When I wake up early on Saturday morning, I enjoy sitting down to write. From six to nine I usually have time to myself and, hopefully, nothing pressing to do.

When we came home from the office yesterday evening, the sky across the harbour was looking unreasonably angry. The clouds were swirling dervish-like and a small rain squall was clearly visible against the background of the sunset-lit clouds:

What’s interesting above is that we’re looking to the East. We often get dramatic effects in the East when the sun goes down. We can’t actually see sunsets from our house because of the mountains to the West. In the dry season (roughly May through August) we sometimes go out on Faded Glory to the coastal islands to watch the sun go down. A bottle of red, a little cheese – it’s so very pleasant.

Here is the same scene this morning:

I usually try to get the sky in the morning before the sun gets high enough for its light to be so strong that it blacks out the rest of the scene. This morning I was a little late. The sun was so bright that other areas of the scene had to be carefully managed in Photoshop to bring them out. It didn’t turn out so bad, though; it was worth the effort. I love shooting panoramas. Most all new digital cameras have a setting for panoramas. With a little practice, one can learn to shoot good ones without a tripod. Some cameras will even stitch the frames together for you instead of having to do it on a computer.

I’m feeling amused by life this morning. My dive gear is getting rather tattered. It’s about eight years old and has probably done about five hundred dives. I have to admit that I don’t take very good care of it. A friend who has had some health problems that prevent diving gave me a virtually brand-new regulator set and buoyancy compensator (the gizmos that divers wear on their backs and breathe from). I’d been feeling a bit funky because I don’t have the bread to buy new gear. Now my friend’s misfortune has become my windfall.

Life is funny that way.