I know, I know, I should probably say it was some deep, philosophical pondering that was going through my head this early summer morning. But, in truth, it was that little ditty about “red sky at morning.” It seemed stuck on a loop in my mind as I sat aboard the Little Dipper sipping my coffee and watching the dawn going through its choreography of sunrise. It was indeed, a “red sky at morning.”
We all know it: “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight / Red sky at morning, sailors take warning.” The phrase reaches back more than two thousand years worth of mornings but is it true? Well, yes, at least in our latitudes in the Apostle Islands. Here, most often weather fronts in the form of low pressure systems move from west to east. If the first rays of the morning sun rising in the east bounce off the clouds approaching from the west , it turns the sky red, a signal that there may be a low pressure system on its way. In this way, there is truth in the old saying. And “old sayings” are often based in long-observed truth which is at the heart of what I am looking for on my journeys aboard the Little Dipper.
But I am also searching for beauty. A sky fringed with morning clouds is often a more complex and intricate sunrise than a clear-skied dawn. This morning, both are true. The cloud-fringed sky lights up bright red all around the Little Dipper and then as soon as the sun breaks the horizon, a sharp-edge wind comes up roiling the waves, heralding the rain.
I smile at the beauty around me but also heed the wisdom by cranking over the engine, finishing my last sip of coffee and turning the bow for home, the red sky fading to gray. The air smells like rain.
— Jeff Rennicke (all photography by the author unless otherwise noted)
These Apostle Islands postcards every Sunday are an offshoot of the “Little Dipper” blog. Paid subscribers to the blog also receive an original, full-length illustrated essay delivered right to their inbox every Wednesday. Subscribe. Come along for the ride aboard the "Little Dipper.”
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