WPC: Sunset

I hadn’t planned to participate in this week’s Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge.  Mother Nature made it impossible to say no by providing some gorgeous colors at sunset yesterday evening.  I can’t resist shiny objects and pretty colors.

What I did plan to share with you today were some photos I took in the woods yesterday.  It was my artist’s date for the week. I’ll get to that after one more sunset shot.

One of the reasons I spent so much time outside yesterday was because of the light being filtered through the morning mist as it made its way into the woods.  I don’t think I captured the misty quality very well, but I did get a few interesting shots as I played with various settings on my camera.  For me, this is a true artist’s date.  Other things suggested (and done) are fun, but being outdoors and playing with light and shadows is my idea of good time, much more so than looking at art supplies or shopping or even touring a museum.  Not that I don’t enjoy those other things, but those things do not energize and restore me (and my creativity) the way being outdoors does.

We’re having another lovely day today.  This warm and sunny spell is supposed to last until sometime next week.  After a week or so of rain, all this sunshine is most welcome.

There is no season when such pleasant and sunny spots may be lighted on, and produce so pleasant an effect on the feelings, as now in October.

~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

While in the woods yesterday, the shadows captured my attention almost as much as the light.

I have come to a still, but not a deep center,
A point outside the glittering current;
My eyes stare at the bottom of a river,
At the irregular stones, iridescent sandgrains,
My mind moves in more than one place,
In a country half-land, half-water.
I am renewed by death, thought of my death,
The dry scent of a dying garden in September,
The wind fanning the ash of a low fire.
What I love is near at hand,
Always, in earth and air.

~ Theodore Roethke, The Fair Field

I was out running errands this morning and noticed that the hay fields nearby have all been mowed, the hay spread across the ground to dry before baling/bundling.  The sugar maples are gradually turning all sorts of bright oranges, yellows, and reds.  The air smells like autumn, earthy and dry.

The nearest apple orchard opened for business a few weeks ago.  We’ll be taking a trip there this weekend to load up on apples for applesauce and cider.  They make their own cider donuts, too, so I’m sure we’ll be sampling one or two.

Today I did my yoga practice on the deck, enjoying the sunshine and fresh air.  I should do this more often.  I meet two commitments at once, and it adds a new quality to my yoga practice.  I’m not sure how to describe it.  It’s just… different, being outdoors.

Well, that’s about it from the Bogs for today.  Thanks for visiting and joining me on my walk through the woods.

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