Almond Blossoms at Dawn

What can possibly be more beautiful than a grove with almond blossoms? 

An almond grove with blossoms at sunrise! 

On Sunday mornings most people like to sleep in or plan to go to church. I go to sleep on a Friday night or Saturday night planning where to watch a sunrise 😃. And remind my husband a dozen times before going to bed that we are leaving the home before rest of the world wakes up. I perhaps need to attend church to seek forgiveness for these sins. 

Today was one such Sunday. The almond blossoms were at their peak this weekend and I wanted to catch a glimpse of the first rays of daylight scattering on these heavenly flowers. 

Woke up at 4 am. Had not planned for what to wear as Saturday evening was spent at the movie theater and late night coming home from the movie I was grinding the dosa batter for the next day. After deliberating over a few choices decided to wear white as darker colors don’t appear very well in pictures taken in the dim light before sunrise. This cotton  Garadiya from Assam with beautiful motifs in gold and thin gold borders was waiting to have its day in the sun……literally. 

By 5:25 am we were out on the road. The atmosphere was quiet, and the air chilly at 38 degrees Fahrenheit. The skies were dark and Venus shone brightly above the mountains on the east. Just below it was seen a crescent moon rising on the eastern horizon. Apart from an occasional car driving past we seemed to have the entire road to ourselves and the cover of the night sky above us.

When we approached the groves on the outskirts of the town hardly anything was visible. I parked the car at one place and got out to get a picture of Venus and the Moon on my camera. Very stealthily the eastern horizon was beginning to light up and slowly the mountain silhouettes were becoming visible. Took a few photos in the dark with the heavenly bodies seen in the backdrop. As the illumination spread across the entire valley the long rows of almond trees in full blossom began to take form and started to shimmer in the light. The entire unfolding of nature’s beauty reached a climax when the golden ball peeped from behind the mountains and engulfed the whole valley with its glow. What a morning it was !!