Orion's Belt-Three Stars

Not enough time to blog these days, I have been star-struck.  What, have I been around movie stars or something?  NO, I mean real stars, you know, the ones in the sky?  For the past two mornings, when I am usually at my computer, I have been outside looking out at the beautiful sky.  We live on a high hill and when I stepped out and saw the quarter moon on Monday morning, there was bright Jupiter just beneath it.  And twenty-five degrees over, the three bright stars in a row...Orion's Belt.  There is a lot of light in our night sky, from streetlights and also from the light from a busy highway that we are close to, so I was very happy to observe these for the past two mornings.  This morning, the moon was waning, but it was still very bright and beautiful.  And even with all the lights, because it was clear, I was able to see lots of stars, which was very exciting for me.  (So much more exciting than taking out cat litter, which is what made me be outside so early on Monday morning.)
You will never hear me describe something as being twenty-five degrees from something, but in my reading on astronomy, I have read that one fist equals ten degrees so by that reckoning, Orion's Belt was 2 1/2 fists to the right so...twenty-five degrees, right?  Please forgive me if any of this information is not correct, Richard is the one who knows astronomy, not me!  (The three stars have names and they are:  Mintaka, Alnitak, and Alnilam.)

And this last photo might look like an alien planet...but it is from the top of Stone Mountain and that is Atlanta in the distance.  This was taken just this past Sunday on the most beautiful day!  Wait until you see the yellow daisies, they were at their peak and they covered the mountain in a magnificent display.  They deserve their own post, so look out for the yellow daisies...it reminded us of being on our bluebell walk in England, only with yellow flowers instead of blue.  Oh, and they smelled heavenly!

Dawn Is A Feeling

 

 

 

 

 

As promised, a guest post from my husband, Richard.   Enjoy!

 

First of all, a thank you to everyone who left me happy birthday wishes on Kay's blog. And secondly, a thank you to everyone who has complimented the photos I have taken that Kay has used on this blog. In all honesty all I have done is held the camera and the camera has done the rest. Of course, location is a large part of it and it's hard to take a bad photo at Stone Mountain or on the seafront at Eastbourne. And since we are talking about Eastbourne....

As some of you will know, Kay and I spent the night of June 4th at the DaVinci hotel in Eastbourne. On the following morning we were awakened at 3:30 by the racket the seagulls were making on the rooftops! By about 4 o'clock it was undeniably daylight! Kay went to the window and looked out and was amazed by the beautiful sight that greeted her - the pink of the dawn. I staggered reluctantly to the window and was also amazed at the beauty I beheld!

By 5 o'clock we were on the beach enjoying a most beautiful sunrise. Not surprisingly, there were not many other people around at that hour so we had all that beauty to ourselves. The seafront and most of Eastbourne- including this magnificent pier -we can thank the Victorians for.

 

We stayed on the beach enjoying this natural wonder for almost an hour though it seemed like only a few minutes. Then we returned to our room to make a nice cup of coffee. Here is a video that I took then which I hope you enjoy. My plan was to add a music track - but not the version with the orchestral prelude!!!! - to this video of a certain British band performing a track called "Dawn Is A Feeling" from their 1967 "debut" album, but owing to technical difficulties and the fact that Kay and I have been to both Stone Mountain and Arabia Mountain today, I regret that will not happen tonight. ( Unfortunately, there is no prize for anyone who knows which British band I am talking about but you will have our respect! )

Hope you enjoy these photos and the video which will always remind us of a beautiful day.

Take Care. Cheers, Richard

 

 

Richard's Birthday!

Dear Richard,

Happy Birthday!

Love,
Kay

In honor of my husband's birthday, I have to share a couple of videos with you.  The first one is "Melancholy Man" and the second one is "My Melancholy Baby".   If you have been reading my blog, you know how my mind works by now and the second song kind of answers the first one.  (And Richard will love these fruit and vegs shown in the video!) 

Great to speak to and to SEE my inlaws today on Skype, what a great thing it is.  Hey, Joan and Peter, you both look as sharp as ever!

And by the way, you know the way women are crazy about Brad Pitt and George Clooney, hey they are okay, but I think Chas & Dave are the ones for me.  Oh yes, I am partial to these Englishmen.  Blame Richard!

Send Richard happy birthday wishes and remind him
you are waiting on him to do a guest post!

Do It Anyway

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered,
Love them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives,
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies,
Suceed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you,
Be honest anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight,
Build anyway.
If you find serenity  and happiness, they may be jealous,
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough,
Give the world the best you've got anyway.

This was written in 1968 by Dr. Kent M. Keith as part of a booklet for student leaders while he was at Harvard University.   If you look at the following link you may read about Mother Teresa's connection with this poem. http://www.kentmkeith.com/mother_teresa.html   Many have Mother Teresa credited  as the author, because this was discovered on the wall of her bedroom when she died.  Imagine how thrilled Dr. Keith must have been when he found out that Mother Teresa loved his words so much that she had them beside her every day for inspiration.
 
