Thursday, December 15, 2016

A Winter Rainbow Many Years Ago


December 15, 1804
"Saw the limb of a rainbow footing itself on the sea at a small apparent distance from the shore, a thing of itself---no substrate cloud or even mist visible---but the distance glimmered through it as through a thin semi-transparent hoop."
                                                                                  
                                                                                 Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1772 - 1834
                                                                                  

Thursday, September 22, 2016

Another Street Grid Marks the Change of Seasons





The following post is from NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day website.

On September 18, the setting Sun illuminated both sides of the steep brick and steel canyon otherwise known as Jasper Avenue in downtown Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, planet Earth. The Stonehenge-like alignment is captured from the middle of the road in this snapshot by Luca Vanzella. In Edmonton the streets are laid out on a grid almost oriented along the cardinal directions, so aligned Edmonton sunsets (and sunrises) occur along the nearly east-west streets twice year, close to the Equinox. In fact, at today's Equinox, the Sun crosses the celestial equator at 1421 UT and on this day the Sun will rise due east and set due west, bringing approximately equal hours of day and night to denizens of planet Earth. The September Equinox marks the astronomical beginning of Fall in the north and spring in the southern hemisphere.

Sunday, June 19, 2016

Saying it with a Flower


Here's a gift from the garden.
© Diana Carulli
                                                A Laughing Poppy!


Saturday, May 28, 2016

The Manhattan Solstice


The Manhattan Solstice, or Manhattanhenge, occurs when the sun aligns with the east-west street grid of the New York City island.  It happens four times each year, on dates that are evenly spaced before and after the solstice.  Best enjoyed from one of the wide cross streets, viewers can see a setting half sun tonight; tomorrow they will see a full sun setting across the urban canyon.  If you miss tonight and tomorrow night, you cn see Manhattanhenge again on July 11th and 12th.

In winter there is an inverse Manhattanhenge.  The rising sun aligns with the street grid on dates spaced around the winter solstice; approximately December 5th and January 4th.

Friday, April 1, 2016

Red-Winged Blackbird


This is a female Red-Winged Blackbird, looking a lot like a very big sparrow.




Here is Mr. Red-Winged Blackbird.
Here is a poem written about him.

Red-Winged Blackbird

Red-winged blackbird takes the air
Very spruce and debonnaire.
And he flaunts to all beholders
Scarlet feathers on his shoulders.

                                                                             Grace Taber Hallock (1893 - ?) American

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

For Groundhog Day - a Vision of Summer





            Groundhog siblings on a morning in early June 2015                              © Susan Sam


BREAKING NEWS 8:00a.m.

While both Punxsutawney Phil and Staten Island Chuck did not see their shadows, and so predicted an early spring, Dunkirk Dan of upstate New York predicted six more weeks of winter.