For the past several weeks, it’s been raining a lot where I live, and the resulting clouds have made for some very dramatic skies. Whenever the sunrise or sunset is especially colorful, I automatically recite the ancient mariner’s proverb:
Red sky at night, sailor’s delight
Red sky in morning, sailor take warning
That in turn makes me think of the crews working on fishing fleets in the Gulf and sailors aboard the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, and whether this meteorological rhyme is accurate.
I also wonder if the red skies are not some heliacal harbinger, forecasting what is on the horizon for my life. Whether it will be smooth sailing or rough seas. Is it batten down the hatches or full steam ahead?
Once more the ruby-colour’d portal open’d,
Which to his speech did honey passage yield;
Like a red morn, that ever yet betoken’d
Wreck to the seaman, tempest to the field,
Sorrow to shepherds, woe unto the birds,
Gusts and foul flaws to herdmen and to herds.”
~ William Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis; 1593
Thin spiral notebook 
I could melt into that picture…
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The photo doesn’t do justice to how the sky actually looked. The color was amazing, so much richer and deeper.
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your pictures take my breath away..and this one , in all it’s purple majesty is one of those that I wish I could seen in person.
I loved your comment above, that Life is like Florida weather and just waiting a few minutes can turn a stormy day, sunny. I live in that HOPE every day.
xo
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I am constantly amazed at the colors of some of these sunsets/sunrises. There is no way they could be duplicated by humans.
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I’ve spent quite a bit of time Travelling around Florida, but never been lucky enough to see a sky like that, it’s great.
All the best Gordon.
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The proverb differes as to where you are, I know it as a shepheards warning or delight,
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Gorgeous hues!
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How dramatic
Candace all the wasy from Little Old Wales visiting via Shy Watch Friday
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Un unusally beuatiful colour!
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It was shifting from pink to purple as the sunset deeper.
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Great colour.
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Thanks, it was such an unusual hue.
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I love the photo. well done.
A red sky at night usually indicates the presence of dust in the atmosphere, signaling the presence of a High Pressure System – which signals calm, settled weather.
A red sky in the morning (and the more Red, the worse) indicates dust and moisture in the air, indicative of a storm system moving in from the West.
It doesn’t ALWAYS work that way – but more often than not.
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My skies are overcast right now, literally and figuratively. That’s not a bad thing. That’s traveling under cover, a little relief from the heat, and clarity on my path.
Love that your rainbow picture make you think so … and I’ve always wondered how accurate that mariner’s proverb was. Harbingers are one thing, but I think we have to be prepared for whatever the sea throws at us.
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I keep my galoshes and umbrella in my car, just in case the weather changes. Life is like Florida weather, if it’s raining, wait 10 minutes and it’ll turn into sunshine.
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