January 8: Sunset

Yesterday's sunset was so breath-taking here in the Midcoast that in addition to my own photograph, I saw at least four other images of it posted by friends on Facebook. It filled the sky with wide swaths of purple, pink, and gold, a visually dramatic end to a day we'd thought to see snow. Sequestered as I was in a classroom in Belfast, focused on my first session of the intensive Midcoast Leadership Academy, I was surprised to emerge at day's end to a glowing sky empty of snowflakes. As I pulled out of UM's Hutchinson Center onto Route 3, my head swirling with information on group dynamics, communication styles, and personality types, I decided I needed a distraction. So instead of turning right to head home, I turned left to head into the sunset. Pulling over in a suitable spot, I took this photo through my windshield:

Route Three, Belfast

The scene reminded me of the moody works of Belfast painter Linden Frederick--that beauty amid the mundane yet poignant artifacts of the rural Maine roadside landscape: bus headlights, red glow of taillights, utility poles, stark trees with glimpse of a snowy field, farmhouse with attached barn beyond. An ordinary place caught in an extraordinary moment. 

Headlights tiny sparks

beneath that glorious sky.

We all pause, look up.