"This grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never all dried at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor is ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal sunset, eternal dawn and gloaming, on sea and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls."
John Muir, naturalist, explorer, and writer (1838-1914)
Forever followed, never reached, what is there more alluring than the spectacle of a setting sun perpetually leading the way over the western horizon? Having grown up in the land of the big sky, Kansas, where stunning sunsets are not rare, I discover in my adult life in Georgia, where they are, that I am easily beguiled by the prospect of an inspiring sunset. While I've come to depend on the soothing effect of the trees of Atlanta, I will ever be drawn to that mysterious evening mix of cloud and light, never the same in hue or contour. So it is that when I go to a beautiful place on a writing retreat, I make an effort to get to a place of quietude by sunset time. The most beautiful ones defy the camera. Last October, one memorable sun sat right down on the end of a long ribbon of highway I was traveling and filled up my windshield. My throat still catches at the memory of it. Below are a few recent captures in San Francisco, Gulf Breeze, FL, Lake Junaluska, SC, Wilmington Island, GA. Nothing like a good sunset to stoke an aspiring writer for another chapter. dkm
