When I saw Mount Warning first thing this morning it looked for all the world like a huge sleeping giant, awakening from its sleep.
I took the first two photos about fifteen minutes after sunrise. Being so early in the day, the ranges were still relatively well hidden in the early morning shadows beneath the glowing, sunlit mountain. I must remember to take some photos right after sunrise some days, to note the different ways the sunlight changes the mountain as the day is dawning.
By 8:30 am, my eldest daughter had dropped off my beautiful almost two-year-old granddaughter to spend the day with me. I cherish the days I spend with Aurora. Even though her speech is still limited, she is beginning to understand everything that is said to her, and can usually make it known what she wants and what her opinions are. I think she’s going to be a great talker once she has learned all the words she needs to engage in a flowing conversation.
My younger daughter also arrived early in the day with a wash basket filled with brand new baby clothes that needed washing. For her, this will be baby number one, and another little grandson for me. She could wash the baby’s clothes at her place, but her yard is smaller than mine, and her clothesline doesn’t get as much sun on it as mine does. I suggested we wash baby boy’s clothes at my place. Besides the practicalities, I enjoy admiring all of the gorgeous little outfits my grandson will be wearing after he is born next month. 🙂
After all the tiny baby clothes were pegged on the line and flapping in the breeze I noticed a cane fire in the valley. That was a good enough reason for me to take another photo of the mountain – this time with the cane fire burning in the foreground – after the sun had risen fully over the mountain ranges and valley.
Later in the day the mountain caught my eye again, this time as the sun was setting. The pale orange sky amid the darkened clouds was a glorious sight to see.
Today I photographed two glorious episodes of sky colour in the valley over Mount Warning.
I took the above photo at quarter to seven this morning. Only five minutes prior to taking this photo the sky had just a pretty, pale pink tint. Then the colour-show happened!
5:45pm
Just before nightfall tonight I noticed a cane fire starting in the valley. I went inside to get my camera, knowing that in the time it took me to go indoors, pick up my camera, and walk back outside again, the fire would be raging. And it was. Within another couple of minutes the fire had all but disappeared. That’s the nature of our cane fires, they gain momentum fast, and die down just as quickly.
5:45pm
Here is a broader view of the cane fire in the valley tonight.
After another beautiful sunny winter’s day, the setting sun lit up the sky again tonight, just as it had done this morning. 🙂
Today the weather turned cold, with strong westerly winds blowing away the last of the leaves off our deciduous trees. Mount Warning and the ranges were blue today, darker shades of blue in the morning and lightening in colour as the day progressed.
I took photos of the mountain, ranges and valley from the front of my house today. Our land slopes down from the road, so the closer to the front boundary I walk, the wider the view of the valley I can see. From the top of the hill, I took a wide photo of the view before me. Once I had cropped out the roof of our house, the photo shows more of the expanse of the ranges to the south.
And a photo shoot of Mount Warning isn’t complete without a close up!
Just over twenty-six years ago when we built the home where we live, one of the main attractions was the imposing views we would have across the Tweed Valley and specifically the view of Mount Warning. Over the years I must have taken hundreds, perhaps thousands, of photos of the mountain and I never tire of my view, even after all these years.
Some people said we would forget about our view eventually. According to some, water views are far more impressive than views across inland scenery. Water views are constantly changing and are therefore far more interesting, we were told. Views across the land, they said, never change. We would become bored of our view. How wrong those people were.
Close up taken 1:15 pm today
I’ve always spent a lot of time at home. I love spending my days here, working from home, studying from home, and working in my garden. During the COVID-19 restrictions when we were all urged to stay at home as much as possible, I have been the typical example of one of the memes seen on Facebook. I’m the quintessential person who hasn’t noticed much change in my life as I stay close to home regardless. And while I’ve been at home, I have been noticing and photographing Mount Warning more than ever before.
Every day, the mountain looks different than it did the day before. Every hour of the day, the light cast across the mountain changes its appearance. Cloud formations over the mountain present a different appearance yet again. The sun changes the mountain; the rain changes its appearance even more. As the sun rises each morning, the top of Mount Warning is the first place that the sun hits Australian earth. If I catch the sun rising at just the right time, the top of the mountain glows.
Sugar cane fields in the valley provide a beautiful background for a lone kookaburra. Photo taken today.
The mountain is to the south-west of where I live, and some afternoons the sun sets without incident. Other days, however, the sky about the mountain lights up. I have possibly seen every colour imaginable lighting up the sky above our magnificent mountain over the years. Recently, I have taken photos of the mountain at sunset more than ever before, and seeing a multitude of different images from day to day has got me thinking, maybe I should take a photo of Mount Warning every day for a year. How great would it be to have a journal of photos of the mountain taken every day, throughout the seasons, to show how versatile and magnificent a view across land can be?
Sun setting over the mountain yesterday at 5:15 pm
The obvious place to add a photo of Mount Warning each day is here, on my blog. Today though, I begin a new semester of university study, online of course so I can study at home. I took a break from uni earlier this year to help my husband get his elderly parents settled into aged care, so now that’s sorted I can begin working on the final five units of my Bachelor of Arts. There have been times in the past during semester, particularly when assignments are due, I have become chained to my computer and I’m not looking forward to that situation again now I’m back at uni. The trouble is, I know it will happen. How can I commit to adding a photo a day, when some days I hardly have time for anything other than reading and assignments?
Mount Warning from Tumbulgum, a small village beside the Tweed River. Photo taken Wednesday last week.
I think I’ve worked out a solution. Even if all I do is take a photo of Mount Warning while I’m eating breakfast, it will only take five minutes to add it to my blog page. If I have time, I can add a few words to my post. If I’m too busy, I can just add a “wordless” or “silent” image. As it is, most days I hand write a few words in my journal while I eat, with each entry beginning with a description of the morning view across the valley, and specifically a description of Mount Warning. I’m sure I can manage to find a minute to take a photo each day as well.
Lets see how my plan goes. Hopefully by mid-July next year I will have a year long blog-journal-record of my ever changing view across the picturesque Tweed Valley and magnificent Mount Warning.
