Fondue

We had our astronomy club holiday dinner last night, and for a change of pace, instead of eating at a conventional restaurant, we ate at a fondue restaurant.  Fondue?  Are you serious?  Man, that is so 1960's!  Who remembers fondue?  We had two pots around here somewhere, but I think they got tossed 30 years ago!  So it was interesting, and it took a long time to eat.  We started with cheese fondue and bread, the original concept.  Then there was a bowl of delicious hot broth and we had vegetables cooked in that, and then we cooked chicken and shrimp and filet mignon and teriaki beef in the broth as well.  Then they brought the chocolate fondue, put some liquor on the top and lit it. We dipped strawberries in that.  Everyone including me photographed it, and I had my blog post!

The Kitty's Tail

The usual thing.  I see one of the kitties doing something, and then I need to try and get a photo without disturbing the kitty. This kitty is on the radiator in the dining room, and one of my cameras is in the living room.  That involves S-L-O-W-L-Y getting up from my chair and moving in slow motion.  Obviously I managed to get the photograph.  What I find so cute is that the kitty wrapped her tail around the curtain.  She stayed that way for a long time, and I haven't the faintest idea why she is doing that.  One more of life's mysteries...

I Should Get Outdoors More

This is a Sun Pillar.  I have taken late afternoon walks for two days in a row now.  I walk to the power plant and back which is a distance of 3.2 miles.  It takes me fifty-three minutes, if I don't stop to take pictures.  I ALWAYS stop to take pictures.  Like today.  I have realized in the last two days that I really should get outdoors more.  It is a rewarding experience to watch the sky before and after sunset.  Perhaps it's this season of the year that gives us such interesting clouds.  The Sun Pillar is a special treat that you won't see that often.  It is a column of light that typically occurs during sunrise or sunset.  This one is not that tall - I have seen them tall enough that they would rise out of the frame of this picture.  You will love how they are created.  They are formed when sunlight reflects off the surfaces of falling ice crystals associated with thin, high-level clouds. The ice crystals are hexagonal plate-like ice crystals that fall with a horizontal orientation, gently rocking from side to side as they fall, and reflecting the sunlight.  I LOVE knowing that!

The Flash of Recognition

Every once in a while I see something that stops me in my tracks, and I realize that I am looking at something that is extraordinary, a recognition that I am looking at something I have never seen before.  That was the case today.  First I noticed the mirror-smooth water and then the dark black rocks and then the smooth black curve of the sandbar.  Something in me responded to that and I realized that I had something very special to work with.  This photograph is the result.  For me, this is a very unusual landscape.

My Dunkin' Donuts Photo Studio

This is my friend Jessica.  She is a senior at Stonybrook, majoring in engineering and physics, with a minor in astronomy.  I guess it was about five years ago she and a friend came to the astronomy club and said they wanted to build a telescope and grind and polish a mirror as well.  I said I would mentor them, and we have been friends ever since. She is busy beyond imagining but from time to time we meet for coffee at a Dunkin' Donuts, and talk about astronomy and engineering and life.  I always have my small camera with me, and when she glanced down, and her hair fell forward, I quickly said "Don't move!"  I think this is a portrait unlike any I have ever taken.

The See-Through Power Plant

So now the power plant is a see-through building.  It is amazing how much daylight comes through now.  After the south wall came down, and then the north wall, you still couldn't see through the building because of all the piping and sheet metal work in this, the boiler section.  I have stood at both ends, and yet have been unable to see any of demolition work within the building.  It's just that one day there is a little more daylight coming through.

A Silver Sky

I took a walk by the water the other day, and the sky from horizon to horizon was stunning.  The bottoms of the stratus clouds were perfectly smooth everywhere and the color of silver.  It was remarkable and I took a lot of pictures in every direction because it was so beautiful.  I chose this as my favorite because I love the reflection of the darker cloud in the water.