I wish I could post to this blog just how sweet the air smells on the island. The wild roses and the rosa rugosa are blooming. This is the air that God meant for us to breathe. What a blessing!
The weather was unsettled last weekend; the sunset was spectacular early but faded out as a cloud bank moved in from the west. There were thunderstorms that night.
As seen from our deck, the sun now sets to the north of the lighthouse as it approaches the summer solstice. This series of photos, taken between 7:30 and 8:00pm on May 15th, suggest that we will enjoy late northern sunsets for the next ten weeks. We or our tenants, that is. You lucky people who get to summer on the island.
I am so far behind in posting my sunset pictures that I think I will never catch up. So many wonderful pictures! So little time!
Here’s a picture from May 6, 2010 that’s pure visual cotton candy. Enjoy!
Wow. I’m finally nearing the end of the weekend of April 2, 2010. The photographs in this post were taken just an hour or two later than those in last week’s post.
More than a month has passed since I captured this sunset.
I wonder how far north the sun will have moved in this time. If the weather permits, we’ll see this weekend.
It’s 6:30 in the morning on a Saturday, a day I’d hoped to sleep late. But it was 24-karat sunshine angling into the bedroom window, that worth-more-per-ounce-than-you-have-money-in-the-bank kind of light, and it drew me out of bed just as surely as if they were giving out thousand-dollar bills on the beach.
There aren’t many places on the island from which you can see both sunrises and sunsets over the ocean.
This house is one of the few.
To the west, the lighthouse glowed in the dawn light. Quite a different sight from when the fog rolled in that evening–see last week’s post.
What a beautiful weekend on the island! I’ll have a couple of great sunsets and a delicious sunrise to ease the nostalgia sometime when we’re far away, but for today I’d like to share Saturday’s stunning weather phenomenon. In the early afternoon we were in town and noticed how a brooding grey fog bank blanketed the shores of America, while on the island it was sunny and warm. But later in the day a fog rolled in out of the west, shrouding the North Light in mystery.
Later, the fog thickened, a dark roiling grey lying on the sea just beyond the dunes of the National Seashore.
Then it closed in.
After nearly four months away, we returned to the island last Friday on the 6pm ferry. What a wonderful homecoming! Of course, the question that kept our pulses racing was: Will we make it back to the house in time for the sunset?
Early signs were encouraging. The sun had not yet set when the ferry docked. We raced up Corn Neck Road. Oh–no, sorry, officer, what I meant was: We drove up Corn Neck Road just as quickly as traffic (nonexistent) and the speed limit would allow.
But there was a problem with the photographer.
The photographer wanted to stop at every photo opportunity. The photographer even made Dan turn the car around and go back once when he hadn’t realized she wasn’t joking. The photographer had to take a picture of the violent waves crashing on Crescent Beach, with the wings of the sunset spreading to the north.
The photographer *also* had to stop and take a picture of the sun setting over Great Salt Pond.
So it will come as no surprise to anyone that by the time we arrived home at about 7:15, the sun had already set. But it was one of those glorious sunset that keeps up the light show for a while after the sun goes down.
The contrast of colors was remarkable. An arrival to remember.
Next weekend is the weekend we’ve been looking forward to all winter! Yes! We’ll be opening the house on Block Island.
(Well, okay; we are also looking forward to our son’s wedding, but that won’t be till May.)
Will we have a beautiful sunset while we’re there? The weather forecast looks promising. If we do, the sun will be setting between Sachem Pond and the lighthouse, much like this photo from early April, 2008.
Spring is almost here in the Boston area. The sturdy early flowers have appeared, crocus and snowdrops and a bright yellow flower whose name I don’t know; and already there are leaves–perhaps daffodils–pushing up in protected spots. The waterfall in our back yard is running again, and I am listening to it through an open window.
In less than three weeks we will be back on the island. The sunsets will look similar to the one below as the sun works its way northward to the lighthouse.
Can’t wait!
Winter has taken a firm and heavy grip on New England. It’s been snowing here in Boston for the last couple of days, sometimes mixed with rain. There are rain showers on the island. This seems a good time for a midsummer sunset picture. Here’s one from the summer solstice–to be enjoyed with a margarita in hand while sitting outside on the deck in the rose-scented June air.
Ah! Life is good!