In 1968 when this was written, the United States of America was in such a turmoil.   Vietnam, the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy, the student protests...it was such a turbulent time.    It was because of the negative feelings around him that Dr. Keith wrote this poem, and tried to inspire good leadership.  I think this positive energy is very much needed today.

Arabia Mountain Wildflowers and Butterfly

 

Arabia Mountain with beautiful wildflowers makes for a very pleasant walk.  These blue flowers are called "Slender Dayflowers" and I believe that they are Commalina Erecta, but all I know for sure is that they are such a welcome sight, that lovely clear blue.  "The true blue of the upper petals is very rare among wildflowers" that is one of the facts that I read and it's true, we have mostly yellows in this Georgia heat.  I can't tell you how nice and cool it seems to gaze upon this blue flower.

 

Isn't this another lovely flower? Such a delicate beauty.   It is a "Blazing Star" and is a Liatris.  These were at the base of the mountain and along the wooded area leading to the mountain.  The Slender Dayflowers were all over the mountain.  We also had Pineweed much looks almost like tiny bright green pine trees but they are low to the ground and are very soft with tiny five petal yellow flowers at the very top.  The flowers are so small that they look like yellow dots at the top of the plants.  We couldn't even get a good photo of those.

 

The yellow daisies are just beginning to bloom.  They only grow within a radius of 60 miles of Stone Mountain and they will bloom until November.  (Arabia Mountain is about 12 miles or so from Stone Mountain.)  You will see more photos of Stone Mountain soon! And the yellow daisies!

 

Just as we were leaving a beautiful butterfly was flying around at the base of the mountain, and stopped just long enough for Richard to snap this picture.  I love this too because you can see the lovely rock.  It was wonderful to be back on our mountain!  Glad you could come with us!  Nice of the butterfly to see us off, wasn't it?  (Is this a red spotted purple? If it is, who names these butterflies, anyway, couldn't they come up with something better than that for this gorgeous bit of life? Just look at that blue color!)

Owl Video/Full Moon/Papa's Pears

Do you remember the two owls that we photographed at the Wildlife Festival? Richard took a video of them and I love that you can see them moving! Sorry that there is a fair amount of talking in the background, you might just want to turn your sound off and just see the silent owls turning their heads. Let me know what you think of it! 

 

Richard took a photo of the full moon this past Friday night. At first, when the moon came out, it was obscured by clouds, but a bit later, the clouds moved away and with the few clouds remaining, it made for a beautiful sight. Hard to capture this on our little camera, but trust me, it was a nice thing to see. That is a sweet gum tree in our front yard outlined under the clouds.

  

 

The last photo is one that I took at my Dad's this past Saturday and it is of the pears heavily laden upon a branch with the bright blue sky behind it. 

On Monday morning, Labor Day, we walked up Arabia Mountain, but that will have to be for another post!

The Sunshine Award

Thanks to Mac And Janet from www.macqueblogspot.blogspot.com for awarding me the Sunshine Award.   Mac and Janet live along the coast of Georgia, near Savannah, and are artists! (In painting and in words.)


Spreading a little sunshine in the world, sounds like a good idea to me!

The rules for this award are as follows:

1. Thank the person who nominated you and have a link back to them.  (Thanks again, Mac & Janet.)
2. Place the Sunshine Award in a post or on your blog.
3. Answer some questions about yourself.
4. Nominate 10 other bloggers (or I have seen it anywhere from 5-10 bloggers, that is up to you!)
5.  For the bloggers that you have chosen for the Sunshine Award, remember to comment on their
     blogs and let them know about their Sunshine Award!

Here are some sample questions:
1. What is your favorite color?
2. What is your favorite animal?
3. Do you prefer Twitter or Facebook?
4. What is your favorite pattern?
5. What is your favorite number?
6. What is your favorite day of the week?
7. What is your passion?

Now, I must tell you that I find it fairly impossible to answer questions like these.   I asked my son, "What is my passion?"  And he answered right away,  "Beauty, your passion is beauty, you are always looking for it."  And that is really all I can truly answer from those questions, and even that answer came from someone else! (Although he knows me well.)

Here are some great bloggers that I think deserve the Sunshine Award and if any of you don't "do" awards, that is perfectly fine by me, just know that  you have brought sunshine into my life and that is why you are on this list!   And if you don't want to answer the questions, you don't have to!

1.  Ma from www.goodmorningsmiles.blogspot.com
2. Meike from From My Mental Library  www.librarianwithsecrets.blogspot.com
3. Audrey from Life's Simple Pleasures  www.audreygoeslocal.blogspot.com
4. Laura Maxwell from Love the Bluebird  www.lovethebluebird.blogspot.com
5. Sue at www.sunshineinternationalblanketsoflove.blogspot.com
6. Dorothy at www.hensrule.blogspot.com
7. Farida at http://inlovewithsunflower.blogspot.com/
8. Martha at www.plowingthroughlife.blogspot.com
9. Tracey at www.breathingenglishair.blogspot.com
10. Rachel at www.mozartsgirl.blogspot.com

Please take the time to visit these blogs.  They are all so wonderful. 

And this is the sun coming over Arabia Mountain just this morning!