When I consider the many images that are representative of my hometown of Sacramento, California...the State Capitol, the Tower Bridge, Sutter's Fort, Old Town...I find myself gravitating to a shot that includes the Sacramento RIver...originating in the Klamath Mountains, the River courses 400 miles winding its way through Northern California and into Sacramento...where it converges with the American River at Discovery Park...and then flows on to it final destination: the Pacific Ocean...
Sacramento River near Scott's Seafood Grill & Bar in Sacramento, California
Maybe it's because being near water always centers me...or because I'm a Pisces...or because there is something innately, universally humbling about deep currents of moving water...even people who are not water-loving Pisces experience it...whatever it is, the River feels like home to me...
It is also worth mentioning that it passes right by one of my favorite places in Sacramento to dine outdoors...Scott's Seafood Grill & Bar...and while it's true that my ideal image does not include a palm tree (need I explain that they are not native to Northern California?), today's sunset was as near perfect an image as I can conjure in my mind...
Or maybe it was the company...I was sitting with my friend Judi...celebrating a milestone birthday...hers...the sun was setting over the levee...there was an open fire...a beautiful, glass-enclosed basin strewn with molten rocks...they appeared to magically change shape and coloration with each burst of flame...
And as I sat there on this perfect evening...at this perfect time...I was struck yet again by a realization I have often: I have great, good fortune...to live at this time...in this place...surrounded by people I love and who love me...it just doesn't get any better...