The Sun went down:
and the full “strawberry” Moon came up (the final full moon of spring):
I’m still here…
Category Archives: Sunsets
Beautiousness
Between work deadlines, forever home house hunting, preparing to move sooner rather than later, and *LIFE*, I’m overwhelmed enough so that I don’t know the day of the week without checking my watch, the day of the month is iffy at best, and even which month we’re in can be a crap shoot. Given that, it’s no surprise that I’ve lost track completely of what the current phase of the moon is. I sorta remember a full moon a while back, but was it a week ago? Two weeks ago? Closer to three? Who knows!?
Apparently it was about two and a half weeks ago. While doing a lap of the back yard just after sunset, I spotted this:
My first thought was to think “cool!” and move on. I wasn’t going to take a picture or spend another second on it, I’m swamped. (Remember?)
But then I came to my senses. I took the picture specifically to share tonight as a reminder to stop, look around, pay attention to the beauty and wonders that are lurking everywhere. (Can beauty lurk?)
Life’s short. Listen to Ferris Bueller. “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
Take time to smell the roses. Or say hello to the crescent moon hanging up there in the sunset clouds.
Filed under Astronomy, Photography, Sunsets
A Horsie I Think
Still looking at clouds. I’m usually not that good about seeing shapes in them (for example, some of my finest work is pretty basic, at best) but this one just leapt out at me this evening.
It’s running from left to right, and its head is turned to look at me. See it? Tail, hooves, ears, butt?
Wait, aren’t horse butts called “withers?” Eeeehhhh! 🚨🚨🚨Wrong! 🚨🚨🚨 The shoulders, or highest point on the back, are the withers. So what is the back end called? Just horse butts?
If we’re going to buy a horse property for our Forever Home (we’re NOT!) I’m going to have to learn the lingo.
(It’s apparently “hindquarters,” and the high point of the hindquarters is called the “croup.”)
Filed under Forever Home, Photography, Sunsets, Weather
Caterpillar Cloud
I came out the front door just around sunset and started the exit rituals. I said hello to the mourning dove hiding in its nest above the door. I said howdy to the medium sized lizard who was catching the last solar rays on the west-facing front porch. I dropped and gave it a couple of push ups for competition and recognition – it did more, but mine were bigger, so we called it a draw and it scurried off into the bushes.
Then I noticed the isolated and gorgeous catepillar-shaped cloud hanging up there in the sunset sky.
Timing is everything. While it wasn’t going to get pink or orange or truly SPECTACULAR, it was brilliantly white and fluffy and feathery in a darkening sky. It was well above average, and these days that’s worth paying attention to!
If only I had wings to go do barrel rolls around it, through it, touching it, feeling the cold moisture on my face.
But I don’t. *sigh*
Filed under Paul, Photography, Sunsets, Weather
Easter Eve Gradient
I hear that tomorrow is Easter. Okay.
Not a holiday for me, I’m afraid. I just need to keep track so I know to keep away from crowds going to brunch and flooding the stores looking for lillies and chocolate bunnies.
But sunset tonight was lovely, even without a cloud in the sky. That spectacular gradient as white fades to pink fades to orange fades to blue fades to indigo fades to black, with 100,000 separate shades squeezed in between.
Enjoy your chocolate bunnies. In fact, you can hae mine. I got chewed out by my doctor this week about my A1C numbers that are moving in the wrong direction.
Filed under Photography, Sunsets
Chasing The Last Photons Of The Day
Flowers will move to track the Sun through the day. (See “heliotropism.”)
Tonight I went out to the front yard about an hour after sunset, still a bit of light in the western sky.
Down by the mailbox, it was strinking how the flowers were all lined up, all pointing west. It was spooky, like, 1960’s British, low-budget, horror movie sort of spooky.
There were still a few solar photons creeping over the horizon, and by god, they were going to photosynthesize them OR KNOW THE REASON WHY!
I was very careful to not let my shadow fall on them. Never underestimate the potential power of eldritch horror lurking in the innocent flowers at the beginning of a 1960’s British, low-budget, horror movie!
Professor Quatermass taught us that.
Filed under Flowers, Photography, Sunsets
Long Day – Pumping Gas
As stated, a very long, exhausing day.
The good news – thanks to outstanding work by the team, a huge freakin’ problem has been solved. It’s been tough sleeping for the past few nights with that one hanging over my head.
The bad news – we spent this afternoon and evening at a funeral for a beloved family member. She had been sick for a while, so it wasn’t a surprise, but it was still emotional and traumatic.
Even in the middle of all of the running around, I needed to stop for gas. The clouds were sublime and wispy and ausgetzeichnet!
Filed under Family, Photography, Sunsets, Weather
Contrail Leftovers
Sunset tonight, a dozen or so clouds glowing pink, criss-crossing the coastal jetway.
But every one of the “clouds” is unnaturally long, thin, in a couple of parallel sets, like an exploded tic-tac-toe grid. And over on the far left, still compact and bright white, is the next line being laid down.
Another 737 laying down a contrail between SFO/OAK/SEA/CGO/TPE/YVR to LAX/BUR/SAN/SNA/PHX. Soon to be a long, straight, puffy, expanding, pink line across the western horizon.
Filed under Flying, Photography, Sunsets
Sixty-Nine
On the way home from the gym & an intense training session tonight, stopping at the store accompanied by a great sunset, grinning through the pain, another year older.
It’s not pretty, but nothing’s killed me yet. Let’s hope I can still say that in another 365 days.
Happy Birthday to me!
Filed under Paul, Photography, Sunsets
Red Sky At Night
That moment when you’re walking from the back bedrooms to the kitchen and as you come out of the hallway you see the translucent glass in the front door glowing pinkish-orange like neon and you immediately do a hard right turn to go out and see the sunset, because you just know…
It might not be the absolute best I’ve seen from this location in the almost seven years we’ve lived here, but it’s on the short list, probably a Top Ten choice! And it was so spread out from side to side, even if there wasn’t so much color up away from the horizon.
(Click on that one to blow it up to full screen, it’s tasty!)
Off the top of my head, the best ever from here was probably this one from about six months after we moved in. (It was incredibly vivid, the pictures don’t do it justice.)
Filed under Panorama, Photography, Sunsets
We Love The Stars Too Fondly 