Heiligenschein

I told you I was an angel. See my halo?

I decided to try to photograph Heiligenshein or holy light.


You can see it a bit better sometimes when you hold the camera away from your head. (Yes I may have put on a pound or two, but I am wearing my heavy coat, so no snarky comments!)

Here is a much stronger example.

The whole atmospheric optics site makes me wonder if most of my teachers had to put in extra effort to make science seem so dull, when really, it isn't.

Even the optics vocabulary is entrancing:
Specter of the Brocken. (Or just plain Brocken specter.)
Sun dogs.
Shadow hiding.
Alpenglow.
Sylvanshine.

And my new favorite sentence:
All shadows converge towards the antisolar point where the glory also shines.

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I first read about this a month or so ago, and remembered that it was supposed to work on either dew or hoarfrost. I set out in the heavy hoarfrosty morning to try to see it, but no luck. The sun rises behind a mountain here, so it's already up in the sky a good bit before we get our first strong rays.

I was kind of bummed about it not working. But an hour or so later, on the way back from feeding the chickens, I glanced across the yard and saw my heiligenschein on a particularly wet patch of clover. Cool!

It made me wonder how often I'd seen this but not really seen it. You know?

If you try it, let me know how it goes!

Moon corona

The moon corona from New Year's Eve. (Note also the moonlight-induced lens flare at lower right.)

Birmingham TV news stations were reportedly flooded with calls (from people who apparently only go outside at night to watch fireworks) asking, "What is that strange thing going on with the moon?!"

It was an interesting sunset that evening too -- I'll post those pics soon.

OPBP 2006, Part 7

Some of my favorite pictures from other People's blogs, continued. (See Part 1 for explanations & disclaimers.)

Category: Misc Narrow escapes


JKirlin narrowly escaped being run over by a train.


Stephen narrowly escaped being eaten alive by these aliens.


Gnumoon narrowly escaped being trapped there after dark.

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That's it for OPBP 2006. Hope you liked them and visited the blogs!

I'm sure I missed a lot of great photos. Periodically throughout the year I'd remember the OPBP idea and make notes. But often I had no time for blog reading, and sometimes I just plain forgot about keeping notes.

OPBP 2006, Part 6

Some of my favorite pictures from other People's blogs, continued. (See Part 1 for explanations & disclaimers.)

Category: Art


Allison knows art and chickens.


Tom's art really knocks me out.


Thomas explained Valentine's Day in prehistoric times.


Hick won a major award with this picture.

OPBP 2006, Part 5

Some of my favorite pictures from other People's blogs, continued. (See Part 1 for explanations & disclaimers.)

Category: People


The Indian Photographer captured some travellers.


Jean's subjects seemed a bit more relaxed.


And Kelli's daughter suggests that photographic talent may be genetic.

OPBP 2006, Part 4

Some of my favorite pictures from other People's blogs, continued. (See Part 1 for explanations & disclaimers.)

Category: Nature


Fred got the vapors


Dave got dumped on. (I'd have guessed mimosa on car hood, but it's not.)


Anne got all misty...


...and so did Dean.

OPBP 2006, Part 3

Some of my favorite pictures from other People's blogs, continued. (See Part 1 for explanations & disclaimers.)

Then there were the farm animals...


Kelli had a very sleepy chick.


Marie caught the interest of some piglets.


Jim taught Beanie to play the piano.
(Technically not from 2006, but I can't put the videos here so I'm cheating. A little birdie told me that Beanie's blog will return soon.)


Kristin had a little lamb... or two or twenty-four...


Walter has a way with pigs.

OPBP 2006, Part 2

Some of my favorite pictures from other people's blogs, continued. See Part 1 for disclaimers.

The abundant wildlife in this area, while interesting, has so far proven to be neither humorous nor wacky. These bloggers were more lucky.


Susan met a funny little stinker.


Florida Cracker made some turtle soup.


Jerry spied a bird who wondered about halitosis.


I'm not sure if Robin and Roger were watching the bobcat, or it was watching them.


Vicki made her own animal wackiness. (I think I laughed harder at this picture than at anything all year.)

2006 OPBP, Part 1

It's all Deb's fault. Over at Sand Creek Almanac last February she posted this.



That's when the idea hit me. For 2005 I'd done a list of favorite OPBP (other people's blog posts). For 2006 OPBP would stand for other people's blog pictures.

I've made the previews here rather small, but if you click them you'll be taken to the original blog post. Since it's a review, I didn't for permission -- but if your photo appears here you'd rather it didn't, just let me know and I'll remove it.

Some of these people are my blog buddies, and some of them don't know me from Adam. In either case, I hope you'll enjoy their photos as much as I did.

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I have a fascination with words in pictures. Here are a few that made me smile during the year.


Doctor HP Flowers is asked a ponderous question.


Lorianne has been sean.


Liz D has been seen and known. Or rather, her Mom has.


I wonder which one MountainMelody ate.


Knowing Pablo, he didn't.

Game Cam rides again

The game cam supposedly makes videos as well as photos. But when we tried it, things didn't turn out so well. Then when my husband tried setting it back to just photos, it wouldn't work at all. But I think it may finally be fixed.


This bobcat is from late November, just before the camera started misbehaving.


Finally, after nearly a month, it's working again! This is the largest antlered deer we've caught on the camera, although we did see a few larger ones when we first moved here. Doesn't he look healthy?


The flash scares the deer I think -- we never see the same one (in the same area) twice. Too bad that doesn't work on catfish-stealing otters too.

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The Limited edition ark will board more animals over the weekend.

Hooded Mergansers

We've been treated with visits from Hooded Mergansers nearly every day for the past month. I think that letting the pond edges go untrimmed in fall and winter has helped in that regard. (Brings in lots more sparrows too.)

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Hooded Mergansers (Lophodytes cucullatus).
A.K.A. Mergansters, in silly bird names lingo.

Meeting Elvis

Cute little stuffed dog?



No, he's real!



My sister's family got a Bichon Frise puppy for Christmas. A white powder puff of a dog.



Vicious puppy attacks shoelaces.



My sister and her new baby.

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For you garden enthusiasts, that's my Mom's really nice St. Augustine grass in the background of the outdoor pics.

"Find me something...

...that looks like a nose!"

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I made a happy little man of seeds and leaves.



He said to tell you Merry Christmas.


I had fun rearranging his features, especially his nose...



But I don't think he liked it very much.

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Our nephew is in Afghanistan. My mother-in-law is in the hospital, and so is Pablo's wife. Not where they'd prefer to be on Christmas, and I'm pretty sure that they wouldn't mind being in your prayers.

Short day, long shadow