One of the many joys of living where I do is the knowledge that unless there is cloud and rain the sunset will be glorious. With rains coming just occasionally that means most days.
My home is in the countryside in one of the outlying districts of the little town of Piribebuy. As such I am surrounded by unbroken green countryside. In three directions the view extends to the horizon and on the fourth, the north, it is interupted not by buildings but by a range of tree covered hills.
All this open space brings with it clean clear air through which the colours of nature can shine without obstruction.
Each evening as the sun slowly sinks below the palm trees to the east the sky is a festival of colours. Throughout the year the sun slowly moves to the north and south but never behind anything artificial or man made on the horizon.
The quality, colour and duration of the show vary according to the clearness of the air and the clouds in the sky. The very best sunsets are produced when there are bands of thin clouds hanging near the horizon.
Occasionally the rays of the sun will be reflected in such a way that the whole sky and the very air itself will appear to turn orange. This effects the way in which the whole world is coloured and is like looking upon it through a quite unnatural filter. Once lit like this the orange glow may last for 15 or 20 minutes.
More usually the colours of sunset are restricted to the lower half of the sky.
There as the sun slowly sinks bands of clouds and the spaces between them take on an ever changing pattern of reds, oranges, yellows and blues with darker patches of clouds standing out as features in the sky.
The weather from day today dictates whether the red or yellow end of the scale predominates and so no two sunsets are ever the same.
It is a relaxing way to end a day. Standing out behind the house watching the sun slowly sink in the east wondering what colours it’s disappearance will bring.
With a clear and open horizon the sunset for me is not over in a few minutes but lasts for as long as it takes for the sun to be hidden from view by the curviture of the earth.
Once truely set darkness descends and stars one by one light up. In the light pollution free sky their displays are night after night a magnificent sight.
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