Tarry a moment ...

Softly the evening came. The sun from the western horizon
Like a magician extended his golden wand o'er the landscape;
Twinkling vapours arose; and sky and water and forest
Seemed all on fire at the touch, and melted and mingled together. 

(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

Up the creek - no paddle needed

We're experiencing a vacationer's dream summer - hot, dry, sunny weather. Other than a quick downpour from a thunderstorm yesterday it has been bone dry for weeks, with temperatures in the 32-35C/90-95F range.

This evening I went to see just what the effect has been on a little nearby creek - judge for yourself.

Looking back at the bridge from the middle of the creek

Looking 'upstream'

There's no more debris floating by for these branches to grab

The wildflowers haven't been affected. yet

Although these were more plentiful in previous years

Here and there were pools of now stilled water 

 It remains to be seen whether these pools will also dry completely before the rains replenish the creek. In the meantime, vacationers aren't complaining.

The Master's Brush

The day I tire of sunsets will be the day I tire of life.

To watch a sunset evolve over the evening is to watch a master painter at work. The constantly changing light, colour, and shapes make for an awe-some display. No two moments seem the same. I was able to replenish my supply of sunset shots one evening last week while we enjoyed some 'down time' with family.

While technically it's no longer Sunday here, it's still Sunday out west where Scott initiated the Sunset Sunday theme.

[now that I'm back in blogland I shall be around to visit you this week]

(10-22mm  f8.0  1/100 sec  ISO200)

Pause for the cause

Dear visitors,

I will be away from blogland for the next week and a half. Enjoy a nostalgic trip into outer space by clicking on the clip below. Note that I didn't have the advantage of close proximity for my shot which I took from a distance of about 250,000 miles/400,000 km (give or take a foot/metre or 2).

I will drop by to see what you've been up to when I return ...

(70-200mm with 2x extender  f5.6  1/100 sec  ISO200)

A Rideau sunset

On my recent visit to the nearby Rideau Canal, Sasha and I spent some time near the lower end of the locks - I'll post a few shots made there in the near future. Time was moving on and I didn't want to miss the golden hour. Sasha unfortunately isn't as spry as she once was (who among us is) and I wanted to be in place to capture the sunset. So she had to forgo her stop-and-sniff-every-ten-feet routine as we marched (relatively) briskly westward above the locks to a headland jutting out into the lake formed by the dam.

Usually at this time of evening, the mosquitoes lurk in the bushes waiting to extract their pint of blood (well up here they extract by the litre), however, they were dissuaded by the fairly stiff breeze. Yes, I was counting my blessings. Nor was I disappointed by the golden hour.

[Scott is the founder of the Sunset Sunday theme - check out his blog for more awesome sunsets]

(btw - it is Sunday already; I think this is the earliest I've ever posted a Sunset Sunday shot)