Nature in Her Glory

Tuesday night, January 23rd, I walked out of the office into the most glorious sunset ever.  I tried to capture it on film, but was limited by my camera and my modest abilities (above).  In the shot above, you can see the reds and golds pretty well, but not the clouds in the sky, which were more lavender and purple as seen in the shot below:

I wouldn't have published this one at all (above) except it pretty well captured the color of the clouds.  I tried all kinds of different settings, but could not seem to get it right.  I thought my readers could just imagine the two images somehow combined.  And not so blurry. 

I thought it was just me, but then they mentioned it on the KTLA news the following morning!  Following that, I saw a post from my friend Robin saying she had been blown away by the same sunset on her way home that night.

Okay, then.  It wasn't just me.

Then I discovered that my friend and co-worker, Sabrina, had so loved that same sunset, she had taken photos of it, too!  Hers turned out way better than mine:

All I can say is, Mother Earth is pretty incredible.  As the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins once wrote, "The world is charged with the grandeur of God".   I am also reminded of the Psalmist who wrote, "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth His handywork". (Psalms 19:1)

Compare and Contrast:  The photo above is the more typical view I get when I leave the office.  This was taken from the hill just above my office the week before (Wednesday, January 18th). 

[I was trying to capture the sunset that night, too, but some lady got freaked out by my parking close to her in the dark with my lights on - she acosted me while I was concentrating on trying to take the picture and nearly scared me to death!  (Sorry, lady!  I didn't mean to frighten you, either!)  Being an amateur photographer can be perilous.]

Nevertheless, I just had to share.  I was so happy to have been able to see that sunset and know that it was seen and appreciated by so many people that evening. 

In the superlative words of e.e. cummings: 

i thank You God for most this amazing

day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees

and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything

which is natural which is infinite which is yes