This morning, getting up at 5:55, I looked out the window and noticed that the whole world had gone red. A low flying pack of clouds had mostly blocked out the sky, and the morning sun, occluded by the horizon, had bounced it's rays off of the clouds, turning the light blood red, and gorgeous. I woke my wife, and told her to get dressed and come join me on the balcony. By the time she got out there, it had progressed to a pale pink, and within a minute the colors had turned to the standard morning fare.

I give it ****1/2 out of 5 stars. Would've been five, but the wife didn't make it in time to catch the full effect.

No pictures, as such an event cannot be captured on film or in digital, but only in the mind, and such a transient, fleeting beauty should only be seen the once, in the eye of the beholder, to vanish with their passing from the earth.

It's possible that the deep red was partially caused by the fires in Eastern Washington - the smoke might go up high enough to cause some interference. I didn't tell my wife that - she doesn't like to have beauty explained. Me? I'm one of those guys who sees beauty in it the deeper I burrow into how it works.