Disappearing evening light

It's the time of year when the daylight seems to disappear much earlier than expected. Coming home from a vacation further north (and in a different spot in the time zone) makes the early dark startle me even more.

At the end of this evening's walk it was still light enough out to be seen without wearing my blinking lights, but it appears I need to start wearing them soon. It was just after 7 PM, and the sunset today was at 7:21. Yikes!

For light comparison,here are two photos taken in close to the same spot at Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland. The photo on the left was taken at 7:41 PM Newfoundland Daylight Time, and the photo on the right was taken at 8:05 PM. Both images show very different light in comparison with tonight's full dark at (about) 7:45 PM!

Of course I prefer looking at a slightly larger image! You can find a larger copy of the brighter image in Sunday's Magic light blog post.

Sinking

Evening sun, sinking into the sea, coloring the sky...

at Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland

Cape Bonavista Lighthouse

Late afternoon light, Cape Spear

Magic light

Painted sky, Signal Hill

Wandering through photos

We're home, and Denise has started wandering through her photos from Newfoundland. I've convinced her to try something different this time, to start sharing a few photos before she has finished going through all of them. She created a gallery, A smattering of Newfoundland images, where she will stash a small number of photos as they jump out at her to be shared now. There are only a few there right now - please check back every so often to see new additions.

Either Denise or I will post when the full galleries are available. I think it will be a while...

Luckily the wind was quiet when we were at Cape Spear, a good spot for me to pose for a photo!

--- Rover

Listen...

Listen to the sound of the wind howling in the trees, to the rain hitting the ground...

I woke in the night to hear heavy rain. I thought I'd hear the same this morning, but my early morning rising brought the sound of wind without rain, so I decided to take advantage of the dry to head out for an early morning walk. In spite of more impending rain I chose to walk attired in my normal summer shorts and sleeveless shirt, figuring that if it started raining while I was out that I would either be wet from sweat within a rain jacket or wet from the rain. Yup, it started raining within 5 minutes of my leaving home. No bother... I was soaked by the time I arrived home again.

A walk in the rain, a good start to the day...

Posing

Just after walking out of the old (restored) lighthouse my feet followed the line of the bluff at Cape Spear. My eyes pulled me to the new lighthouse, to a white picket fence.

I thought I saw a quick movement on the fence. I looked again, finding a little red squirrel perched on the fence post. He very nicely waited for me to switch lenses, then posed for some photos.

Early morning, waiting...

It's early. I'm at the airport, rental car returned, baggage checked, through security. The aircraft I'll be boarding was just towed up to the gate. Hmm... I'm here, the plane is here, still waiting.

I listened to the airlines "be at the airport 2 hours in advance of your flight" warning on the St. John's Airport web site. As it turned out it wasn't necessary, but it was safe. I asked the airline representative when I checked my bags and was told that because it's an international flight (and probably at least partially because I'm flying into the United States) check in is closed an hour prior to the flight. There also wasn't an obvious way to return a rental car here short of waiting in line.

I'm really not ready to go home but I have to admit that I'm happier to be flying today than over the weekend when Hurricane Irene could cancel or delay flights. I've been watching the predicted path of the storm on the National Weather Service site since I heard about its birth. Funny, the last time I was in Newfoundland I had an extra day here because of an impending hurricane. I think it had turned into a tropical storm by the time it reached here, still strong enough for all ferries off of this island to be cancelled for 2 hours.

Today's activity? Wait, fly, wait, fly, home.