior to serving her breakfast and making my tea. But I headed back outside to absorb the drama as daytime vanquished nighttime. A few similar photographs later I may have headed back inside. I may have returned to the overstuffed chair in the parlor, returned to my tea, returned to morning meditation. But, I suspect, this may well have been the instant that my decision to reboot Rosslyn Redux as a vehicle with which to undertake an introspective quest. My ultima thule then must have begun to emerge. From a blurry vision materialized a journey toward and away from Rosslyn. As the dark of night evanesced, I set out.

Two years later, the daily blog goal for the first 365 days has become an unwavering habit. Two years instead of one. And with that legacy, a newfound confidence rediscovered after too many years neglected and abandoned. An appetite for creative craft, especially writing, with purpose. No excuses. Top priority.

And two years later, tiptoeing up to the anniversary of my initial commitment, the Holy Grail in sight at last, I’m at peace with the conclusions of my inquiry. And I’m preparing to share some news, preparing to begin a new chapter. I’m still contemplating the sunrise around the corner, but I’m ready for the day to begin!