“The valley below was lost in the night, and at a particular spot Sky pulled the sleigh to a stop, looking north. ‘Let’s sit here and wait for a few minutes.”Wait for what?”You’ll see.’ Sky pulled the robe closely around them and Calandra leaned into his body. They were quiet for some minutes, the barest whisper of a breeze toying with Tom’s mane.” The Sparrow’s Choice

It’s finally light enough in the mornings to share some morning route pics. Really loving sunlit mornings after too many dark, icy, winter starts. Keeping to a schedule is important picking up kids, don’t want them standing out in the weather too long, don’t want to miss them by showing up too early, so we all have waiting places in case we get ahead of schedule, either because roads are better than we thought or we don’t pick up as many kids as usual and get ahead of schedule. It’s also the only way for me to snap a few shots – can’t take pictures while driving, of course!

My first waiting spot is along a long straight road heading into the mountains, surrounded on both sides by farms – grain, potatoes, and I don’t know what else. If I was early I had been waiting by these grain bins, often parked with potato trucks ready to load or full and ready to head out.

I’ve become friends with the mom who waits with my first pickup, and now I do my waiting there. The road ends there, tapering down to a trail leading into the woods at the base of the mountains. She brings her Yorkie and we chat and I cuddle the pup and then Zack and I get on our way. Before heading out the other day I took a picture at the top, and one of Zack, looking down a steep block or so and out into the valley. In the distance are the Salish Mountains, kinda hard to see, and I just missed them being rosy, but this gives an idea. My house is tucked in those hills. It’s looking the other way than the shot from the grain bins. I often have to wait for deer to get out of the way at the end of this road or for turkeys to figure out how to get through or around fences so I can pass.

Then I take a loop and wait here – sometimes I pretend I have to wait here for a minute just to enjoy the view before moving on. My last waiting/catch up stop is at Les Schwab – I didn’t take a picture 🙂

Though waiting may take up less than ten minutes of my morning, it’s become an essential part of my daily routine, me and the mountains communing, silently watching, and waiting…