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Of Wet Windows and Tropical Wads

August has come to an end in the usual way, with warm, humid nights causing condensation onto the windows in the early morning that obscures the view outside. But this has also been an unusual August with no named tropical storms during the entire month. According to the newspaper this has happened only three timesContinue reading “Of Wet Windows and Tropical Wads”

Glow or Glower?

This curious patch of orange appeared in the eastern sky just before sunrise. It appeared not only beautiful but, also somewhat ominous, considering that it is hurricane season. Perhaps it was just a Rorschach test for the amusement or the trepidation of anyone who happened to notice its brief apparition.

Eclipse Epilogue

How amazing that we live in a time when the Sun and Moon appear to be the same size in the sky. In the past the Moon was much closer to Earth and early blocked the whole of the Sun. In the future the Moon will be much farther away and its passage in frontContinue reading “Eclipse Epilogue”

Moon Shadow

Has it really been five years since the speeding shadow of the moon swept across the US to the delight of millions who got to see it? We went to the Evergreen Aviation Museum at McMinnville, Oregon, with family members to observe it and were treated to a true solar system spectacle. The images onContinue reading “Moon Shadow”

Children of the Sea

Though material playthings may be limited on the isolated island of Ua Pou, the children’s imagination certainly is not. As the freighter Aranui lay docked, currents pushed its bow from side to side and the hawsers would lower into the water, then slowly heave upward high above the ripples, and then sink back down again.Continue reading “Children of the Sea”

Ua Pou in the Marquesas Islands

Ua Pou is an island that is difficult to describe, and even the photos don’t do it justice. Located in isolation in the South Pacific, nearly all of its outside supplies come by boat, and the locals find their own ways to live and carry on between monthly visits of the cargo ship, the Aranui,Continue reading “Ua Pou in the Marquesas Islands”

Cheshire Cat Moon and Goddess of Love

Fuzzy stars peered through a partly cloudy sky as we set out on our morning walk. As the dawn brightened we found a very thin crescent Moon and Venus through a gap in the trees. The Moon seemed to be grinning like the fabled Cheshire Cat while Venus, once considered the goddess of love, gazedContinue reading “Cheshire Cat Moon and Goddess of Love”

Sweet Island Dreams

Well doing some cleaning yesterday, I laid the ukuleles on the pareo at the foot of the bed. Then I got an idea; with a little rearranging it told a story of prior travels. We had dreamed of visiting French Polynesia and were able to go not once, but several times. Twice we rode onContinue reading “Sweet Island Dreams”

Double-biscus

Take a few dollars, buy a plant and put it in a pot by the garage and enjoy the reward of its bursting blooms of beauty day after day. What a delight!

The Big and the Small of It

A great big box arrived yesterday looking very heavy, so heavy in fact, that I nearly threw it to the ceiling when I tried to pick it up. No, it was very light, a huge box with a lot of very light paper packing. Since I knew that the packing was not what I hadContinue reading “The Big and the Small of It”