When I left our meeting at 8:40 p.m. last Monday June 26 the setting sun was illuminating the tops of some trees and the fronts of others with a surrealistic cross between glow and shimmer: incandescent. It was stop-you-dead-in-your-tracks breathtaking. By the time I got to my car and phone a few minutes later the illumination moment had passed, but the last minute of the sunset was pretty spectacular too.

I took some measure of comfort and pleasure knowing that the men walking back from the school across the yard must have seen it too. And I was reminded of the wonder that we are lucky enough to be the sort of creatures that appreciate beauty.