The Setting Sun in Truchas, New Mexico

This time of night, on my little piece of land, is familiar to any of you who follow the blog’s facebook page. Nearly every day I post a photo of a sunset or sunrise because the skies seem to be impossibly beautiful on a daily basis, and widely varied.

As I came home from a second walk with the dogs yesterday, it was as though I was walking into the sunset. First the shadows grew long and the trees and grasses were washed with burnt sienna…

… growing richer by the minute with the lowering of the sun…

Over in the west (the photos above are to the east) the sky was putting on quite a show. In fact it was this dark drama that was lighting everything to the east…

… bathing Truchas Peaks in a garnet glow…

… spreading its light show out across these vast Sangre de Cristro Mountains…

… until, more quickly than I thought possible, the sun slipped down behind the Jemez–the mountain range that includes “Georgia O’Keeffee’s mountain,” Cerro Pedernal…

… turning the skies to a quiet darkness once again and closing another day.

I wish I could photograph the stars for you because, I tell you, they are so thick and bright and clear here that they light up the pitch black bowl of our night sky and never fail to take my breath away. William deBuys (see previous post Taking “the Walk” With William deBuys) has referred to the Milky Way here as a wide smear of butterfat and that’s exactly what it looks like–a kind of lit smear across the heavens.

But, today, I hope you will be pleased with this bit of sunset… my small gift to you.

Love to you all,

Jeane