The Turnip King

I have no idea who the Turnip King is, or why he or she would take the time to chisel their name and this design into the pieces of slate that make up the walkway in Memorial Park that overlooks Hempstead Harbor.  I am not sure I noticed these carvings before, but they do look like they have been there for a long time.  Clearly an interesting oddity.

The Grocery Store

"The Grocery Store"  What?  I have an explanation.  I drove over to the grocery store to get something for dinner, and as I pulled into a parking spot facing west, I saw these grasses.  I think they are just weeds on someone else's property.  So I grabbed my camera in the trunk, and put on a telephoto zoom lens, so I could do the shot from some distance away.  That way the grasses in the foreground would be sharp but the ones in the background less distinct, in an attempt to keep the photograph from being just a jumble.  Please be sure and click on this to see all the beautiful detail.

Moonrise!

There is something magical about the rising of the moon.  I can't help stopping to look at the Moon whenever I see it.  Sometimes it's more dramatic than at other times.  This view of it is not half bad - it's called a gibbous moon, because it is beyond "first quarter moon" which to us looks like a "half moon."  A few days after this, it became a full moon.  I always like to sneak a bit of astronomy in with my posts!

Elektra Makes a Presentation

Tonight at my astronomy club, we had a presentation by our young astronomer, Elektra.  She is eleven years old and in the 6th grade.  She is simply amazing.  I cannot imagine myself standing in the front of a room of adults and giving a talk, at the age of 11.  Her talk was "All I have Learned About Astronomy, Up to Now."  Her talk and her presentation were well received by the club members.  Here her mom is helping to set up her Surface Tablet before the presentation.

And here is an amazing thing - her presentation had been made by her with software on her Surface Tablet.  So she had to learn the software first, and then put together her slideshow.  It was so cute, that she came to her presentation all dressed up!

A Mackerel Sky

"A mackerel sky is never long dry."  But I am not sure if this is, in fact, an mackerel sky.  But I think it is.  I took this photo late today, so it looks as if it may rain tomorrow.  It is a very beautiful sky though, isn't it?

OK, Your Turn to Drive...

We were coming back to our car, parked at Dunkin' Donuts, after we had had our coffee and donuts  And here was this beautiful dog sitting in the driver's seat of this truck!  And he was sitting in such a position that it looked as if he was ready to drive away!  There was a man standing nearby, and I asked if it was his dog, and he said that it wasn't.  So I quickly took my camera off my belt, and got about 3 shots before the dog apparently got down off the seat.  Whew!  But I got it!

Stalkballs and Puffballs

Near the end of my bike ride each day, I climb a mile-long hill, stop for a swig of water and then turn around and race down the hill.  Today, when I stopped at the top of the hill, there were these fungi growing in the grass.  Only camera that I had with me was my iPhone.  I rarely use it to take photographs - I would rather use my toy camera.  It is only a 5 SE but I am amazed at what great quality the photographs are, and I am also impressed with how well it does closeups!  I spent some time trying to find out what these fungi are called and the only reference I could find mentioned "Stalkballs" and "Puffballs."