Sunrise Over Mount Nittany

This is one of central Pennsylvania's most famous landscapes. In this scene, Mount Nittany rises above Happy Valley amid morning clouds and sun. From the vast reaches of the far valley that lies to the east beyond the mountain - where I was born - emerges the yellow/gold morning light.

I've shown this mountain before and told some of its stories, including the legend of the brave Indian princess Nita-Nee.

This particular day was 12/12/12, with some fun repetition of numbers. The day came in with me admiring this inspiring sunrise scene.

It ended with me watching - almost breathlessly - the outstanding 12/12/12 concert for Hurricane Sandy relief which was broadcast on the Internet.

No, I wasn't able to stay up for all six hours of the concert! But I did catch bits and pieces of the first few hours. And if you are interested, do some searches on "12-12-12 concert" online; you should be able to find many of the very best performances on YouTube.

The concert featured many wonderful moments, and the line-up was all-star marvelous: Springsteen and the E Streeters, Bon Jovi, the Who, the Rolling Stones, Billy Joel, Paul McCartney, and so many, many more.

Based on what you've read in these pages about what a big Springsteen fan I am, you might expect my top moment of the night to feature The Boss. And those were indeed some awesome moments. It's always a joy to watch Bruce and the E Street Band perform (and they even kicked the concert off with a favorite song that I quoted in an earlier blip: Land of Hope and Dreams).

But let me provide a link to the single performance that absolutely knocked my socks off:

An impassioned Eddie Vedder sings his heart out, performing Comfortably Numb with Roger Waters during the 12-12-12 concert.

These are some of the top pleasures in life, friends: begin a day with a sunrise over a beautiful mountain, and end the day with an inspiring performance of a favorite song. Bookends to a very good day indeed. :-)

P.S. And here's a quick shout-out to a couple of big anniversaries happening this week.

On December 13, 2011, I bought the Canon SX40 HS camera that I've used to take almost all of my photos for blip. In the past year, I've taken more than 37,000 photos with this camera! It's a workhorse of a camera and I love the feel of it in my hand.

On December 14, 2011, a friend in Ireland talked me into joining blip. :-) Here is what she said to convince me (and I hope she won't mind my quoting her!):

"From one keen amateur photographer to another, I'd like to share this with you: www.blipfoto.com. I was recently introduced to this and I am totally addicted. It's fab and it gives you a whole new perspective on *happily clicking away.* Check it out, you'll love it." And she was right!

On December 15, 2011, I posted my very first blip. And the rest, as they say, is history . . . :-)