Ephemera

Yaargh! I'm super annoyed right now. It's a minor thing really. But still.

Today was one of those rare bewitching evenings in the City when the fog rolls in low and streams between buildings whose tops are still in the blue sky above. The mist visibly flows around the skyscrapers downtown, making the air currents visible as it piles up on the windward side, pours around the edges, flows back up against the lee side.

If that weren't magical enough, because the fog layer is thin and low, the lengthening rays of the setting sun still strike the buildings which are weirdly simultaneously in the sunlight and obscured by fog. The light reflects off of the buildings' windows and bursts back out into the mist creating crazy reflections dancing through the clouds and golden rays radiating outward.

It's pretty indescribable, this fleeting phenomenon, requiring you to be in the right place at the right time to even be visible. And the only time of year when all the factors combine to make it possible, with the right angle of sunlight, the possibility of fog at just the right hour, is a few days in mid-July.

So I happened to be walking home from work between 7 and 8pm, just the right time to be in the midst of this downtown, staring up at the light show and trying to snap pictures. But the reason I'm pissed? My camera battery died!! I had just charged the thing and could only get a few crummy shots before it went kaput.

Sure sure, I could just get a new battery for my current little camera, but this frustrating evening is further impetus to buy a new damn camera instead. Yay, new toys!