Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Wandering Around Between the Heavens and This Small Patch Earth

Last night I was making coffee at about 10:45, glanced out the kitchen window, and stopped to look at the sky.

I often find the sky over this little spot on earth dramatic, interesting, and breathtaking. Last night I also smiled a little because at 10:45ish, it is now just a wee bit darker than it was at the same time 3 weeks ago and for that, I am grateful. The difference in daylight hours between summer and winter is quite stark. It is not as extreme as Fairbanks, where in winter there would be some weak daylight for about 3 hours each day during the time around winter solstice and it never got dark for a time in the summer. Here it gets dark at about 11 in the summer (and light by 4 am) and by 4:30 in winter (does not get light until 9ish).

It has been alternating sun and rain showers today and the sky is once again looking pretty bold--the clouds look like you could reach up and touch them. We stood for a while on part of the town green to look at the sky and listen to the waves slapping against the rocks. When we could see the rain heading this way from across Lough Foyle, we came home and I made a cuppa. By the time I was putting the kettle on, the rain was splattering against the windows.



Before heading towards the water we strolled a short way down the Greencastle Rd, where there were blooms spilling over garden walls every few feet. It is a very colourful time of year.





The last photo is from a small flower bed in front of a church. I do not recall seeing anything like these before. There were also some that were a paler shade of pink. They are pretty, whatever they are.

May you find lots of colour and beauty in your world today!




2 comments:

DJL said...

Dear Shari,
Those pink flowers in your last photo are astilbe, I believe. I have what might be a stupid question: You drink coffee at 10:45 PM? Was it decaf? Or are you one of those people for whom coffee is no threat?
Also, I too look out the window and notice that it is darker a little bit earlier than a few weeks ago. Checking off these little seasonal outliers make this time of year bearable for me.
Cheers,
Dana

Shari Burke said...

Thanks for the flower info! I have heard of astilbe-probably from reading novels involving gardens--but I never knew what it looks like!

Coffee-I can drink it at any time with no problems. I also did not go to bed until a little past 1:30. I am a night owl :-)

I know what you mean--every little thing that helps me remember that summer too shall pass is important! We have found that August here has reminded us of August in Fairbanks--it feels more and more autumnal as the month goes on. The two Septembers and Octobers we have spent here have been summerlike though. Who knows how it will be here, but the sea breeze helps.

Hope it is a nice day there!