Sunset

This photo is from yesterday evening. Look at that sky! No matter how my day is going, witnessing a sky like this always lifts my spirits. If I’m already having a great day, the approach of sunset on a balmy pre-spring evening is an added bonus. The steady advance of night and the hazy, half-hidden glowing orb in the west reminds me that it is always day in some part of the world. I remember flying to Poland for a friend’s wedding in 2005 and being amazed that the sun did not set as we headed eastward. As my friend and I crossed the Atlantic, it was just out of sight for most of our trip but, its soft glow still provided some light in the cabin. When we landed in Ireland for our connecting flight, the sunlight had turned the fields an incomprehensible shade of green. 

Living in Michigan has made me more appreciative of the four ordinal points. For example, I know that my apartment is mostly east facing which is great for my plants. One of my chief pleasures is to wake up before sunrise and wait for fingers of light to reach beneath my blinds and beckon me to open them. My fellow New Yorkers can attest to most of us not paying attention to the ordinals. I remember when someone tried to give me and my friend directions by saying “North of Eastern Parkway” and we just blinked at her. Brooklyn residents and other city dwellers give directions by invoking landmarks. We say things like, “By the 7th Avenue and Flatbush train station” or “It’s on the same block as the Barnes and Nobles on Seventh Avenue and Sixth Street. Right at the corner, across from the hospital.” 

I have no idea why visions of springtime in Brooklyn suddenly came to mind but, it feels good to sit and write about the city. Brooklyn raised me between the ages of five and thirty-one and it will always be home in spite of the hot sour stench of decaying garbage in summer, the overcrowding, and the impatience with which I and other people walk past one another. The high cost of living that might require you to donate an organ as payment is also a hallmark of city life.

For all my complaints about New York City, it gave me my first taste of wealth before I began working. From my apartment, I could access some of the city’s treasures within a short walk. The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, Mount Prospect Park and Grand Ammy Plaza Library all occupied the same block. Across the street from the library was the magnificent Prospect Park. As a young girl, I could go to these places and escape. When I was a teenager, I walked to the Barnes and Nobles on Seventh Avenue and Sixth Street, secured a chair and read for hours. Books were and still are some of my best friends, and I have found that many of them have grown with me. I return to them as I would to an old friend with whom I am picking up our last conversation. 

I only meant to share my photo with you but so many other things came to mind. 

I had to triple and quadruple check that my eyes weren’t deceiving me when I saw the tiny point of light in the photo. My iPhone’s camera captured the emerging star right before 6:00 pm. It’s either that or some trick of the lens. One thing I love about the Midwest is that spring and summer sunrises and sunsets make up for the hide and seek game the sun plays during late fall and early winter.

Sidenote: If you love plants, follow me on Instagram for my plant adventures with my 70+ houseplants @julene6348!

#spring #springiscoming #springisintheair #sunset #godscanvas #eastlansingmichigan #eastlansingmi #springtimeinbrooklyn #summerinbrooklyn #NYC