Sunrise 45: Ault Park (Adopt-a-Garden Blooms, Young Roses, and Harvestmen)

I was as surprised as you, faithful reader, that I was able to get a picture of the valley and the sky without one of them being out of contrast.

A beautiful lily in the adopt-a-garden

What a beautiful rose! The lighting turned out perfectly on this sucker.

Waking up this morning was difficult. My body felt beat up even with 7.5 full hours of sleep. Last night I went on the group ride with Element Cycles. The route we chose was a new one, going down into Kentucky and over to Devou Park through downtown. It was absolutely beautiful, and really hilly. The climb up to Devou Park is no joke – about 2 miles at a 3.5% grade. Even with the uphill climbs (both at Devou Park and back up through Mt. Lookout) we did the 26 miles in 2 hours – averaging 13mph and peaking at probably 30mph on the downhills. It was an excellent workout and I probably only had about 5% left in the tank when we got back. Needless to say, it was a bit hard getting out of bed this morning.

Orange sun punching through the opening above the horizon

Vertical Sunrise

As I left our apartment I looked up into the sky and saw mostly overcast clouds. But there were spots light where the layer was thin, exposing the dark blue morning atmosphere. I took my time getting to the park, figuring that the sun would be non-existent this morning, but was pleasantly surprised to see that just above the horizon there was a familiar break in the clouds. The sun shone through the open sky for a few minutes after sunrise, casting a moving shadow across the cloud ceiling. The sun was a bright orange but the light was quickly absorbed by the patchy sky.

The clouds were looking well textured as the sun slipped behind the bank

I took the opportunity to simply sit and enjoy my coffee. I wasn’t in the most chipper of moods. Getting up early with fatigued muscles isn’t the most fun thing to do, but I was thankful that I wasn’t actually sore. I have the last 44 morning rides to thank for that 🙂

A view of the adopt-a-plot garden, very similar in shape to the garden of old roses

I love these flowers! Not sure of the species. They’re just finishing up their spring bloom.

Too bad I couldn’t get a clear shot! Before they bloom they look like little packs of chicklet gum.

If you’re on the front page, click to continue! —>

Focused in on the upcoming bloom still developing at the base of the branch

To be completely honest, after enjoying my coffee and watching the sun disappear into the clouds, I packed up my bike and started to head home. I took a last minute turn and rode into the arboretum, realizing I hadn’t checked out the new spring blooms in about a week. I was pleasantly surprised (as always) at the new flowers that were in bloom around the center piece of the entrance to the “Adopt-a-Garden” plot. The lighting was a bit dark at first, but by the time I headed home at 7:30am, it was light enough to get some crisp pictures at 80ISO (something I now know much more about thanks to the unpredictable lighting conditions of the sunrise mornings).

A beautiful deep pink rose

A daddy longlegs! Did you know they’re not a spider? Also known as “harvestmen” or Opiliones, they’re arachnids but won’t hurt you. They mostly prefer to eat old leaves and dead bugs, but occasionally will hunt small insects. None of the harvestmen are known to pack venom, despite the urban legend that they are actually highly poisonous but their fangs are too small to bite humans

I continued out of the park, stopping to admire the beautiful young rose bush that was in partial bloom. There were several lighter colored lilys as well that had that fresh flower look to them. They were smelling incredible, too, a very powerful fragrance that no doubt was attracting all kinds of insects.

These lilys looked like satellite dishes pointed towards the stars.

Looking into a small hanging cup-like flower

The bloomed and yet-to-bloom flowers. They don’t even look like the same plant.

Sometimes I just can’t choose which picture I like better. So you get to see both!

Same flower, different color palette.

Looking down into another lily on my way out of the park

This macro turned out exquisitely. By this time there was more light in the park so it was easier to get a good picture up close.

A young bee, or bee look-a-like, landed on a freshly bloomed pink rose. This is the same rose from the beginning of the post (up there! —^ )

As always, thank you for reading and enjoy the weekend!