Pink October sunrise

Yesterday morning I very nearly decided not to take my camera with me on the morning walk with Callie. It was cold and fairly dark outside at 8:00 a.m. I was going to put on a hat and gloves for the first time this season. Taking pictures with gloves on is not really practical.

Looking toward the village at 8:15 a.m.
24 October 2008

I even rifled my closet in search of my long johns and found them. I put them on under my jeans. The temperature outside was 1.8ºC, which is something like 35ºF. Brrrr. And as I said, it was dark when the dog and I left the house. At the last second, I stuck my camera and my extra battery in my pocket.

Callie seemed to be enoying the show too.
If you can't see her, click the picture to enlarge it.

As we started to walk out into the vineyard, I noticed that the light was very unusual. I turned around and looked behind me, to the east. A bank of clouds was coming in from the northwest. Rain was predicted. But for the moment the wispy clouds were reflecting light from the sun, which hadn't yet come up over the horizon.

Follow the yellow-brick road (?).

The pink light combined with the yellow of the fading grape vine leaves to make a strange orange color at ground level. As the minutes passed, the clouds became less pink and started appearing much whiter.

That's our tree and house in the middle of the picture.

In the photo below, looking west instead of east toward the sunrise, you can see how the landscape already looks really wintry.

Frost on the grass

We were almost back home when I took this last photo. The colors had completely changed.

Changing light

Today is a special market day in Saint-Aignan. It's the weekend of the annual Fête de la Saint-Simon, with a street fair and flea market along with the weekly food market. I think the weather is supposed to cooperate, and we plan to go into town this morning to take some pictures.