Sept 27 Super-Harvest-Blood-Moon

I love looking at the moon and this was a Once In A Lifetime Event - a lunar eclipse the same night as the Harvest Moon; a super-moon because of its closeness to the earth. AKA Blood Moon because of the eclipse. A perfect Moonage Daydeam (if you're a 70s alumni, you'll get that).

I consulted my mobile app "The Photographer's Ephemeris" for the moonrise time & location. This is a really handy tool, by the way.  http://photoephemeris.com/

The night before we scouted out possible location shoots. I spent a couple hours researching advice for the best camera settings and prepping the camera. These aren't pro-quality, but not bad for the size lens I had (and my amateur skills).

 I wanted a building or something in the foreground for perspective and picture interest.

For my purposes, a good spot was the church a mile from here.

I got one good shot with the steeple in the picture, but the best moon-shots were without the building.

The moon actually looks more red in photographs. To the naked eye, it was lighter than this. These pix are not edited except for cropping.

A friend brought her lawn chair & joined us. It was fun sitting outside, watching this together, almost like sitting under the summer sky watching the holiday fireworks.

After we went home, I went out on the patio & shot the rest of the eclipse action.

 Almost over...

 And here we are, back to normal.

The next morning, that same bright, full moon was setting in the western sky. I didn't get the tripod out, but took a picture anyway.

So that's it - Blood Moon #4, September 27, 2015. So glad the weather was nice, the sky was clear and I got to see the whole thing this time. And so thankful for a patient hubby, who indulges my escapades of chasing the sunset or moon.

Having Fun With Lightroom

 Please indulge me while I get a little artsy with some photos I took at last week's excursion to the drive-thru Safari zoo...

 I love using the Lightroom software. It's great for quickly & easily organizing your photos and playing with different effects. Score another for Adobe!

Labor Day Safari

 We wanted to take a drive out of town, maybe find something interesting to photograph. There's not a lot within a roundtrip drive of here that we haven't already seen. We headed east towards Arkansas; at least it's a pretty drive and there's places to stop for lunch.

I saw a sign for the drive-thru animal park that I went to with my son & daughter-in-law a couple years ago. Hubby was game, so to speak, and took the exit.

The disadvantage of taking pix here is you have to get most of them thru the window. The rules are to keep windows up, don't feed the animals and don't stop. We had taken the convertible and the lady at the gate warned us, "don't stop - they'll lick the ragtop and stain it."

Of course all the cars in front of us stopped and some were even feeding the animals. Clearly it's been done before because several would stand by the road and approach the cars, like panhandlers. As they started coming towards us and we're trapped behind the stopped vehicles, I'm thinking "move! move! they'll poke a hole or drool on our roof!!"

The emus were especially comical. They would stride along the road, trying to look in the windows. Makes you feel like you're the zoo attraction, not them. The camels would just block the road.

It was in the 90s today; a little too hot for spending much time at the walk-around part of the zoo. And much too hot to put the top back down for the trip home.

Prairie dogs are always fun to watch. They also have camel rides for the kids. There's lots of deer, monkeys, kangas. The brochure says they have 80 species of exotic & domestic animals on 300 acres.

After we parked, I got out to change into walking shoes and this guy approached the fence and let out a series of hee-haws. Don't know what that was all about, but it was entertaining.

It was a fun, spontaneous kind of day. Just a nice time with hubby, driving, talking, listening to music, taking pictures and just being together.

The temps will feel like summer for awhile yet, but fall is just around the corner. My favorite time of year!!

Back to School!

Our ministry held a back to school outreach last weekend with the help of a local model plane flight demonstration team.

They put on an entertaining show that families enjoyed while munching on free hot dogs and lemonade.

Capt. Dennis has a very unique way of weaving the love of God with a bit of aviation history. With his stories of the Wright Brothers successes and failures, he imparts to adults and children alike that God has a plan for their lives, no matter what circumstances look like, no matter how many times they encounter failure and disappointment.

The parents went home with groceries and the kids went home with school supplies. One lucky little girl won a huge model plane!

 This weekend we partnered with a sister church at their outreach.

Volunteers of all ages from the church packed food boxes Thursday evening.

 

They served refreshments Saturday morning.

 Backpacks had been purchased and stuffed with school goodies.

The children participated in a very lively children's church service after playing video games & air hockey, while their parents heard a message encouraging them that they are very much loved and accepted by God.

At both outreaches, families left loaded down with love and encouragement, a box of groceries, a bag of meat, fruit, supplies to start the school year, and most importantly, the Good News of the Gospel, delivered in a gentle way.

I have a personal policy of not posting people's faces on my blog, especially children. I so wish I could! The way these children's faces lit up watching the planes, listening to Capt. Dennis' stories, and then at receiving their brand new backpacks was worth every penny donated, every minute spent preparing, every box packed. I got some precious, precious shots, but I'll leave you with this one...

Drive-by Shooting -- With a Canon

I had a Saturday morning alone with no obligations (a rare occasion). The weather was cool and perfect for a convertible ride and photography excursion.

I had a particular place in mind in a small town nearby. I figured this certain spot would be easy to find but I drove all over with no luck.

There was really nothing anywhere that would make an interesting picture and I'm pretty good at finding insignificant stuff and zeroing in on it (at least I think so).

I drove through another tiny town and there was nothing at all there. It was kind of depressing. Turned around to head home and saw this one building. I hadn't really noticed it when I went thru town the first time. I pulled into a side street and, not even getting out of the car, snapped a couple shots.

This cast-off building was maybe once somebody's business, maybe their dream. Now it sits abandoned and boarded up. I thought it was beautiful, a work of art.

The curves of the windows, the color of the brick.
See how this table and it's objects are arranged...so artfully.

Such a bright red for such a forlorn structure!

I drove around to the back, snapped a couple more pix, then around to the other side and saw this row of windows. The patina of time working with design and decay makes it so interesting.

I ventured on down the road and saw a sign pointing to another small town I've never been to. That turned out to be a true country road, a gravel one-laner that came to a dead end.

So again I turned the car around and again noticed something I had missed on my purposeful journey through the first time. Wildflowers growing alongside the rusty barbwire fence. Not one to go home with an empty SD Card, I snapped the flowers and de rigueur hay bales.  

I did my best to salvage my trip with a couple pictures and didn't even have to leave the car. Best of all, I enjoyed a beautiful Saturday morning, because...summer is flying by!

Sometimes we're so intentional with our plans,

we miss the sweet moments

that are there for us to enjoy in just be-ing.