I cracked the window of my white box room to get a view unobstructed by rain streaks.

I had heavenly expectations of the highland air. I thought it would be uncommonly sweet, a cold drink of water for my lungs. Instead, the air I invited in smelled like fresh biology, life and death but more of the former. Somewhere nearby, there was undoubtedly a cow sweating, a rooster breathing heavily, an earthworm realizing it could now slither back underground. From a 1st floor window, I sucked up all that biology in a moment of wonder and discovery, in the specialness of a start.

There was clarity now for miles and crispness in the cloud edges where they broke away from the gray blanket, like licks of fire. Light coming through made the clouds grow deep.

Brilliant whites on the left were lost when I focused on the deep tones of the grass roof on the Hobbit House. I squeezed my leg between the writing desk and closet door to get the whole view in frame, the whole, rolling, dramatic, ever-changing vista. This was an HDR moment, surreal in person only to be captured using extraordinary measures.

I slipped on a rain jacket, silently rejoiced in using a new purchase rare for my wallet, and walked outside into the cold mist.