Sunsets across my childhood memories

I love when the sun becomes muted by surrounding clouds and colors, almost as if I took my fingers and wiped them across the scene softening and blending the shapes and lines. Tonight I stopped the car to watch for a bit then take a few shots because it was one of those sunsets.

Even more so, they remind me so very much of a book I loved as a child.  There were illustrated versions of the same sunsets I love today throughout the pages, and I used to sit and look, turning back and forth among all of the pictures.  I remember viewing similar sunsets as a child and thinking that they looked like something in the book.  If I could only remember its title.

I still like being transported in my mind to those moments of wonder many years back and jumping into the pages of the book again. Brain switches open up memories and feelings when I see the soft colors and lights. I like connecting then with now, and really appreciate the near timelessness of sunset beauty.

Screen porch of memories

2.18.13:
I stumbled upon my childhood last week when spotting this screen porch during a walk.  In this are the summer evenings of my parents and neighbors gathering with their lawn chairs around a citronella candle while I ran around catching fireflies with my little brother and friends.  I had a rocking horse just like this one, and we swore its springs would neigh at us as we bounced it to its limits.  Screens on our doors and windows would hold raindrops or the water my grandfather used to wash their dirt away.  I loved running my fingers across the wetness creating shapes and trails.  

Being away from my birthplace, my family and the familiar, missing my dear father who passed away in August of 2011 more than usual lately, I really welcome these reminders and heart comforts.  I think that we're more open to these gifts just when we need them most.  

Barefoot in thunderstorms, standing on wet concrete

 

There's something about being barefoot
in a thunderstorm
standing on wet concrete
that takes me back
to my childhood
and the happiness
of being
in the rain