There is light...

I thought the Fireflies were done, until I walked out the other night at dusk to put the pony back in his pen for the night.

I thought I'd check out the meadow this time with a view to the northeast.

The old apple tree across the fence is in deep grass and brush. The photo is dark, but you can see that the Lightening Bugs were sure busy!

I then took the camera and faced it towards the evening sky. There was barely any light at all, but the neat thing about modern day cameras is that they pick up light better than the human eye.

The meadow's grass is pretty short here from grazing so I didn't see a lot of bugs lighting up. However the color of the clouds and the sky were beautiful.

I also could see the Big Dipper!

I set up for longer exposures hoping to get more Fireflies and more star movement all in one shot.

I used a 8 minute LiveComp exposure setting on the camera and hit the jackpot.

In the distance there was some lightening from a storm cell, I got the start of a star trail with the Big Dipper at the center, and the Fireflies showed up in great numbers. They also streaked across the sky in front of the camera.

Lucky me, I only got one airplane flying through the exposure.

I set up to do just one more exposure, but the Mosquitoes simply were not cooperative. I could have set the camera up and walked away for 10 minutes but I get nervous leaving the camera on a tripod when we have wildlife that move through the area.

Normally the bugs are not this bad. In fact, I think we are quite spoiled as we don't have lakes and ponds in our area, only rivers and streams. It does cut down on the bothersome skeeters.

Even sunrises are not so much fun right now. 

This was my Friday night attempt at a shots.

The crescent moon is on the left and my neighbor's yard light on their farm 1/2 mile away is on the right.
The fireflies are in the are down below. It was very warm and just after sunset. They were exceptionally active! I was quite surprised. The shot is taken over the mule pasture which is full of weeds and grass.

I turned north and spotted the Big Dipper just coming out in the dusk. It looks as though it is dumping right onto the spot where our house is!

As it got a bit darker, I decided to shoot a star trail over our house with the Big Dipper as the center.

Nah. I didn't quite get the Dipper in the middle and then I quit because no matter how many times I tried...airplanes had decided to use the north-south corridor in their flight pattern.

I tried several times only to continuously get airplane tracks.

One of the planes was rather low!

That is the bright white streak.

In my imagination ... later on. This could have been an alien ship trying to beam us up! Right?

Alas, it was just a small airplane flying low overhead. I imagine it was going to our tiny local airport which was having a pancake breakfast and fly in on Saturday morning.

I guess I'll keep trying.

Last night some storms came through to the south of us. I set up on the porch for a little bit to see if I could catch any lightening action.

Nope.

I did catch the night sky light up with lightening far off and some lightening bugs were busy in the yard.

It would have been cool to catch a lightening bolt.

I gave up and went in as the skeeters decided I was great food.

The night sky is a reminder
that even in the darkest
times.

There will always

be

light.

Once upon a time...

Musing on Aging by Sandra made me think a little about how we change over all the years. We do age and it comes as a surprise to us in many ways.

Can we recognize all the changes we've had in our lives. How do we see aging now? Well, when I was in my 20's, 30's, 40's, and 50's, I didn't even think about aging. I was really just working, living and busy with other things in life.

When I was a kid. I didn't think about adults. Grandma Pearl was an old adult. I mean, Grandma's were considered old. That was just a fact. 

Me with the glasses at my Aunt's house, I think. Yes, I started life with bifocals.

School photo and shot that my dad took when my brother tied me up in the yard with jump ropes. Sometime in the 1960's.

I have many shots of me growing up, but that isn't the point. Here I am in the shot below in my early 20's with my firstborn son.

Years later with my first born grandson.

2020 during the Pandemic. Self portrait of looking out the window. I don't like photos of me, but this was done for a class.

Last 4th of July at the track with my grandson that was in the above photo.

I like the photos of me when I was young much better than the photos I have now. But it is what it is. 

Lastly, a shot of me this week at Mobility Class. We have all ages doing this together. Tory is next to me, she was the little girl who rode last week at my house.

The other folks are in the 40's and the gent is in his mid 60's.

How about recognizing those who grow older and change with age? Some folks change a LOT. Some don't.

 I looked up one of my previous foster sons just for kicks. I'd last seen him while he was in high school. He now runs a business and I wouldn't have recognized him at all except there was a photo of him on his SM page of his teen years. 

People change, some people don't change much.

Inside me? I don't feel changed at all. I can see the effects of aging outside on my skin and changes in my body. But in my mind I don't feel really that different. I seem surprised to find out that I am not quite the same person I was in my early years. 

I know people see me as aged and older. 

I used to freak out at photos of me that showed my wrinkly beat up skin. Funny, how we reach an age or reach an attitude where perhaps our once youthful looks don't really matter any more. 

I am who I am now and I am okay with that.

It's Dandy Time

Some see a weed.

Some see a wish.

Who loves Dandelions?
Not everyone.

Those sneaky little yellow flowers turn white and then spread their fluff all over the place!

The flowers heads duck when you mow over them and then spring back up after you have passed. Those Dandelions are the bane of so many suburban yards. People fight like heck to rid their yards of these bright yellow spring flowers.

Of course, I don't care. Once spring is over, they aren't as noticeable and their foliage is green, just like the rest of the yard.

But for a couple of weeks, they are out there glowing in the morning light and their seeds of fluff blow everywhere.

Dandelions are just little weeds that want 

to be loved like other flowers ~~~
Heather Babcock

Be like a dandelion

Scatter dreams in the breezes.

A sense of wonder

 

The above video is of the Robins singing. It may not be very clear and you may have to listen very hard. I took this so I could play the audio for Rich when I got home. 
My intention was to hike with Charlie along the creek and find a good spot for the Lonely Looking Bear to sit. I brought a Rabbit to be his friend.

When I got to the Ice Wall, I stopped to listen. Birds.
Bird song. Not just the Nuthatches or the Cedar Waxwings...no, and not just Cardinals either. A sound...

gosh

a sound I shouldn't hear in January!

Robins? It could NOT be!

Yet there they were. Hundreds of them flocking through the oak trees in the valley. I called Charlie in close and sat at the base of a tree. 
Just
Sat

and listened. 

You know what? I forgot about the outside world. Whatever was occurring outside that valley was not important. The bird song was important. 

Mindful

Every day
I see or I hear
something
that more or less

kills me
with delight,
that leaves me
like a needle

in a haystack 
of light.
It is what I was born for--
to look, to listen,

to lose myself
inside this soft world--
to instruct myself
over and over

in joy....
~~Mary Oliver