The Embrace of an Appalachian Dawn
Along the Appalachian Mountains the heavy humid air that fills the narrow valleys captures the glow of sunrise long before the rays of direct sunlight reach them. The Appalachians always stir something in my soul when I descend across their long smooth contours…the warm glow tells a story of our home and the thick sultry appalachian embrace of a late Summer morning that lives in the moments before the day rudely cuts in and shatters the mood with its harsh white streams of light. As I revisit this moment and linger in it, I feel its warmth return as momentary and delightful as a first embrace. The glowing surface of West Virginia’s Storm Mountain Lake backlights the smoke plume from its power plant and creates a crisp image in the midst of twilight. As we advance along the ridges, lines of wind turbines appear, their white vertical shafts or stanchions illuminated with the first rays of daylight. While these features may appear as imperfections in the light of day, they are beautiful details that add dimension in the predawn glow.
The Aerial Horizon 