303: Spectacular sunset

We had some rain yesterday evening and overnight.  It was a nice, soft, gentle rainfall.  The kind I was wishing for a few days ago.  The heat is still with us so the rain has increased the humidity considerably, but I’m not complaining.  The gardens, the flowers, the farms, the trees, and even the lawns are all feeling better as a result of the rain.  I enjoyed listening to it in the early morning hours until it lulled me back to sleep.  I think the sound of a gentle rainfall is better than any sleeping pill.

Rain and sunshine on the deck

Close to sunset we had both rain and sun.  I looked for a rainbow, but didn’t find one.  At least not where I expected to find one.

As the sun began to set, the sky cycled through the most amazing colors.  I don’t think any camera is capable of capturing them all.  I have not altered the colors in any way.  I did do the usual post-processing for the web (a little sharpening and then resizing).  The colors are as the camera picked them up.  This was one of the few occasions where I took the time to drag out the tripod.

Dragging out the tripod generally means I take far too many photos.  It was interesting and fun playing around with the camera in manual mode.  One of the things I like about using it in manual mode is having more control so the colors will come out the way I’m seeing them (rather than the way the camera thinks they should be, something that often happens in auto modes).

The last two photos have been cropped.  The shrubs I cropped out were too distracting.   They are privets and have suddenly gone an incredible shade of neon green.  They almost glow in the dark.

M and I sat out on the deck until the mosquitoes found us.  One of the things we both noticed is that we have fewer bats this year.  Normally we see anywhere from 12-15 bats swooping and feeding over the pond.  I love watching them.  They come flying over the top of the house on a downward trajectory towards the water.  I’m not describing it well, but it’s pretty cool to observe.

The last shot of the sunset was taken with the white balance set to tungsten.  I love the way it brought out the blues and purples.

Today’s outdoor time was not nearly as breathtaking as last night’s sunset.  As mentioned earlier, the rain has turned the Bogs into a steam bath.  The mosquitoes and deer flies are thriving and on the attack.

I took a quick walk around the pond, then spent the rest of my time out in the garden, pulling lettuces for dinner tonight.  It’s too hot to stay out for long.  I am very grateful for the air conditioning, and that we had it repaired before this heat wave struck.  It doesn’t look as though we’ll get much relief.  The temperature is supposed to drop into the low 80s on Monday, but then begin climbing back into the 90s again after that.  Summer is definitely here in full force.

And that, folks, is about it from the Bogs for this steamy Saturday.

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