Sunrise, Sunset: 52 Weeks of Awe and Gratitude - Softcover

Introduction

I'm very fortunate. Living in coastal South Florida, I wake up most days and see the beautiful blue sea from my terrace. If I'm early enough, I get to witness the spectacle of the sunrise with its splashing colors and twinkling light. The same is true for the majestic sunsets I watch over to the west, as the sun slips slowly away, taking the day with it. Sometimes it feels like the sun is performing its magic just for me, sending me a message about life―a reminder that each day is unique and special.

This collection started simply. Gazing from my balcony upon Mother Nature's magnificence in a state of awe, I'd grab my camera to get 'the shot' and then share my photos by email to a small group of family and friends. Then I graduated to a regular display on Facebook where, pretty quickly, my friends responded. One person remarked that the photos were like morning meditations for her, and several suggested that I turn them into a book. Without provocation, my boyfriend, John, began adding captions in the form of haikus. With corresponding words, the idea for something more permanent started to gel.

This little book was sewn together with a thread of awe coated in gratitude. Corny as that may sound, the emotions I felt―and feel―every day surprise even me. Add some beautiful words to the images, and voila, you have Sunrise, Sunset: 52 Weeks of Awe & Gratitude. Friends, colleagues, mentors, and people I've admired have generously contributed their literary impressions elicited from my sunrise and sunset photos. What I've collected from these talented people take the form of poems, affirmations, meditations, and thoughtful reflections.

I invite you to page through at your own pace and take in the vibrancy of both the pictures and the words, in any order that you like. Make it a weekly practice or devour them all at once. Nature gives me a gift every day and I share this with you.

Enjoy!
Kim
P.S. Since so many have given to me in the process of putting together this book, I am donating a portion of my proceeds to a wonderful organization, AVDA (Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse), one that's dear to HCI.

When I was a little girl my mother and I would play a game.
Watching a sunrise or sunset, we'd decide which famous painter had painted the sky that day. Sometimes it was Monet. Or VanGogh. Or Fragonard. Or Magritte. Sometimes it was Jackson Pollack. Or Picasso. But always it was a masterpiece that deserved attention and appreciation. To this day, I play the game and am forever grateful to her for finding such an inspired way to teach a child about beauty and art. Try it, the next time you see a glorious sky . . . there's a painter up there who you'll make smile when you guess right.
-―M.J. Rose

 One of my most cherished memories is of fishing on Needle Lake at the Bradshaw Ranch. Needle Lake was special because it faced the west and was boundaried by thick trees. You could literally watch the sun disappear on the horizon during the last thirty minutes of its cycle. Whether I caught fish or not, the highlight of my fishing experience was watching the sun slowly disappear on the horizon. It often sent chills down my spine and I'd always think of a stanza from one of Matthew Arnold's poems:
Calm Soul of all things! make it mine
To feel, amid the city's jar,
That there abides a peace of thine,
Man did not make, and can not mar.
―Dr. John Bradshaw, Sr.

If I hold my hands up like this, I can cup the sun in
them just before it falls down behind the earth's edge.
Now I have a goblet of golden fire. What shall I do with it?
A moment.
A lifetime.
It's all the same.
The unbearable short sweetness of life
Makes me want to be a miserly, reckless spender of joy.
Like the sun does with its light.
An obsessive profligate,
Never wasting a second's chance to love and live with abandon.
―Jacob Nordby

 ©2014  Photography by Kim Weiss. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Sunrise, Sunset: 52 Weeks of Awe and Gratitude. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the written permission of the publisher. Publisher: Health Communications, Inc., 3201 SW 15th Street, Deerfield Beach, FL 33442.