Sunset 23rd September 2009.
Location: Back garden.
There was the most spectacular sunset last night. I wished I'd had a camera that would have done it justice.
Not only was it a glorious purple, red, pink, orange and blues, but in the east the clouds were reflecting the same colours.
Absolutely fabulous.
Autumn is definately in the air now, and I am always fascinated by the rhythm of the seasons here in our hemisphere.
Ok so the summer was not good, from a blue sky, sunshiny days, point of view. And, yes, the weather men got it spectacularly wrong, telling the nation we would be having a "barbecue summer"
Oh how we all longed for one after the last two years total wash outs!
Our nation collectively looked to the skies in July and August and felt very cheated!! Our national psyche wants warmth and summer holidays on the beaches, and in the hills and lakes!!
We live in a country which, lets face it, has weather, and loads of it!!
So we live in anticiption each spring, that we will be able to cast off the winter clothes and go out and about under blue skies with the sun shining down day after day.........................When it doesn't happen we have to blame someone, and this year it was the weather men!
We think "Should have gone to France, Spain, Europe.........anywhere with SUN!!" But the pound against the euro? Hmmm!
My French friends in Provence, have been complaining about the heat!! It has been TOO hot this summer they say................too hot to go out some days.
And Wednesday was the autumn equinox.
I read an article in the Times and I quote here:
"Today is the autumn equinox, when the Sun rises due east and sets due west, and the world shares roughly equal hours of day and night.
A wonderful phenomenon also appears at night about this time of year.
An hour or so before sunrise, a faint glow shaped like a cone or triangle towers up from the eastern horizon. It is called the zodiacal light and shines in a really dark location well away from any light pollution, but can look so impressive it is easily mistaken for daybreak, and is often called the false dawn. As Rudyard Kipling wrote in his short story False Dawn: “The moon was low down, and there was just the glimmer of the false dawn that comes about an hour before the real one. "
So the evenings are becoming darker sooner, and the mornings are becoming lighter later.
A watershed.
FLN used to bemoan the passing of the summer, complaining that winter was on its way and he loved the sunny days of summer when we had any! Muttering about wet days, lack of warmth and blue sky, and revelling in days which were truly summer.
It's ironic this year that the minute the schools return the weather decides to calm down, and the last three weeks have been a blessing to those of us who hate being cooped up inside!!
I had a 3 hour walk in the park on Sunday and it was beautiful.
The pools were are still as glass and reflected the changing colours of the trees. Squirrels were scuttling about in the undergrowth looking for acorns to bury, or stash away.
The light through the trees filtered through on to the growing carpet of leaves which had already drifted down from the branches above.
I love scrunching through leaves!! That is something very satisfying!
And the last sunflower in our garden has opened at last. Mrs FLN gave me some seeds earlier in the year, and this one stands up very tall.
Another beautiful sunrise today...................cat asleep, the cool fresh air with a nip in it at 6.00am, and condensation on the outside of the windows! Must have been colder last night. Another day dawns. And it was three years ago on 22nd September we said our final goodbye to FLN at his Thanksgiving service. And the next day, for Chris.
