On a fine summer evening when the setting sun lights up a cloud-splattered sky in azure blues and brilliant pinks, how can we not think we live in the most amazing world possible? How can we believe all the trivial pains of life matter when the glory of nature sweeps aside monkey-mind worries.

Grasshopper, go outside. Turn off your I-can’t-imagine devices. Unplug your television. Yes, even silence the radio, for no music, not even Beethoven, can rival the world around us. Mere light, shadow and refraction combine and create a glory that only the most unimaginative person cannot be moved by.

To look at the simple beauty of an August sunset does not make us puny. It makes us huge, our feet leagues long and our eyes seeing for light years. Holy ecstatic cosmos, Homer, can there be anything more marvelous? And you wonder why you live here, in the land of hard living and expensive gas? One sunset, that’s why.

Cherish the magnificent, perhaps with these Best Bets:

BEST MUSIC ABOUNDS BET: The Kenai Peninsula Orchestra’s noon-time tunes continue this week, with Armin Abdihodzic playing at noon today at the Pratt Museum and Celtic Collaboration playing at noon Friday at K-Bay Caffe. Don’t miss the big KPO gala concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Mariner Theatre. 

BEST BUT WAIT BET: There’s more music, too, with Wild Shore New Music’s concert at 7 p.m. Sunday at Bunnell Street Arts Center. This weekend, Jazz is Back — Karen Strid and friends — performs 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Pier One Theatre. Whew. If you want an outdoor setting, check out No Song Left Inside, a community open mic and potluck at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Wynn Nature Center, Mile 2.5 East Skyline Drive.

BEST FEET DO YOUR STUFF BET: That would be the monthly art walk, a.k.a. First Friday. It will be a long walk this month, with exhibits at Diamond Ridge Studio and Gallery on the Homer Spit, in Old Town and on Pioneer Avenue. See the full wrap-up on page 14.

BEST LOCAL SAINTS BET: If you’ve ever had a family member die gracefully and peacefully thanks to the services of a hospice organization, you know how awesome hospice can be. Celebrate the 30th anniversary of our own local hospice organization, Hospice of Homer, with its big bash from 3-6 p.m. Saturday. Learn about hospice, tour its new offices on Pioneer Avenue and tell the folks there that they’re wonderful.