As the sun came up, the clouds were all in the right place.

And somehow, I found myself back at my “favorite” lighthouse vantage point. I just love
the lines, the architecture, the geometry, and the silhouette contrast to a stunning sunrise!
And today was one of “those” sunrises that just kept getting better & better. One of those
that you just sit there and watch in amazement… taking more & more photographs!!!
And then, when you get home to download the images, you’re kind of shocked to see that
there are over a hundred pictures just from that one morning ride! Yikes. So I tried to edit
them down to just a few. It was tough. If you want to see even more, check out my Facebook
photo album from this morning. Click here – 9.12.12 sunrise bike ride.

As summer draws on, and Fall is right around the corner, the sunrise is getting later & later.
So these days, I’m still getting up early and riding, but the majority of the ride is in darkness.
Earlier & darker. Watching the sun come up, hoping to catch a sunrise at the end of my ride.

Early this morning, I was back out on my bike and I could tell it was going to be special.
The clouds were in all the right places. Making the sunrise pretty darn spectacular!

It was a chilly weekend in Chicago.
This morning I needed long sleeves & windbreaker vest.

But as long as it’s still this beautiful, I can put up with it.
However… I WANT MY SUMMER BACK!!!

So the sunrise was a little anti-climactic again this morning. Dark & gloomy. But…
there was a bright spot on the morning ride… The Redbull Flugtag has come back to Chicago!
And this morning they were setting up just south of North Avenue Beach.

So here’s the deal with the Flugtag… it’s a whimsical competition for human-powered
flying machines. And by “flying”, I really mean running off the edge of the large scaffold
structure and plummeting into the water below. Each “flying machine” is handmade
and had some sort of theme to it. The “crew” does a thematic performance on the deck
before attempting their flight. It’s a day of wonderful nonsense & merriment…
and a bit of cluttered wreckage in the lake for the Redbull folks to clean up!

The fun begins tomorrow! You can tour the “airplane” hangars starting at 11:00am
followed by the official shove-off. For more information, click here… Redbull Flugtag.

Sure, it looked like a beautiful sunrise much like many other mornings. So I pedaled out
and made it down to North Avenue Beach and went out onto the thin strip of breakwater
for these photos. But when I turned around… something was definitely brewing.

Uh-oh. And the temperatures dropped… and the wind picked up. Strong gusts…
and this storm front headed straight towards me. So of course I had that moment of
“I should find some place to duck under cover.” Followed by “Maybe I should hop on
my bike and try to race home before it hits.” But the one that won out was…
“This is gonna be pretty darn cool… and I need to take pictures of it!” So I did.

As the storm cloud rolled and took over the sunrise to my left…
and took over the city skyline to my right. Yep, the top of the Hancock Building is gone!
Crazy cool on both sides! And directly over head… just gusty winds, and no rain???

But then the band of clouds seemed to roll over & past us almost as fast as they came in.

And then the storm left Chicago, on its way towards Michigan! And quick.
So quick in fact, that we actually got treated to a “second sunrise” after the first wave
of clouds had passed… and the second & third were still working their way through!

Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of Summer. Definitely lazy & hazy…
and crazy that it’s already Labor Day! Which means that Summer
is almost over… say it isn’t so!!!

It was gray & gloomy in Chicago all day today.
No chance of a sunrise here. The closest thing I saw that resembled one
was the glowing orange peep on my electric bisque kiln!

Sometimes the sunrise is a little underwhelming. Like today.
Just kinda plain. Kinda hazy. Kinda boring. But if you wait a few minutes…
and add an organic silhouette, then you got something there and it makes all the difference!

With one large cloud hanging on the horizon, the morning sky was one large orange stripe!
Nothing much besides that… one orange stripe.

And then the sun finally broke through… and we got a sudden burst of sunshine!!!