Endless Summer

I returned a few days ago from an extended weekend trip to Venice. California not Italy. In truth, Venice, California will probably be as close to Venice, Italy as I ever get – Bucket List notwithstanding.

I don’t think you can fully appreciate a vacation that rewards you with morning and evening fog and cloudy days when temperatures do not rise above 65 degrees unless you’ve spent a thankless summer or two in the Southwestern deserts of the U.S. We’re still staring down the 100s this weekend, and I was ready for Autumn by mid-July.

 
Sunday afternoon the sun graced us with its presence starting at about 2 PM. We, along with quite a few others, sat on the beach watching the weekend slip below the horizon, and joined everyone in applause as it made a dramatic and graceful exit.


It’s the longest running show in history, never a repeat and a different ending every time. I never get tired of watching it.

This is a Skywatch Friday post. You can see many amazing sky photos at the Skywatch Friday website.

End Of Summer

Embers

Poor summer, it doesn't know it's dying.
A few days are all it has. Still, the lake
is with me, its strokes of blue-violet
and the fiery sun replacing loneliness.
I feel like an animal that has found a place.
This is my burrow, my nest, my attempt
to say, I exist. A rose can't shut itself
and be a bud again. It's a malady,
wanting it. On the shore, the moon sprinkles
light over everything, like a campfire,
and in the green-black night, the tall pines
hold their arms out as God held His arms
out to say that He was lonely and that
He was making Himself a man.

--Henri Cole