I can’t wait for spring!
It is almost time for the Autumn Equinox. Depending on which part of the world you live in, you will have equal number of hours of daylight and darkness on September 22 – 23. It marks the beginning of the autumn season in the northern hemisphere and spring in the southern hemisphere.
For us in North America it marks the official beginning of autumn as we head into cooler temperatures and shorter hours of daylight.
The trees and shrubs notice the change to cooler temperatures and the leaves begin to die, but as they “leave” us, as “leaves” do, they put on a magnificent show of colour on their way out.
This picture was taken in Montana, in October of 2016. It is one of my favourite photos because of the natural colour display.
Turn on your sound. In the following very short clip, you can hear the black cottonwoods, whispering. Ignore the whistle blowing in the middle of the clip. The captain is calling his dog.
The crescent moon hovered over the hills across the bay last night.
The moon was only partially visible last night because of the angle of the sun shining on it, as seen from our perspective. I originally had the information wrong, about why we only see part of the moon, and Thomas kindly corrected it. Please see his comment below and the link to a well-illustrated diagram.
Anyway, I began to think of geometric shapes and their occurrences and practical applications.
First the circle, the general shape of our planets and their moons. Round, like apple pie, chocolate cookies, and coins….
Then the partial circle, such as the crescent. I’ll come back to that.
The lumpy rest of the moon when it’s not quite full is not such an interesting shape, but maybe it has a special name. I’m not sure.
Then we have ovals, squares, rectangles (and their many variations), and triangles.
Ovals, so named because of the shape of eggs, I suppose.
Squares? Very useful for so many things; the town market place for one. Almond squares for a treat with coffee.
Rectangles. Squares that are adjusted to fit if the sides are not equal all the way around, only those across from each other. Placemats.
Triangles. For Napoleon’s hat, and some boat sails.
But somehow, I am most impressed by the crescent shape of the moon.
Crescent, or croissant, is one of my favourite shapes, especially when it comes in the form of a shrimp croissant with a cup of Wicked Thai Soup at my local lunch place.
Do you have a favourite crescent shape?
*Not from a fire, although we’ve had a few wildfires in the region this summer.
When the Canada geese (not Canadian geese, please – they don’t have passports) start moving between fields and estuaries, in morning and evening flights, you know they are into autumn behaviour. They graze in the fields, picking at kernels of corn and anything else left behind in the harvest. Part of the day is spent near the water, preferably a river estuary, where they are relatively safe from approach by land, and where they can find bits of food, as they keep their feet cool while they soak up any sunshine that might still peek through gathering clouds.
Flights are constantly moving between field and stream, usually early in the morning and late at night. In the first video clip, the flocks are moving from the fields to the estuaries. In the second one you can see them tumbling out of the sky as they get ready to approach their destination. They seem to fold up their wings and tumble, open them to steady themselves, and then fold them again as needed. It’s their way of putting the brakes on and coming in for landing.
Please turn on the sound.
