Living on the Edge … of the Terminator

Sunset May Day 2011

I love sunsets and sunrises.  They can be dramatic and inspiring.  They can start my day off gloriously and finish my day with calm reflection and peace.  For my twenty-sixth installment to my ‘Thirty Days of Thankfulness‘ I wish to express my admiration and anticipation for the edges of the day: dawn and dusk.

When you look at the moon, except when it’s new or full, you can clearly see the terminator that separates the day (light) side from the night (dark) side.  As inhabitants of the Earth we can’t see our own terminator without the aid of an orbiting satellite or shuttle.  But we do experience this astronomical phenomenon twice a day.

On Earth, the terminator is a circular line with a diameter that is approximately that of the Earth. The terminator passes through any point on the Earth’s surface twice a day, once at sunrise and once at sunset, apart from polar regions where this only occurs when the point is not experiencing midnight sun or polar night.

The Earth’s Terminator, Wikipedia

I try to keep my camera (or any camera including my cell phone’s crappy one) with me, either in my car or in my purse, just in case I spy a particularly interesting or beautiful sunrise or sunset.  This time of year, I’m tortured on weekdays with gorgeous dawns and dusks.  Not tortured, really, but frustrated because I’m busy driving to work and can’t take a few minutes to capture the scene. At other times of the year, I can make it home in time to stage a session to photograph the sunset from a prime location.

I only saw one sunrise during our trip to North Texas.  As we were leaving Denton, just a few miles north on I-35, for the first time in days, the skies were clear and I was awake and alert and outside to see the first kiss of the sun break over the southeastern horizon.

Sunrise over North Texas
Sunrise over North Texas (Mon 28 Nov 2011)

When the Weatherman Gets the Weekend Forecast Wrong …

Sunrise Saturday 5 Mar 2011
Sunrise Saturday 5 Mar 2011

Now I’m not sure what to do today.  All week long, the weatherman has been predicting doom and gloom for today, including sleet and snow.  I had planned to start a fire in the fireplace and bake pies, bread and experiment with a chicken pot pie recipe I found last week.

But if the sunrise (click on photo to see the rest of the album) is any indication of what the rest of the day will be like, do I really want to be confined another weekend in my house?  Perhaps the dogs would like to visit the dog park today?  If nothing else, I’ll take Apollo on a longer walk this evening.  Roxy and I walked before the sunrise, when it was still only 24 degrees.

Wednesday Whine

I woke up to the second day of March with significantly more sleep than I got for the first day.  And, a stunning sunrise evolved over the course of my commute from home to Kansas City, Missouri:

Sunrise Wed 2 Mar 2011 over Kansas City, Missouri skyline
Sunrise Wed 2 Mar 2011 over Kansas City, Missouri skyline

I enjoyed my cran-raspberry white chocolate scone (baked Sunday morning) with two cups of average tea (just Lipton for easy prep)  while cleaning up log files before monitoring MOSS 2007 crawl a large content source. At least I have no meetings scheduled for today.

I’m looking forward to a short walk at lunch to take advantage of Planet Sub‘s double punch day.  This evening, I’ll take a long walk with Roxy during Wolfguard‘s practice.

Ah, the joys of tax preparation season and gathering all the necessary documentation for filing an itemized return, especially when some of your offspring don’t answer their cell phones and may never check or respond to their voice-mail messages.

And the things my husband says when I gather the appropriate information and return his call to relate said information:

“Would there happen to be a pen up here?” meaning the kitchen table.

“I have no idea.  I was a secretary for years and have no desire to be one again. I keep mine in my purse.” my reply.

“Well, I only have two places to keep a pen on me, and neither one of them pleasant.” his reply which sparked images that may scar me for the rest of my life.

While speaking to one of my offspring’s significant others, I learned all of them (my offspring and their better halves) are involved in indoor soccer leagues.  I feel so left out of the loop.  I adamantly requested photos and updates at the first opportunity.

I despair of ever catching up on my group reads.  I have at least two left over from February, bleeding over into March. I may drop everything so I can read the newly released (yesterday and in the mail to me right now via pre-order from Barnes & Nobel) The Wise Man’s Fear. The rest of my current reads pile can be found here.

And I’ve been asked to lead the discussion in two different groups, the first on Willis’ Doomsday Book and the second on Jemisin’s The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms.  As if I needed anything else to do.

SciFi and Fantasy Book Club’s currently-reading book montage

SciFi and Fantasy Book Club 4405 members
Welcome to the SciFi and Fantasy Book Club!SciFi Czar: Brad
Fantasy Czar: Cindy

Books we’re currently reading

Gardens of the MoonGardens of the Moon
by Steven Erikson
Start date: March 1, 2011

Doomsday BookDoomsday Book
by Connie Willis
Start date: March 1, 2011 

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Fantasy Book Club’s currently-reading book montage

Fantasy Book Club 2518 members

For lovers of Fantasy, monthly book discussions
February
– The Hundred Tho…

 

Books we’re currently reading

The Hundred Thousand KingdomsThe Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
by N.K. Jemisin
Start date: March 1, 2011
 

View this group on Goodreads »

Share book reviews and ratings with Fantasy Book Club, and even join a book club on Goodreads.

Sunrises and Scarves

I got a call from my dad this morning, cluing me in to the fact that this morning’s sunrise broke among light clouds and appeared quite photogenic.  I arrived a bit late to the party, but got a couple of nice shots from my daughter’s east facing bedroom:

Sunrise Sat 5 Feb 2011
Sunrise Sat 5 Feb 2011

I ventured out a couple of hours later to attend a pancake feed at a Crossroads UMC just down the hill from my house.  Enjoyed the fresh pancakes the company.  Since I remembered to bring my camera with me, I took a couple of shots of Lansing’s favorite sledding hill (unoccupied so early on a Saturday morning):

Lansing's Favorite Sledding Spot
Lansing's Favorite Sledding Spot

Perhaps the next time I’m out I’ll get a couple of shots of kids sledding.

I continue working on my new moebius scarf, which I’ll probably finish today or tomorrow.  Here’s a picture of it after five or six times around:

Moebius Scarf Using Moss Stitch After 5-6 Rounds
Moebius Scarf Using Moss Stitch After 5-6 Rounds

And a close-up of the moss stitching, which I think is cool (and easy to crochet):

Moss Stitch Closeup
Moss Stitch Closeup