Mount Vernon in the Pink Evening Light

view around 7:20 PM, 9/19/06
Originally uploaded by spunky star fruit girl.

I decided to exchange going to yoga this evening with a slightly longer walk home to the wine store, so I could relax with a glass of Rioja and my writing. On the way back home, I noticed the magnificent streetscape that exists throughout Mount Vernon: even massive, modern buildings have a manageable and pleasant presence on the ground level. In other words, people walking by would not be overwhelmed by buildings much larger or taller than the surrounding buildings, because these buildings have street-level convenience stores or landscaping to offset their immense scale.

My infatuation with cities, art, and architecture go hand in hand. For example, I cannot walk around an architecturally rich neighborhood at dusk without thinking of Edward Hopper. His paintings of sunlight on buildings truly capture the texture of city life.

(For an example, visit: http://www.vmfa.state.va.us/collections/53_8.html).

This evening I poured myself a glass of wine, opened my window, and looked outside. At that time, a luscious light enrobed the neighborhood like pink cellophane. To the west, the sky was a brilliant blue. A calmness transcended the scene, not as quiet as the world seems after snowfall, but muffled and serene nevertheless. The air still had a touch of summer humidity but it was tinged with a cool, slow breeze hinting at the coming winter.

The neighborhood and sky transformed as the sun set. The pinkness diminished, to be replaced by gray-blue and then slate. As this happened, streetlights, reflections, and illuminated windows became more apparent. A more perceptible arc formed near the horizon of the western sky, formed by the light yellow halo of the sun and surrounded by mauve, melon, and light blue. I watched a woman with a backpack walking south and her shadow pointed to eight o’clock. Sure enough it was almost 8PM. The sky near the Inner Harbor, to the southeast of me, was slate gray and hazy and the lights over Key Bridge twinkled.