Late light

The evening light has been competing with the morning light this week for the beauty it sheds on everything around town. Mornings are so quiet and its seems almost conspiratorial to enjoy them all alone. Evenings, on the other hand, are still busy with traffic and noise and I wonder when I see people driving by if they've taken the time to enjoy the way the setting sun highlights certain portions of the trees and houses. My red Japanese maple tree looks as though it has patches of bright red alongside the large sections that look almost black. As the sun hits certain areas of leaves it sets them afire with the light.

In the same way there are patches of bright yellow-green on the open lawn across the street from my house where the sun peeks through the trees that line it. Where the sun is blocked the grass is a dark forest green. Patterns shift and change as the sun sets slowly behind them. The world awakens as it goes to sleep, with light bouncing and dancing along everything in its path.

It's nearly 8:30pm as I write this, and soon it will finally set and the world will be shrouded in darkness. But for a couple hours we can enjoy a light show like none other, and those that miss it are poorer for it.