Cagayan Skies

These inspiring skies I saw just a few weeks ago near Santa Ana in Cagayan, the northern tip of Luzon, Philippines, I share with you and the good folks at SkyWatch Friday.

 “Be a rainbow in someone else's cloud.” 

~ Maya Angelou
 

"My joy is the golden sunset giving thanks for another day."
~ Johnathan Lockwood Huie

"Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, 

but to add color to my sunset sky."
~ Rabindranath Tagore

PS. I have not been posting these past weeks because I am preparing for a significant life change. I miss blogging and the connection with my blogger friends, but I have had to rearrange my priorities in how I spend my time. So my participation will be sporadic. Just know that I am well and happy.

Just A Pair of Sunsets

Brilliant sunset skies captured in the past two weeks. The first pair were taken near my friends' homes in Hong Kong, while the second pair are near our own home in Manila.

 Hong Kong, 2012

Manila, 2012

In the distance I spot a plane and feel the peace of not wanting to be on it.

For sky-watchers at SkyWatch Friday.

Countryside Scenes and a Bridge in Taishan

On a balmy early evening about a month ago we drove some kilometers south from Kaiping and crossed a little ways into the county of Taishan (see map at end of post). Our mission was to have dinner in an unassuming countryside restaurant (read: converted private home; no name, no address, no license) that had become popular merely by word-of-mouth.

While the others ordered our meal - all from live and fresh farm ingredients - I grabbed my camera and walked down a path off the paved country road. Want to come along? You may like the images better enlarged.

I crossed the bridge to find farmers working in a rice paddy and vegetable field, although it was quite late in the day.

Turning back, I see both sky and river showing off soft pale pastels.

Not long after, the sun painted the sky this rare (for Guangdong) brilliant orange for me.

Taishan, 2012

Taishan, which I've always called the Cantonese Toisan, is a county-level city. You can see most of its borders in pink on this map below, and we didn't drive far into it this evening. The tip of the arrow marks the dinner spot.

Taishan is the place of origin for many of the Chinese who migrated to California to work as contract laborers during the Gold Rush, then later to work on the Pacific Raiway. The Taishanese were among the many migrants from four counties (Kaiping, Enping, Taishan and Xinhui) who established the Chinatowns in North America. Until as late as the 1980s, when more Mandarin-speaking Taiwanese and Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong people started to emigrate to North America, the languages I most heard spoken in Chinatowns were the dialects from this region.

I am linking this post with the blogging communities at Skywatch Friday, Weekend Reflections, Sunday Bridges and Scenic Sunday.

Tonight's Sunset

Watching a big round sun set on Manila Bay is my extra special bonus when I am called to an early evening meeting at Hotel Sofitel Philippine Plaza.

Manila, 2011

This sunset [more beautiful enlarged] is linked with SkyWatch Friday. Check out the hundreds of stunning skies seen and captured from around our globe.

[SkyWatch] Sunset in Anilao

These are three more stunning sunset views from our recent jaunt to Anilao that we savored for SkyWatch Friday.

Batangas, 2011

[SkyWatch] Another Bay Sunset

Manila Bay, 2011

Know what you want to do, hold the thought firmly, and do every day what should be done, and every sunset will see you that much nearer to your goal.
     ~ Elbert Hubbard (American writer 1856-1915)

[enlarge for a more magnificent view]

Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.
     ~ Rabindranath Tagore (Bengali polymath 1861-1941)

Linking with skies from around the globe at SkyWatch Friday.

[SkyWatch] Traffic in Sunset

I am very fond of driving long distances in a car. I'd go so far as to say that the love of road trips is in my DNA. The smaller the road the better. But here I talk of country driving. Think Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon, who traveled around the USA on small, out-of-the-way roads to discover the heart of his country as well as himself.

In contrast, big urban centers around the globe are now so congested that city driving is barely tolerable. But perhaps, just perhaps, sitting behind the wheel would not be so bad when you can witness a sunset like this while waiting at a traffic light.

 Bucharest, 2011

Here I watched the traffic and the sun going down on Piata Victoriei in Bucharest. And as I turned to go home, I still saw the soft reflection of the final rays on the clouds.

 

This post is linked with other photo bloggers who appreciate skies at SkyWatch Friday and reflections at Weekend Reflections.

[SkyWatch] Coloring a Winter Landscape

The Romanian landscape is still in winter bleakness; yet the late day sky offers colors to please the eye.

Romania, 2011

Check out SkyWatch Friday to see stunning skies around the globe.

[SkyWatch] Sky in the Sand

You may have seen the beach photos taken in Ilocos I posted earlier with sunset silhouettes and reflections. On that same evening walk, I marveled at the beauty of the sky colors in the sand (better viewed enlarged). 

 

Ilocos, 2010

Help me get better at choosing my images to post. Which is your favorite? And why? Which is your least favorite? Why? I have thick skin, so please don't worry; I'd so much rather learn something than be falsely praised.

I link this post with SkyWatch Friday and Weekend Reflections.

[SkyWatch] Wires in the Smoggy Sky

Kaiping, 2011

Two different evenings in Kaiping County, China. Go explore all the wonderful skies around the globe @ SkyWatch Friday.

Huts on Beach Reflected

After the brightest gold of yesterday's sunset had faded, my friend Svetlana and I took a saunter down the beach.

 Ilocos Norte, 2010

And there I found my shots for James' Weekend Reflections.

[SkyWatch] Sunset Silhouettes

Time for SkyWatch Friday, so I share with you a golden sunset I saw in Ilocos Norte. In the first photo are a pair of local boys walking along the beach; and in the second we get a magnificent pose by the daughter of a friend.

 Ilocos Norte, 2010

[SkyWatch] Happy New Year!

I captured the last minutes of our sunset last night as we were heading home from our four-day mini-holiday.

 Ilocos Sur, 2010

And as the sun is setting on another year, I wish you a...

Linking with the community at SkyWatch Friday.

[SkyWatch] Batangas Beach Sunset

After a predominantly gray day in Quezon province two weekends ago, we drove back towards home and stopped at Laiya Beach in the province of Batangas. The skies opened up for us. 

We checked into a small resort on what had developed into an entire strip of resorts since we last were there five years ago. Then I went for a walk along the beach with my camera just in time to catch the changing colors of the sky as the sun set.

Batangas, 2010

These are for SkyWatch Friday where skies from around the globe are linked. 

[SkyWatch] Fading Sun

Another week goes by and it's time for SkyWatch Friday.

This past month we've had a good number of spectacular sunsets in Manila, beautifully captured by some of my fellow SkyWatch bloggers here. A few days ago I thought the sky looked ready to receive the brilliance of another setting sun so I drove out a bit to a spot I knew would give me a good view. Here is a series of images to show you what I saw. [All photos can be enlarged.]

 

 

 Manila, 2010

So, where is the glorious sunset, you ask? Pffft. This evening the sun just quietly faded away.  Maybe not spectacular, but still majestic in its unique way. And it certainly did me much good to get away from my monitor for a while.