Lens-Artists Challenge #98: Delicate Colors at Sundown

25May
by Oh, the Places We See

The water was glassy and calm, still candy-colored in the afterglow of sunset.

Stephen King

Although we drive across country each summer to enjoy the beach at Pawleys Island, South Carolina, we’ve also fallen in love with the beauty of the creek at Pawleys. Lying parallel to the ocean, the creek offers a different sight with its interesting docks, slow-moving water, and season-changing marsh grasses. Mornings find us walking the beach to catch just-born light on ocean fingerlings of water. But in the afternoon, we shift gears and head to places west where we can sit beside the marsh and watch layers of sundown unfold in the sky.

The strongest colors arrive in late afternoon just before the sun dips below the horizon — rose, purple, orange, sometimes even deep red at the base. And at that point, many vacationers are tempted to pack up and head back to their cottages by the sea. “Show’s over,” they might say.

Sundown as seen from Town Hall, Pawleys Island, SC

But waiting has its reward: afterglow, to us, is the best show of all. A plain blue South Carolina sky (especially when cloudy) can take on delicate colors — pink, peach, even a bit of tangerine — for the best overhead show of all.

Delicate colors of pink, gray, red, orange color the heavens over Pawleys Island creek

And yet there’s more. If you wait for the second act, the afterglow will bathe whatever is below — a dock in the marsh, boats put away until tomorrow’s adventures, a chapel by the sea — in paler, softer candy colors.

It may be, just may be, that God likes to play with color filters, too.

Pawleys Island Chapel bathed in the afterglow

Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.

Rabindranath Tagore

Thanks to Leya for this week’s Lens-Artists Challenge #98: Delicate Colours, You can delight in more beautiful posts with sweet color on her site, A World in a Grain of Sand.

33 thoughts on “Lens-Artists Challenge #98: Delicate Colors at Sundown”

    1. Oh, the Places We See

      We love sunrises and sunsets although we see more of the latter!!! I guess every beach is beautiful. We’re just partial to this one since we’ve been going there for about 35 years!! Thx for the comment.

      Reply

    1. Oh, the Places We See

      We get it. South Carolina is quite beautiful. And the joy of travel brings us to many pretty places. We hope the journey continues at least for several more years. Enjoy the summer!

      Reply

    1. Oh, the Places We See

      We almost stayed in that evening but I got a glimpse of the color from a window. We quickly hopped in the car and drove a short distance over to the marsh to see sundown. So glad we did! Thanks for taking a look and enjoying the view with us.

      Reply

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