I'm on vacation, so I can go to bed and get up whenever I want. I got up very early this morning, before 2am.

I decided it would be good to have a sunrise meditation. Since I normally work the night shift, a sunrise meditation is something I have not done for years.

I was not even sure what time sun rises. I know it is pretty late this time of the year here in the Northwoods (that's Northern Wisconsin).

It was still dark, about 5:30, when I decided to drive to my favorite meditation spot by Lake Julia right off the campus of Nicolet Area Technical College.

Indeed, it still was dark when I arrived. There is a pier at that spot, so that is what I walked on. It was very cold, probably close to freezing. I was not quite dressed for it.

But it was well worth it. The lake was covered by morning mist. Stunningly beautiful.

I decided to take some photographs with my digital camera. I was not sure how light-sensitive the camera was. But the beauty of a digital camera is that if the pictures don't come out right, you just delete them. No film wasted.

I'm quite fussy about composition when taking photographs. To get the right pictures I had to lay my cane on the pier and get on my knees. But the pictures were worth it.

Since I can't upload them on E2, I placed five of the pictures on photo.net. If interested, you can see them at http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder.tcl?folder_id=53596.

My batteries died before the sun actually rose, so I missed the most beautiful moment.

But who cares. It was the meditation that matters. The feeling of oneness with the Universe. And that I did not miss. After all, the Universe requires no batteries.