Goodbye, Block Island, beautiful even on a winter’s morning!
Be safe! We’ll see you again in the spring.
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Cambodia – Oudong Mountain
Oudong Mountain is a popular weekend-morning destination for Cambodians as well as tourists. The ride from Phnom Penh takes about three quarters of an hour through the capital city’s suburbs and out into the countryside. Oudong Mountain first appears as a distant vision across the rice paddies.
Oudong was the capital of Cambodia from 1618 to 1866, when the capital was moved to Phnom Penh. There was much damage to the region in the 1970s under the Khmer Rouge. Now, new structures and old intermingle peacefully. The climb to the top involves more than five hundred stairs whose railings are topped with resplendent enlightened Buddhas. A pool that graces one of the stairway landings is occupied by a troupe of monkeys.
The views from the terrace of the newest stupa are stunning, as are the terrace and the stupa itself.
The older stupas on the mountaintop blend ancient art with modern worship.
One of these older stupas had a small temple inside, where traditionally worshippers bring Buddha statues.
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A clear-sky sunset has an undeniable Apollonian beauty, but I think I prefer the unsettled, moody sunsets amid turbulent clouds.
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With a hey, ho, the wind and the rain…
The storm moved onto the island a little before noon today. It’s blowing and pouring, battering at windows and roof. The US Weather Service is predicting sixty-mile-per-hour gusts. All the ferries today are canceled. We are snug inside and enjoying the show. But it does seem appropriate to post last night’s breathtaking sunset, unsettled and intimating a change in the weather.
5:40 pm
5:50pm
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These days the sun is setting pretty far toward the south end of Sachem Pond. Last night the sun ducked behind some clouds just before setting. No sharp red sun against the dunes, but it lit up the sky.
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Monday, September 26, 2011 was a warm, sunny day on the island. But as the sun tilted down toward the west, the fog rolled in. It was thick on the north end of the island, surrounded by ocean as we are, but the sun peered wanly through the fog as it set over Great Salt Pond.
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Yesterday afternoon the rain clouds rolled in. The wind picked up; the air smelled like the ocean. Thunder growled a warning. And then the rain broke loose. I closed the windows and kept working. After a while, the sky grew lighter, and when I looked up the sun was shining again, long, late afternoon golden light slanting through the pouring rain.
Wait a minute.
Late afternoon sunlight…in the pouring rain…
There must be a rainbow! A perfect end to this beautiful (Jewish) New Year’s day.
As if the rainbow weren’t enough, the sun put on a show too.
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My friend Jennie is visiting me on Block Island today. It’s a work day. We’re both trying to get past some form of writers’ block on our novels. But that’s no reason not to take a walk on a beautiful day. Here is what it looked like from our beach this afternoon.
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Dan and I have been here on Block Island since Thursday, and just as the United States Weather Service forecasted, it’s been cloudy and occasionally foggy and rainy. It’s been beautiful, and I’m not complaining. It’s always beautiful here on the island. But the last thing we expected was any kind of color at sunset. So, imagine our surprise when…
This is a gift. This is why we’re here on the island.
This is why we human beings are here on this Earth. The planet is beautiful, and we are here for only a short time. Appreciate it. Take care of it.
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After a long summer off Block Island, with travel to faraway lands, I’m beginning to yearn to be back on the island again. So I went through my archive of September photographs to see where on the western skyline the sun would be setting this time of year.
Looks like it will be setting over Sachem Pond when we return in a week or so.