Sunset in Sycamore Canyon June 14, 2009I took this picture right before I left for Connecticut. Little did I know it would be one of the last sunsets I would see for the next 2 weeks. Of the 14 days I spent on the east coast, it rained for 13 of them. Most days it rained all day long. The best and sunniest day was June 30, which also happens to be my Nana's birthday, though she passed away many years ago. I spent nearly 3 hours that morning watching birds at a new place in Colchester that my mother told me about. I took hundreds of photos and I have many stories to tell, but for today I am unpacking and refilling bird feeders and cleaning bird baths, all sorely neglected while I was gone. I thought the birds would all be gone when I returned but to my utter surprise I have already seen Gambel's quail, a Gila woodpecker, lesser goldfinches, house finches, a cardinal, mourning doves and the usual house sparrows since I got up this morning. A couple of black-throated sparrows have stopped by the dwindling seed blocks and over the wash the purple martins fly and twitter as they exercise their young for the long migration to come.
If I thought I was coming back to sunshine, I was sorely mistaken. As we stepped though the doors of the airport late last night I was greeted by the humid air of the monsoon fragrant with the scent of creosote bush. In the distance a flash of chain lightening crackled over the City of Tucson. this morning the air is still damp and heavy under gray skies thick with 69% humidity. Will we have a thundershower today? I don't know, but I am hoping for a fantastic sunset here in Sycamore Canyon tonight. It would be the perfect "Welcome Home."
30 comments:
I don't even have words for this one, Kathie. Just stunning!
Sorry your visit east was so wet. We did have a terribly long stretch of rain, and you just happened to hit it. Hope you do get that sunset you're looking for.
Welcome home. I'm glad to hear that you got back safely. It's a time of year that I now find frustrating. My Arizona friends are all posting about the monsoons. Some of them are putting up great bug photos. It's going to be three whole weeks until I can get out there and partake.
P.S. I'm looking forward to seeing some of your New England pictures.
Lovely sunset Kathie, looking forward to your stories and photos.
Familiar, and yet so intense it almost looks off-planet! Wonderful!!
Great shot and amazing colored skyes. Happy skywatch :)
Really wonderful image; I bet you've put that file close by just so you can remember what the sun looks like!
Well, if you only got to see one sunset, this was an awesome one to experience. Awesome!
Thanks for your comment on my SkyWatch post. It didn't rain Saturday, but I think it did some the week the last photo was taken.
Such intense colors, great shot!
Absolutely beautiful sunset--one of the best I've seen.
That is a phenomenal sunset. Absolutely perfect.
a true arizona highways sunset...beautiful.
welcome back.
and yes, the east coast has been saturated with rain and strange weather patterns.
Fantastic colours in your sky watch post, thanks for sharing this stunning view with us all.
Welcome home, Kathie. The photo just radiates summer heat and haze, even if it's in a bit of a time warp.
What a fantastic shot! Great colors!
Wow! Beautiful sunset. Love the different layers. Gorgeous shot.
Wowee zowee - what a beautiful sunset. Sorry to hear you got rained on 99% of the time while you were in the east! Welcome home! You've been quite the traveler here lately!
That is one beautiful sunset. There will be more. Sorry to hear you didn't get such great weather out east. I'm sure you still had a good time. Look forward to your stories and pics.
The birds are very faithful I find. Even when I'm too busy to fill the hummer feeder for days on end, when I do, they're back in big numbers.
Welcome home!
Wow, great colors.
What a spectacular sunset Kathie!!!
I'm glad you are back and blogging, I've missed you. A pity you had a washout for a holiday though.
The north east received much rain the last two weeks but not here in Virginia. Wait... we did pour concrete so it did rain that night. Today is great... cooler, lower humidity and a breeze. I must work a little in the flower beds.
That was an amazing one to last you a while. I love the ball of fire. This capture is truly amazing! Wow! I'm blown away!
This photo is wonderful beyond words. So, I'll talk about the rain (we live in NY, about 10 miles from the connecticut border. So right now, it's raining. And last night it rained. In between, this morning, we had some amazing blue sky - so we took some photos of the sky for next week!
But
What an amazing photograph this is. . . I love how you've composed it with the tiniest thread of land in the foreground mimicking the wispy clouds that surround the sun. I am sitting here feeling the heat!
Wowzie. That is gorgeous, Kathie. That suggests a heat I can only imagine here in the cool and damp Northeast.
Gorgeous sunset Kathie. Isn't it amazing how quickly our feeder birds come back once we fill the feeders again? Even with the rain, it sounds like you had a nice trip back East.
Beautiful Sunset! Welcome home! The monsoons seem to have finally arrived last night. I measured almost an inch and a half in my rain guage.
Wow! Gorgeous.....stunning.....breathtaking!
Stunning sunset pictures Kathie. The east coast seems to have been having pretty much constant rain for weeks, sorry you didn't have brighter weather for your trip but it sounds as though you still saw lots of great birds.
Stunning sunset..I hope you were greeted with another beautiful sunset for your welcome home!
Look forward to your posts of the trip.
Welcome home Kathie. Gorgeous sunset!
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