Early morning departures are magnificent

I leave town while the cool night has not yet ended and the Spanish world sleeps.

My camera won’t do justice to the quiet fullness of this time…

And I love to walk that first hour in the dark.

This scene brought to mind a Spanish version of an Andrew Wyeth painting…

This week a shrinking half-ish moon (and a very strong Venus) have given enough light to brighten the gravel below my feet into an easy-follow glow, but not much more–so the stars and constellations are in full glory as I walk east to west just below the Milky Way.

And the pre-dawn is so big [and there is Venus, if you look, (what my dad used to call the morning star)] makes me feel like I’m looking at the planet from a capsule out in space.