“History may not repeat itself, but it does rhymes” is a quote attributed to Mark Twain.  Does it apply to Clark Lake sunsets?  Sometimes.  It can be said sunsets are governed by the chaos theory, where small initial changes can influence eventual outcomes. The variety of atmospheric conditions that shape sunsets are practically infinite.  And the exact position of the setting sun moves each day.  Just like the weather, there are lots of variables.  So no two sunsets could be exactly the same.

If you’ve been following sunsets on this website, you have seen sunsets that are wildly different.  Others seem to have common characteristics.  But individual similarities don’t mean sameness.  So welcome to nature’s ever changing light show.

Here’s a review of sunsets from Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week.

The sunset on Monday started out this way–a bank of clouds blocked the sun.

Once the sun disappeared beyond the horizon, it’s afterglow left this mark.

On Tuesday, lack of clouds cleared the way for the sun to project a bright yellow hue.  Recently there have been several sunsets like this.

A closer view reveals more of the color.

Wednesday night’s sunset had some of the same color, but the design was entirely different.

The richness of the design can be seen here.

Observing the sunset across water adds another variable–a pleasing one.  In this view, the waves get to play a role.

On evenings when boat activity is muted and only a light breeze, there is a common thread–a sense of peace.  This video from Wednesday illustrates a feeling of calm.

And about history rhyming?  Here’s what Wikiquotes has to say.  “This is very often attributed to Mark Twain, but the earliest published source yet located is by Joseph Anthony Wittreich in Feminist Milton (1987) where he writes: ‘History may not repeat itself but it does rhyme, and every gloss by a deconstructionist need not be a loss, pushing us further into an abyss of skepticism and indeterminacy.'”

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