I ask the faithful light

We’re coming to the end of another cycle of my morning walks with the moon. That’s one of the benefits of starting out before dawn, watching Artemis expand and contract as she carries out her nightly duties.

Here she was early last week, nearly at full, brilliant in the sky:

Here she was on Tuesday morning, wrapped in clouds:

And here she was yesterday, all worn down and ready for a couple of nights' rest:

Her brother Apollo has been a bit of a slacker of late. He made a couple of tries, but he looked rather like he’d come in from a night on the tiles.

However, yesterday he came out after Ida, acting like he’s the hero of the universe.

Well—but today’s earworm is about Artemis. It’s “Moonshadow”, by Yusuf Islam; Cat Stevens, as was. In retrospect, it’s a tad on the gruesome side—rather like many of Grimm’s fairytales. But I’m focusing on the moon part.

 

 

 

Visit from Ida

Ida has passed through the environs of the District They Call Columbia. We here in the People’s Republic got a stormshow Tuesday night, with a powerful lot of lightning and thunder. Then, yesterday, I was on a call when it started pouring so much the houses across the street were blurred. Then all fine, but about 90 minutes after that another downpour.

Other than that, we got off lucky, although a tornado touched down in Anne Arundel County outside of Annapolis.

We really didn’t need more rain. I mean, last Friday afternoon I was out driving when it started coming down so hard that it was like being in a drive-through car wash.

I suppose we can look forward to more of this kind of thing. Climate change being a thing, and all.

 

 

Nature's mysteries 6

Time for another episode of “what plant is this?”

This one is a tree, that’s presumably used by landscapers. The…berry-thingies are maybe 1.5” in diameter, and they range from this yellow to almost-red coral. 

Naturally, all I ever have to do is zoom in on my phone for the wind to start whipping my subject around, so I’ve had a bit of a challenge getting pix.

#IDme

 

 

Dinner guest

As you know, there’s considerable wildlife wandering around the People’s Republic. Ducks and foxes, deer, squirrels and chipmunks; also raccoons and groundhogs, which I have unaccountably not yet captured on video.

There’s also the brown bunny.

BB disappears for months at a time, but then shows up. I have no way of knowing whether it’s the same bunny, although I have never seen more than one at a time. Last week it hopped through my back yard; to discourage it from munching my basil, I tossed out half a carrot, which it seemed to appreciate.

It reappeared on Saturday, and then again on Sunday. It’s fascinating to watch it eat. It works at it steadfastly until the carrot is gone, then it uses its front paws to groom its whiskers. (No video of that part.)

I probably shouldn’t encourage it, because they do chow down on people’s garden plants. But it’s actually rather stress-relieving to watch.