This picture from December 1, 2008 looks like a clear view of the sunset sea beyond the sand dunes on the far side of Sachem Pond. But it isn’t. That’s a cloud bank, possibly part of a weather front, rolling in from the west as the sun was setting.
I’m going to stick with winter sunsets today. Even Florida is having its cold weather this week! But will it have sunsets this beautiful?
Here are some fireworks to start off a New Year that I hope will be happy and bright, peaceful and healthy for everyone.
At this time of year the days are short, and the light is precious. Here’s a photo from 2006, with best wishes for a radiant holiday season!
The winter sun sets far to the south of the lighthouse. From our house we look through the sparse trees on the nature preserve to our south, across Sachem Pond, over the dunes, and to the sea beyond.
“Those are very pretty sunsets,” my mother comments, “but they don’t look like winter sunsets.”
“What does a winter sunset look like?” I ask.
“Well… colder. Less colorful.”
Sorry to disappoint you, Mom, but we get wonderfully colorful winter sunsets. Here’s one from November 20th.
This was a sad weekend, because it was our last weekend on the island this year. We are in exile until spring. But the island rewarded us with a beautiful sunset just after 4pm as we were packing up the car. I am especially fond of the ones when there is a sunglade across Sachem Pond.
Communications in the ferry terminal on the island seemed to have come down to the bare essentials. Maybe it’s the deadening effect of the cold weather that rolled in this weekend along with biting winds. There are, as anyone on the island surely knows, two doors to the waiting room in the terminal, one marked with an official sign that says: “Entrance Only”. The other bears the corresponding official sign: “Exit Only”. Beneath the “Entrance Only” sign, someone had taped a hand-lettered piece of paper reading: “IN”. And sure enough, they had also taped a hand-lettered sign beneath the “Exit Only” sign: “OUT”. Just to be perfectly clear about this.
Meanwhile, the following conversation took place in the waiting room.
Person 1: It sure did get cold today, didn’t it.
Person 2: Yup. But maybe it’ll get warm again sooner or later.
Person 1: Yup, maybe it will, sooner or later.
Well, duh! If spring doesn’t do the trick, maybe global warming will.
Goodbye, island! Until spring! Or global warming, whichever comes first! 🙂
No doubt this was inevitable. We have watched a sunset that evolved so beautifully that I can’t pick just one picture. So here are five pictures taken over the course of twenty-five breathtaking minutes on November 21, 2009.
The sun comes out from behind the clouds just as it sets.
After going down, the sun lights up the cloud bank to the east from beneath.
The sun has already set, but the sky show isn’t finished.
Today I am in an oceanside town, but it’s the Pacific Ocean. So our visits to the archives continue with this dazzler from October 18, 2003.
Sunset over Sachem Pond, October 18, 2003
I am currently visiting seaboard locations far south of Block Island. This week’s Golden Grove sunset comes from the archives. The year is 2003, and judging from where the sun is setting, I’d say it’s maybe late April or early May.
Sunset with lighthouse, late April 2003