E is for Eventide

To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love´s ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise on your lips. Kahil Gibran
Such a beautiful time of the day, but so easily missed if you aren't paying attention to how the light gently changes, sometimes with a glow; sometimes with a softening of the air; gradually the night descends and there is quietness and peace as the light dims.
Aurelious Fedor Van Kregten (1881-1937)was a self taught Dutch painter. He was for a time a student of Anton Mauve, upon whom he modeled his style. There were seldom people in his paintings, - he loved landscapes and animals, mainly sheep and cows.
Here is how he interpreted Eventide.....

and in keeping with this lovely pastoral picture an excerpt from Thomas Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard...
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea,
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.
Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight,
And all the air a solemn stillness holds,
Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight,
And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds:
Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tower
The moping owl does to the moon complain
Of such as, wandering near her secret bower,
Molest her ancient solitary reign.
Keep your eye out for Eventide, - it is a daily show. A time of long shadows and hazy hills. A time to sit out on the verandah with a cup of coffee and meditate a little.....
And for more E's visit here
at ABC Wednesday, thanks to Mrs. Nesbitt.