The View From Here: Sunrises of Note and Wild Skies

As I was driving along in Hunterdon County this week I was passing by a surprising number of deer along the road. It was a bright, sunny, early afternoon. My experience has been that deer are active at certain parts of the day, but this time I was passing by a lot of them! Thank God they all stayed put. But imagine my surprise when just around the bend, there was a BROWN BEAR crossing the road! It was small, though if it stood up it would probably be as tall as me. Naturally I slowed down and fumbled, trying to get my cell phone out so I could get a picture of it to post. But it lumbered across the road and disappeared into the brush, which is just as well. I knew Momma Bear or Pappa Bear had to be nearby and could be watching. My first thought upon seeing it was how beautiful an animal it was. The second thought that quickly followed was how to get away from it or keep it from getting excited about my approach. It appeared not to even notice my car at all and thankfully it was going the opposite direction of where I live, though I have seen "evidence" of bears around. Since it was smack dab during the daytime I was surprised to see it; I thought they were mainly active at night. Personally I don't want to see any more of them but this is the second time this year they have been sighted uncomfortably close to where I live.

Since I didn't get a snapshot of the bear, here are two sunrises of note that I photographed this week, and a couple of wild skies after a storm: