Last minutes of light

_{Time: 19:27 [ f/9 - 1/60 s - ISO 100 ]}

I like it when it is still daylight and I can see the moon in the sky. If the scene has some of those evening colours, it's even better. I was looking at the moon and thinking about conspiracy theories. Yes, I was thinking about the price of the bag of powdered milk I was carrying under my arm.

This is a very picturesque neighbourhood in Havana. Its name is Puente Nuevo, and it belongs to the municipality of Marianao. This is where I live. It has many attractive places and roads that connect with other neighbourhoods nearby. We can go through them little by little. There are always interesting things to see.

In short, apart from the milk powder issue, I can't complain because the mornings and afternoons here are perfect for photography.

One day, in this area where I took the photo, a girl and a guy they were decided to camp with their tent. That was a long time ago... they entered the neighbourhood, and as green areas are what we have plenty of, they set up their camp where they found suitable. I remember they were riding bicycles. I didn't approach them, I think out of shyness, but I thought they were really free.

While walking around my neighbourhood today, camera in hand and enjoying the beautiful sunset light, I realised that I never imagined I would also own a bike and long to do that camping thing. I'm not there yet; I need the right company for it. Last night, I discussed this with my friends Eddyss and Mdrguez.

_{Time: 19:29 [ f/9 - 1/20 s - ISO 100 ]}

With these rainy days, not only the grass in my garden has grown. The lagoon area is now inaccessible. But I liked the view, so I took the picture.

I noticed that I had wasted time in managing to buy the milk at the nearest MSME. The sun was beating down as if urging him to get to his quarters. It's so hot these days, perhaps even he was feeling sweltering.

Someone told me two or three days ago that we were also visited by the dust of the Sahara... or maybe it was a group of mummies who shook their robes around here. Whatever, the heat is epic.

I stopped to talk to a neighbour about the state of a drain that crosses my street, and he told me that the staff working on these issues had had their salaries cut and asked to leave... that he and another neighbour were in charge of cleaning it up a bit because the water level had risen and even the kids couldn't get through it to go to school.

I thought of so many things, stoic teachings about responsibility, about what we are responsible for, about how one small action affects others like a chain and so on, but I immediately remembered the price of milk powder, to give an example. I put myself in their shoes and well, I didn't have to make a big effort. They and I wear similar shoes... perhaps there is only one thing that makes us different: the degree of usefulness. You see how important they are.

_{Time: 19:30 [ f/9 - 1/50 s - ISO 100 ]}

These clouds stood out so much and the combination of colours in this part of the sky was pure poetry. It's amazing how many things go through my mind as I walk and look for a - shall we say - decent picture.

If you look at the time of each shot, you will say that I must always be exhausted from so much thinking. I confess that sometimes I need to soothe those fluffy thoughts by putting my head under water... Have you ever screamed under water?

_{Time: 19:31 [ f/5.6 - 1/50 s - ISO 100 ]}

The bird saved me. It flew by, screaming in a frenzy, and landed near the puddle. As it rushed toward it, I saw that my camera wasn't ready. I had to clear my mind for a few seconds and try to get a perfect shot? Not perfect but beautiful, my slanted eyes tell me.

And further on, as I was standing on the pavement outside a house, this friend also had something to say with his mad barking. Do you want to see how I make a portrait of you? Done.

Btw, _{Time: 19:32 [ f/5.6 - 1/25 s - ISO 400 ]}

It's so refreshing to go for a walk with my friend. I don't know if I'm doing it right, this living, day after day, occupying my time with simple things, trying to keep order around me...

_{Time: 19:40 [ f/8 - 1/80 s - ISO 400 ]}

When I finish writing this post, I'm going to watch a film I brought yesterday. It's from 2023, German and it's called Seneca. I like this actor John Malkovich and I see he is in the cast. Maybe I'll get around to doing the review these days.

_{Time: 19:41 [ f/8 - 1/80 s - ISO 400 ]}

Have you seen the beauty of that sky? I felt protected by the Universe. Joyful and creative. I was returning home and before meeting my neighbour's children who asked me to photograph them, I enjoyed the last few minutes of those lights.

“It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it. Life is long enough, and a sufficiently generous amount has been given to us for the highest achievements if it were all well invested. But when it is wasted in heedless luxury and spent on no good activity, we are forced at last by death’s final constraint to realize that it has passed away before we knew it was passing. So it is: we are not given a short life but we make it short, and we are not ill-supplied but wasteful of it… Life is long if you know how to use it.”

― Seneca