Small Stone - Jan 16

I was determined to catch the sunset today, leaving all responsibilities behind, and giving myself enough time to get to the beach at least half an hour before the sun was to set at 5:09 PM PST.  The gas tank was full, mid-month bills were paid, mom was having a good day and was being taken care of, so I was ready to go out the door at 4:00.  Then, the phone rang.  It was the bank, something about a glitch in their billing system and the payment I made on the first didn’t post correctly…blah, blah, blah, sorry about the inconvenience, you will not be charged a late fee…..CRAP!  I’ll call you back!  I grabbed my camera and keys and ran out the door.  Driving as safely as possible, I saw the clear, huge, orange ball just above the horizon and decided to drive to the Point because I could also clearly see Catalina Island.  I noticed the time on the dash, 5:07!  I drove up the hill a tiny bit faster than the 25 mile an hour limit, entered the lot, noticed there was only one parking space left, parked in it, then jumped out of the car and snapped this picture.  Immediately, there was this loud, joyous applauding from the whole parking lot.  I thought, how nice of all those people to acknowledge my effort to get to the sunset on time. 

Nope, they were applauding because the sun had just disappeared below the horizon.  

This is the only picture I got…the fumes of a perfectly clear, huge, orange ball.  I stood there and watched the orange turn to gray as the parking lot emptied.

just after sunset

a pod of pelicans glide

into the dark