See What I Almost Missed

Isn't this the most amazing sky? Aren't the colours wonderful? And can you see the sun column?
And to think I nearly missed it altogether.
Yesterday after a relaxing (i.e. lazy) day spent in the garden ( reading not gardening), I was catching up on my social media obligations indoors.
I had  uploaded my photo to my favourite photo-sharing site,  Pbase,  and  has commented on photos by my friends over there, I had  planned a long overdue blog post, and while checking my Instagram feed, realised I hadn't taken a photo with my iPhone, even though I'd taken lots of photos with my DSLR. So I walked outside with my phone and saw  the most amazing sunset.
I  just  had time to run back into the house, grab the camera,  and change the lens before the colours started to fade. It was the most beautiful sky with rich pinks and golds contrasting with deepening blues and grays.

It was a timely reminder for  me that it's all too easy to spend too much time in the virtual world and miss out one what's happening in the real world.
And it's not just sunsets that we miss by obsessing with our computers, iPads, tablets, smartphones.
We miss interacting with family and friends, we miss sending real letters  instead of emails, we miss greeting cards with a heartfelt message instead of a hastily composed 'Hope  you have a great day' written in response to a prompt on Facebook. We miss family conversation when everyone is too busy with their own personal device to talk to the person sitting beside them. What's the point of meeting friends if you ignore them because  you are too busy updating  your Facebook status, tweeting or snap chatting?

It's a thorny question I know, as social media is also a wonderful way of keeping in touch with family and friends who live away from home, of sharing photographs and words with friends and strangers, of learning and exploring how others live. I've made some wonderful friends though social media, some I've been lucky enough to meet, while there are others I'd love to meet some day. As the saying goes 'strangers are friends we haven't met' and as far as social media is concerned, that is often true. (Don't worry, I'm fully aware of the pitfalls, especially for young people who may be lured into situations which are downright dangerous).

At the end of the day, it's a question of getting the balance right. These past few weeks, I've decided
that in addition to keeping up with my 'virtual friends', I will also devote time to those friends whom I've actually meet in real life. I'm trying to send emails to those I haven't corresponded with for a while and am making an effort to meet up with those I haven't as often as I'd like.

At the end of the day

At the end of the day, when I'm searching for beauty, there's a place I go not far from  home.
On this early summer's evening, the day trippers have gone, leaving  just  a handful  of dog walkers.

Alone with my camera, I drink in the beauty. I watch the sun sinking, the sky a kaleidoscope of changing hues, reflected in the still water of the in-coming tide.
 The waves lap gently on the rocky shoreline. I  inhale the salt infused air and breath deeply.

This is peace.
And there's more. Behind me the clouds are illuminated from the sun, even after it has slipped below the horizon.

The Heavens' Embroidered Cloths

'Had I the Heavens' embroidered cloths,

Enwrought with golden and silver light,

The blue and the dim and the dark cloths

Of night and light and the half light.....

These favourite lines by WB Yeats flooded back as I watched tonight's sky turn from blue to silver to gold and back to  deepest blue of the half light.

I lingered as the sun slowly sank below the horizon, listening to the evening song from the hedgerows, watching as the sky teemed with darting swallows.

The magnificent cloud formation which graced the sky as we walked the dog to the shore and  back remained as I made my way down the lane to a townland whose name I've only half-remembered...Tullyhanna...Tullycanna...a placename which slipped off my father's tongue as he talked of the fields where cattle grazed.

It's a peaceful place, undisturbed except for a few farmers tending their land and the hum of traffic.

Reluctantly I turned for home.  Soon darkness will keep me indoors as summer fades to distant memory.