The Cycle of Shadows

"Electric Blue" by Drew John Tankersley

Happy sez-  If you have spent a lot of time through the years driving in the Mojave Desert then you have probably noticed two things about the play of light in that great vastness:  the shadows of the early morning and late afternoon, and the silhouettes along the ridges of the desert hills and mountains.  Drawn by the fine
line of painted rock against a cornflower blue sky each rock or each bush is magnified by the sharpness of it's outline, in higher elevations the joshua stands with arms out stretched like a silent sentential and in higher elevations still the pinon and juniper are like a deep green mound or hive against the blue.  It is in the beginning and ending of the day that the light from those silhouetted sententials as well as the Earth itself casts its shadows of the day, and those shadows point the way to many of the things of life.  When the sun first touches over the eastern horizon it's first long shadows point to the west, the way of the day, the way of the future, after the day is no longer in it's zenith, and the sun is headed to it's western rendezvous with it's starry set then is final shadows point to the east, the way the of the past - the way the day came and the way the day will come tomorrow.    

There is an obscure song written by Charles Marawood and sung by Candy Devine on the Australian TV show Skippy the Bush Kangaroo episode 24 on July 22, 1968 called "Walk You High".  This beautiful and moving song talks about the shadow we leave across the land and ol' Happy highly recommends searching this down.  I have never heard this outside the TV show which is why I am going to enclose a link that I believe you can use to play that episode.  If you have never seen Skippy you are in for a real treat!

Skippy

Here are some other links of interest:
Atmospheric Optics 
Atomic light - Shadow Optics
Optical Illusions made from Shadows