Sunsets, Stars, West, Wind
I drew this Zentangle last night right before heading off to bed. I don’t think it’s quite as ‘good’ as my first one, since I didn’t follow the ‘rule’ about repeating patterns. But, it’s my Zentangle and I’ll draw it however I feel like drawing it. 🙂
I learned about Zentangles yesterday, which is a more focused form of doodling (in a nutshell). Also, you’re supposed to do them in pen because you are not allowed to erase any ‘mistakes.’
Here’s my first attempt at a Zentangle:
I may color parts of this one with colored pencils tonight.
I updated my “Exercise Your Mind” Bingo card to reflect my progress.
Next up:Â Jigsaw Puzzles.
It must be June because my day lilies bloomed today:
I also briefly saw the sun today but alas, just like this recently passed May, the clouds hid it again.
Posted from WordPress for Android via my Samsung smartphone. Please excuse any misspellings. Ciao, Jon
Summer officially arrived yesterday, but today it dawned for the first time. I woke up way way early for a Sunday (sometime during the four o’clock hour) and spied a hazy crescent moon from my bedroom window, but no bright shining Venus.
Late in the five o’clock hour, I went outside, taking Apollo with me, to see if Venus peaked through the clouds. No, nothing but the moon.
Some of my flowers are doing well, like my day lilies and the moss roses, potted or in flower beds:
The cone flowers I planted last year and not doing very well. The one I planted at the north end of this flower bed only produced three or four leaves. The other one (shown above) is flowering, but also looks pekid. I’m just not much of a gardener. My one true success is the day lilies, which I planted six years ago on Memorial Day.
No, I’m not having flashbacks to the decade of disco, the oil crisis, feminism, civil rights, etc. I’m talking about autumn-like temperatures in the mid-70s at lunch time here in Kansas City. I took full advantage of the beautiful weather by walking a couple of blocks to my favorite local Italian restaurant for lunch.
For a comparison, here’s the average temperatures, historically, reported for Kansas City (thanks to the Weather Underground for the stats):
| August 14, 2013 | Max Temp | Min Temp |
|---|---|---|
| Normal (KMCI) | 88 °F | 68 °F |
| Record (KMCI) | 113 °F (1936) | 54 °F (2002) |
| Yesterday | 80 °F | 66 °F |
When I first walked out of my house this morning, I knew something was different. For starters, the sky was clear. I felt a bit of a chill in the air, not something I expect to feel in the middle of August during a Kansas summer. The dashboard information center in the van confirmed temperatures in the lower 60s in the pre-dawn morning air.
I took the above photograph about 20-25 minutes before sunrise this morning. I can’t take an actual sunrise photo during the work week because the sun is rising at or shortly after 6:30 a.m. Central local time. By that time, I’m fifteen minutes into my morning commute, picking up the last three of my vanpool riders. I did drive into a glorious golden orange sun hanging barely above the horizon for a few minutes. The atmosphere was pretty hazy, so I could look directly at the sun for long periods of time. I didn’t spy any sunspots though … my eyes are not quite that good. I’m far-sighted, but not that far-sighted.
So today I’m very thankful for mild temperatures, low humidity and beautiful clear skies.
I took the weekend off from my gratitude journal, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a ton of things to be grateful for.
Like most other weekends, I spent all of it with my hubby (shown eyeing me dubiously in the photo at left – I’m famous for my ‘candid camera’ approach to family photography). We took a break from our home improvement projects to attend my employer’s summer event at the T-bones baseball game Saturday night.
A short list of items I’m thankful for from the weekend:
Terry and I enjoyed all of the above, plus a good effort by the T-bones against a team from Fargo, who out hit and out scored them to win by two. Saw a couple of double plays and a lot of errors that went mysteriously unreported for both teams. I also enjoyed seeing the blast from baseball days past coaching first base for the T-bones:
Frank even stopped at the bottom of our section, 109, to sign a few autographs after the game. Almost made me wish I’d moved down a few rows since most everyone left the game after the seventh inning stretch.
Terry and I stubbornly stayed in our assigned seats until the lights were turned off and the fireworks began, only to discover that you can’t see the fireworks from the stands. We quickly vacated our section and left through the front gate in time to see most of the fireworks. We were home before eleven o’clock and I debated staying up to watch the Perseid meteor shower. I opted for bed.
In hindsight, I should have stayed up as Sunday night/Monday morning, during the peak of the meteor shower, we experienced a vigorous thunderstorm which dumped an inch of rain in less than an hour during my Monday morning commute. Thankfully, there’s always next year for the Perseids.
Keep pets safe in the dog days of summer
http://news.consumerreports.org/health/2013/07/keep-pets-safe-in-the-dog-days-of-summer.html
Apollo and Lexy are so spoiled. AC all day and sunset walks.
Every year I look forward to the summer solstice in June, not because I’m in love with the heat and humidity that pervades Kansas, but rather because it signals the beginning of the shorter days and longer nights. Until recently, my amateur astronomy goals didn’t include solar observing, but twice in the last month I’ve been drawn into observing a solar eclipse and the transit of Venus. I can safely say I’ve had my fill of the sun for the foreseeable future.
This evening at 6:09 p.m. CDT, less than an hour after I return home from work, the sun will reach the highest position in the sky, as seen from the Northern Hemisphere. Tomorrow, and each succeeding day thereafter, the sun will ‘fall’ ever so slowly back towards the south (most notable at dawn or dusk). Someday I hope to visit the far north, perhaps Canada or Alaska and experience the midnight sun, or rather a full day of sun, sans sunrise or sunset.
But for the next six months, I will take advantage of the lengthening nights to achieve some of my other astronomical observing goals, provided the clouds, humidity and winds cooperate.
In the short term, though, my yard and trees could really use some rain. You won’t catch me lighting a midsummer bonfire in my backyard tonight! Too much chance of everything, including the house, going up in flames.
Welcome to Summer!
