sunsets

sunsets here in the sacramento valley are rarely glorious bursts of color. tonight's show was a deviation from the customary unnoticed retiring of the sun for the day. hubby and i were surprised to see a rainbow in the clouds against the hills behind our house at dusk, followed by disbelief when we discovered orange and pink gleaming in the sky overhead. my father routinely sends me pix messages of sunsets from the west coast of florida, and even on the tiny 2.5 inch screen, the beauty of a setting sun over the ocean is obvious.

i received sunset pictures every day for a while, and mentioned once that pix messages aren't free on my cell phone plan. but considering all the basketball shoes, soccer cleats, track shoes, uniforms, softball gloves (need i go on?) that were purchased for me over the years, i figured i could spare the 5 cents to receive the pix messages. so far, i am probably up to the cost of a shoelace on one of the aforementioned items. i considered sending back a sunset picture of the sky here tonight, but decided they deserved more than a tiny screen view. (oh, and i didn't have to pay 25 cents to send them).

from the backyard:

a patch of blue peeking through:

disclaimer: these pics are not actually of the sunSET per se, but rather the view to the east (east? inland? yes... east) of the clouds building up against the foothills of the sierras.

unfortunately, these colors also brought with them their old friend, humidity. which was not invited, and should not be here. the sac valley mantra "it may be 95 degrees, but it's a DRY heat" is now voided, and i will be locked up in my air conditioning until it subsides. or until september. whichever comes first.