Early morning is my preferred time of day. I love walking the dark streets before most people have awakened. As I pass my neighbors’ homes with only a few scattered lights opened within, before our coyote neighbors begin their search for food, before the neighborhood dogs bark and disturb the pre-dawn quiet, and as the stars flicker their light from so very long ago, it is then that I feel the greatest sense of calm serenity. As the day emerges with the sun painting the clouds orange, magenta, and pink against the blue sky, I marvel as the colors change from moment to moment. The air is so still, quiet, and cool then, and when it rains on occasion and I step around the puddles and over the rivers streaming from the foothills, and there is no one outside except me, I feel wonderfully alive.

The following are images I have captured before, during, and after heavy rain has drenched my community, and other images too. I hope they communicate my experience in those early hours.