But it was a good sunset!

Tragically, forest fires spawn awesome sunsets (as does any given smoggy day in Sunny Southern California).

So it was last week - several days into the fires to the north. It had been clear to partly cloudy - perfect for a sunset picture. And I have that new tripod from Christmas. I could try out. And I have my new 50mm f1.4 lens, albeit not telephoto.

[What? I haven't mentioned that I replaced my broken lens?! Yeah, Baby! sold some baby furniture and RAN *okay drove* to the camera store the very next day! S.W.E.E.T!]

BUT - I have a child, and dinner and bath time and bedtime and, well, dropping everything to run out the door to get a picture of a sunset just isn't an easy task. It just isn't possible.


I did the next best thing.

I ran upstairs to the craft room, camera in hand, and snapped a picture out the window, over the apartments next door and into the sun.

Yeah, the window is a tad bit dirty.


I opened the window and tried again.

Better...

Sort of.

Not.

Defeated, I headed back downstairs to finish dinner, the wheels still turning in my head. 20 minutes later, after pondering, processing, contemplating and procrastinating; I was out the door and down the street to capture the sunset - next to that line of photographers who flock down to the pier on evenings like this and Harrison with Daddy were out the door and across the street for a few more minutes of scooter fun.

All seemed right in the world once again.

Although...

I was too late.

The sun was already resting on the horizon bidding farewell and those "fancy" looking photographers were already packing up to leave with their "money shot" secured on their memory card.

Pshaw! I wasn't about to let the opportunity go wasted so I snapped anyway.

Then I realized how much like fall it already felt right then; and I realized that, really, my favorite time of the year at the beach is in the fall and winter.

Once again, summer blew by me like a freakin' freight train.

But Fall?

Fall sweetly drifts in on a cool breeze in a quiet whisper, gently swirling around me, kissing me on my face with it's golden color. I love the fading light of summer as it becomes fall, I love the fading light of fall evenings when the marine layer rolls in and engulfs the shore, curling up the smells and sounds of pier and casting them out over the streets and houses peppered inland. Music, people, fryers, crabs, lobsters and fish,  sweet churros and the cadence of the fog horn.

Perfectly peaceful.

No, it wasn't wasted time - missing the sun tip it's head goodnight. Not one minute.

I love the ocean in the fall.


It has been a while since I've participated in Theme Thursday - now I know exactly how many weeks I've missed! Wow. Now go visit the Cheese Party!