When I lived on the hill in Manchester, I often trotted down the lane to a spot where I could catch the sunset. It was a unique setting, the highest point in the city, one overlooking the Monadnock mountains to the west, a vantage long since obliterated by new housing. At the time, though, it gave me an opportunity to savor the phenomenon of shifting light between the closing day and approaching night.
A dazzling sunset, as I concluded, depends on a variety of chance interactions. Clouds are important, but they need to open to the setting sun, usually from beneath. It’s all quite fleeting, maybe five minutes in all. And it means nothing. Forget interpretations. This is as ephemeral and spectacular as life gets. If you’re not there, you missed it.
Since moving to Dover, I rarely catch this. We just don’t have that view to our west, and I’m no longer living on a summit. Now that I have a camera, I rarely have the opportunities I had then.
Returning from a weekend retreat, though, as I crossed the Bellamy Reservoir, I had to stop and snap a picture. Here’s what I saw maybe a dozen minutes before its full glory.
Jnana's Red Barn 
Nice! Haven’t been able to choose which I like better – sunrises or sunsets but for sure I think this photo is a really great capture 🙂
Sunrises and sunsets really do look different, don’t they?
Where we live, we get more of the dawning — especially when the sun lights up the treetops while the rest of our neighborhood’s still in dusk.
Lovely! I think November sunsets are my favorite.
They certainly have a different feel than December’s. Now you have me reflecting on how each month’s really do vary.