Three Birds

My siblings will be the first to tell you of my addiction to sunsets. I’ll be in the middle of a conversation, but then must have a commercial break, when I dart out of the room and head outside to check out the setting sun and the clouds. They are awe inspiring. I have thousands of pictures…and I know my brothers and sister wonder why I must take more if I already have so many. No sunset is the same. I guess it’s my gratitude for the wonders of the world, the stunning beauty that is made by something beyond us. 

Today was the second of an overcast, socked-in rainy and foggy day. As has happened so frequently lately, toward the end of the day, the clouds cleared and blue skies reigned. And as I watch the sunset, I remind myself to turn around and look at the mountain behind me, as I have learned to do when hiking - don't forget to look back where you came from. The clouds were moving quickly over the mountain, heading south. “The clouds are going the wrong way.” I said to no one. They almost always head north. The light was like a Bierstadt painting. And then I remember the reflection of the sunset in the mullioned window of Dick’s Room, which faces west.  Click. I turn around, ducking out of the way of the hummingbird, racing toward the feeder. Ahhh, another shot, I think as he heads off to his favorite perch in the apple tree. Year and year, the same spot. I thought it would be such a cool shot of him, and the sunset in the distance. Patience and there he is. Click. Click. Click.

The sunset lingers…over an hour. And so I can’t go to bed, can’t return to my book or whatever task I was doing. It is a time to be still, present and forever thankful. Not every day blesses us with the tangerine ombre of tonight’s sunset. I can’t look away. I think of my grandparents who bought this place in 1931. Did they bear witness to sunsets from the same place I sat tonight?

Even when the days are wet and dreary, there’s always the possibility of greatness at the day’s end. And each time, I am grateful. Thanks Mother Earth. It was a stunning show. There's nothing quite like a Squabetty sunset.