Venus and Clouds

Gray clouds and a bright dot.  But that bright dot is amazing, it is the planet Venus, one of the brightest objects in the sky, when it is in view.  Venus has phases like the Moon, and right now it is half illuminated, the way the Moon each month, is half illuminated.  Venus is slowly getting closer to us and growing larger in size, but it is becoming less illuminated and by the end of the month it will be just as. bright, but it will only be a crescent.  But you would need to use a telescope to see the phases of Venus.  Venus now is an "evening star" which means we see it after sunset.  Soon it will set and not be visible for a while and then in early November it will rise in the east before the sun but may not be visible before sunrise until mid to late November.  Don't forget to look for it in the east then,  It will be just as bright and as beautiful as it is in the western sky.

 

Japanese Silver Grass

OK, today you get to pick your favorite.  I thought I knew what I wanted but now I am not so sure.  I found this lying at the bottom of the driveway and I looked at the neighbor's yards and there was nothing like this at all.  Later on in the day, I saw what this came from. I drove up the hill, turned left, curved to the right, and there on the left was a beautiful collection of green foliage, with one of these on the top of each stalk!  This is the feathery seed plume of an ornamental grass, called Japanese Silver Grass.  So I walked around the yard holding this in one hand and my camera in another with the close up lens on it, and looking for a background to hold it in front of. I did about 4 different backgrounds and chose this one because this was back lit.  Stunning, isn't it?

As I was preparing this in photoshop, at some point it was enlarged larger than the frame and I caught a glimpse of this close up version.  I thought that the close version showed so much more detail in the plant than the full length view.  But now I am liking that I can see the entire shape of the seed pod in the first photograph.  So I am choosing that one, but you can tell me what your favorite is!  Thanks!

 

Sunset & Clouds at the Beach

Every night when we take our walk, the sky is different, the sun is different and the clouds are different.  It is so interesting that for the first time in our lives, we are watching a sunset every day, day after day.  What an interesting lesson.  What this photograph doesn't do any justice to is the brilliance of the colors in these clouds, which are illuminated by the sun which has already set.  So we watched as we walked and saw subtle changes as a couple of minutes went by.  We then went back to just paying attention to walking. 

Suddenly I looked up and couldn't believe how dramatically the scene and the clouds had changed.  The sun had set further and in an instant there were just gray clouds!  The change was so sudden and the view went from spectacular to ordinary.  Such an interesting lesson for us.  Be sure to click on at least the first photo because the larger image is really stunning.

 

He's Up on the Ladder Again!

Latest project, long overdue!  I have been painting the house again, one side each year.  This side looked awful because being on the west side of the house it got a lot of sun.  I am guessing it has been over 20 years since it was painted, and it shows!  Wow, I am pretty high up here, aren't I? It may not be obvious but I am wearing a harness and am connected with a bright orange climbing rope to an anchorage in the attic.  Just in case...

This is terrible!  Shame on me for not painting it sooner!

Because there is so much mildew under the eaves, this is my process to make sure it is all gone. First, I scrape the eaves with paint scrapers to get all the loose paint off.  Then I put on rain gear, and use a garden sprayer to soak everything with mildew on it with a solution of water, Clorox, and a replacement. for Tri Sodium Phosphate.  The black mildew instantly turns brown, and then I drag a garden hose up to the top of the ladder and blast everything with water, which removes the mildew and rinses all the chemicals off.  After a day of drying, it is ready to paint!  Stay tuned!

The Hosts

These are my friends, Pat and Lawrence.  I worked with Pat at the newspaper and Pat was so good at gathering a group of work colleagues together every once in a while, so we could all keep in touch.  I always treasured those gatherings.  At the last minute the other day she sent a notice of a small gathering tonight because one of our colleagues who had moved away was visiting, and I signed up in a second.  It was such a nice time and for me there were people I have not seen for 18 years, and all the conversations and reminiscences were wonderful and so enjoyable.  Before I arrived, I thought of doing a portrait of the two of them on their wonderful front porch, and it was the first thing I asked when I walked in the front door.  And here it is.  They are both such wonderful people!

 

Perfect Hexagons!

I started a new project today.  Painting the eaves and the shingles on the west side of the house.  So I used my longest ladder and got right up to the peak and started scraping.  There were remains of a paper wasp nest which I scraped off.  This is one of the circular sections which are built one under the other and then the whole next is surrounded by "paper" to protect it.  These are called "Brood Cells" and they are in a perfect honeycomb pattern.

How beautifully these perfect hexagons are, formed by legions of wasps working away non stop!  It is so amazing to me, and it shouldn't be, that these flying insects can make such uniform and perfect hexagons, which will be filled with eggs.  Like other social wasps, hornets build communal nests by chewing wood to make a papery pulp. Each nest has one queen, which lays eggs and is attended by workers that, while genetically female, cannot lay fertile eggs.  The eggs hatch in 5 to 8 days.  The nest dies over the winter, with lone queens hibernating in leaf litter or other insulative material until the spring.

 

"I'v Got One!"

We have seen so many people fishing down at Tappan Beach.  Sometimes standing on this little outcropping and sometimes on the water's edge, or sitting in chairs near the water, and sometimes wading knee deep in the water. We have NEVER seen anyone catch a fish, however!  Today we did!  We were resting after our walk and then suddenly saw this fisherman's rod bend way down!  So we stood there for 5 or ten minutes while he carefully reeled the fish in and on to the edge of the beach.  We didn't recognize the fish.  I think maybe it was 14 inches long or more.  But it had triangular fins on the side of it's body which seemed strange.  Anyhow once he beached it, he got a tool out and either unhooked the hook or cut it and removed it, and then let the fish swim away!  I love the sense of action in this photograph.  Finally I have someone DOING something in a photograph!  And this is so much better with his friend in front of him because the second person adds a lot more interest.