Take My Breath Away: Drowned Forest Sunset

While visiting Lake Kariba, we watched a stunning sunset from a boat in the middle of the lake.

It reminded me of this absolutely take-my-breath-away sunset in Senegal.

An elephant at sunset.

The tease of the sunset, the wake of our houseboat welcoming it.

Oh! Be still my heart, Zimbabwe, you have once more delivered amazing.

Hello, elephant!  Hello, sunset!

The sun creeping down for the night.

Africa's sun is always so amazingly large, so bright, and so just...perfect.

Remnants of the drowned forest at sunset.

I love sunset, it may be my favorite time of the day.

The start of our sunset houseboat adventure, leaving harbor.

One of Lake Kariba's harbors, the houseboats moored.

The View from Table Mountain (An Ode to Cape Town)

On a lovely visit to South Africa's Cape Town, we went to the top of Table Mountain.

It was breathtaking.

And once away from the sharp drops and cliffs of its edge, you'd almost forget you're on top of a mountain.
If you're curious what the mountain looks like, click here.

Lion's Head from Table Mountain.

The piece of the land to the right?  That's Robben Island,
site of the prison where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned by the apartheid government for 27 years.

Part of Table Bay.  How beautiful is that water?!

Cape Town, Table Bay, and Table Mountain are just stunning.  These photos don't do the dramatic vistas remote justice.

Table Bay.

Did I say before I want to go back?  Because I do.

Like right now.

Sapphire sea the sun sails like a golden galleon

The Cherry Blossom in harbor in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, United States

The twilight of the day was breathtaking with the boats and water of Old Town's harbor.

The harbor.

The Cherry Blossom overlooking more of the harbor and boats.

The Potomac River.

The path next to Founder's Park and the Potomac River in Old Town.

This series of photos and all the fantastic memories I have of Old Town Alexandria

reminded me of this poem--the inspiration for the post's title:

A Day of Sunshine

                                                                                                 O gift of God! O perfect day:

                                                                                                  Whereon shall no man work, but play;

                                                                                                  Whereon it is enough for me,

                                                                                                   Not to be doing, but to be!

                                                                                                   Through ever fiber of my brain,

                                                                                                   Through every nerve, through every vein,

                                                                                                   I feel the electric thrill, the touch

                                                                                                   Of life, that seems almost too much.

                                                                                                   I hear the wind among the trees

                                                                                                   Playing celestial symphonies;

                                                                                                   I see the branches downward bent,

                                                                                                   Like keys of some great instrument.

                                                                                                   And over me unrolls on high

                                                                                                   The splendid scenery of the sky,

                                                                                                   Where through a sapphire sea the sun

                                                                                                   Sails like a golden galleon,

                                                                                                   Towards yonder cloud-land in the West,

                                                                                                   Towards yonder Islands of the Blest,

                                                                                                   Whose steep sierra far uplifts

                                                                                                   Its craggy summits white with drifts.

                                                                                                   Blow, winds! and waft through all the rooms

                                                                                                   The snow-flakes of the cherry-blooms!

                                                                                                   Blow, winds! and bend within my reach

                                                                                                   The fiery blossoms of the peach!

                                                                                                   O Life and Love! O happy throng

                                                                                                   Of thoughts, whose only speech is song!

                                                                                                   O heart of man! canst thou not be

                                                                                                   Blithe as the air, and as free?

                                                                                                   Henry Wadsworth Longfellow