Saturday, April 26, 2014

Signs - Some Good and Some Not So Good



When I get in my car, the same one with another four years of expensive monthly payments due, I am greeted with this array of good news. Change the oil soon. 16 miles left before the tank is empty. And yes, something is amiss with the engine. N i i i i i i i i i c e!


When I left my house this afternoon (with a maximum range of 16 miles) I discovered cowboy sign at the top of the driveway. My neighbors moved a herd of cattle and a few of the beasts must have tried to escape down my drive way.

I have always loved hoofprints. They literally marked all the years of my childhood.


Another sign of spring, at last.  Two unknown (to me) "weeds" with beautiful green flowers.


This is a normal intersection in Wabaunsee County, Kansas. It is aligned to the cardinal directions, and there is certainly nothing unusual about the location. You cannot be truly lost in Kansas. You may not know exactly where you are, but by simply continuing to drive due east, west, north or south, you will soon intersect another road, and then you will know where you are. Unless, of course, you come across this stack of confusing road signs!


Where the hell am I?


Lastly, here is a sign of the end of the world:  This is the one and only photograph I was able to capture of the full lunar eclipse. I have had my camera for over two years now. You would think I would understand how to set the aperture and the speed so I could capture something as beautiful as this. I even had the camera mounted on the tripod and the telescopic lens attached.

First, I accidentally took a photo of the tripod (with the tag still on it). Then I photographed the boards of the front porch. I took a brilliantly colored photo of the moon, full of light, but it was smeared all over due to movement of the tripod. Amazingly, I managed to get this one, single, beautiful, if too dark, portrait of the moon and the star, or planet, beside it.

The most amazing thing was the fact that at totality, I could rest comfortably in my own bed with a perfectly centered view of the moon through the south window. Magic!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Interested in a little before-breakfast horticultural research? I think your top flower is some kind of euphorbia, and the bottom one is elderberry...... Just saying'....

Jackie said...

I have never heard of euphorbia, but I am going to look it up! And I have tried to cultivate elderberry bushes here in the past, but it met with disaster. The starts never got past growing a couple of leaves. So I hope that is elderberry! Thank you!