Our Beautiful World - Calm

I've long maintained that Chandler, Arizona experiences some of the best sunrises and sunsets in the world.  Part of the reason is likely the amount of particulate contamination in the air, but I suppose we'll count that in the win column of living somewhere with poor air quality.  The El Nino weather effect that the US is experiencing right now is increasing the beauty as we have an unusually high number of days with clouds on the horizon.  I snapped these series of photos from our front and backyard during my mother-in-law's birthday party a couple of weeks ago.

I just had to post these photos in response to the word prompt over at Our Beautiful World.  The word prompt is Calm.  Post Christmas rush, this is a very good word.  It is that time of year where I leave the house in the morning just before sunrise in order to watch the sunrise as I drive to work.  I then, if I'm lucky/smart/attentive, leave work at about the same time as the sun sets in the evening.  I get to watch the sun set as well.  This is in great part due to the fact that I travel about 40 miles in a mostly North-South direction.  If you are going to have a 1 hour commute, might as well have a light show to watch.

All that to say that watching the sun rise and set induces a state of calm in me.  I can remember watching the sun rise with my baby girl, Katie, at the top of the stairs.  That was almost 16 years ago now.  It was soothing to both of us early risers then and it remains calming to me now as well.  Why don't you snap a few photos of what you think of when you hear the word Calm and join the fun over at Our Beautiful World?