Black and white of snow under dawn’s dark light turns to snow black and white under a dark street light.
Cranes fly into darkness in the sun’s waning light.
Clouds break up over the Rio Grande and the snow-covered Sandias.
Mama Owl and Daddy Owl perched in a different tree.
Crows fly in the final light of dusk.
The pTerodactyl reflects in the darkness.
Gwendolyn: “You woke me up to tell me about some dumb celebration in the cold and snow?”
The first year we celebrated Reyes in Madrid, Spain it snowed. Not common for Madrid, and apparently Madrid got a lot of snow today. We stood outside in the cold and snow and watched a parade where the three Reyes Magos rode into town on Camels. Then we ate Spanish Chocolate. We have continued the tradition of eating Spanish Chocolate for Epiphany ever since. Today we celebrated outside in the cold and snow with a space heater, chimenea, fire pit, and a camp stove all burning to keep us warm. Since January 6th was on Wednesday, we waited until tonight, January 9th, to celebrate. However, instead of having our normal party with friends and neighbors coming to join in, we had family only. This was the first Reyes in the last 20 years that we didn’t invite everyone to partake in Spanish Chocolate.
The fires.
Silver napping.
Enjoying the heat when the temperature was 35ºF outside.
Spunk napping.
The end of the party before I turned the torches and lantern out.
Glenda: “You are dumb enough to be outside in the cold. I’m staying in my cozy cubby.”
6:00 am. Venus rising in the dark at dawn.
Glenda looking cool on top of an armario at noon.
Sasha napping at noon in the new hammock that replaced one of the worn-out burlap hammocks.
6:00 pm Saturn and Jupiter closing in on each other.
A closer view of Saturn and Jupiter at 6:00 pm. The lights coming off at an angle from Jupiter might be a few of its 79 moons.
Saturn and Jupiter on December 7th.
I wanted to photograph Saturn and Jupiter every night in December, but so far between cloudy skies and getting out too late because I was doing other things and missed the narrow window between when it’s dark enough to see them and when they disappear behind the trees, I photographed them on the 7th, 8th, 12th, 13th, and 15th. Five out of 15 nights is not my best, not my best at all. They are converging, and currently, the forecast is for clear skies on Monday when Saturn and Jupiter conjoin. I’ll see if the forecast is correct, and I’m planning on photographing them every night for the next six nights.
Saturn and Jupiter on December 8th. 
Saturn and Jupiter in the trees on December 12th.
Saturn and Jupiter on December 13th. 
Saturn and Jupiter on December 15th.
The Beaver Moon rose in the northeast on November 30th. I had to photograph it through the cottonwoods to get its yellow color when it was just above the horizon. A Beaver Moon in cottonwoods seemed most appropriate. This Beaver Moon was also the last penumbral lunar eclipse of the year.
Early morning. Cold with darkness all around. I was low on gas @ 15666 mi. You see…
…I pulled into Phillips 66 to Phill-er-up, but Phillip said “No gas for you today!”
I walked out to the Tangle Heart Tree under the light of a half-moon. The owls hooted, Chupacabra nipped at my heels, and La Llorona wept in the shadows. As I approached the Tangle Heart Tree, the half-moon and Jupiter fell into the heart. While I was photographing the phenom of a cottonwood embracing two celestial bodies, a legion of ghosts swept past me streaking my photo, causing the coyotes and chupacabra to howl, and La Llorona to cry out as she grabbed at the apparitions hoping to catch her children among the flock of phantoms. The remnants of ghostly matter made the next photo look like a painting. The following photo came out a little clearer, but there were still pieces of paranormal particles hanging in the air. The last photo cleared up a little more but it still shows remnants of the eidolon.
A legion of ghosts swept past me.
The remnants of ghostly matter.
Pieces of paranormal particles hanging in the air.
Still showing remnants of the eidolon.
I don’t know why I keep trying to photograph bats zooming around me when I’m on the levee. It’s dark, they are fast and erratic, and it’s hard to get a really clear shot. But I keep going “Bat” Jack and doing it again, and again, and again.
Tristan texted Laurie last night that she could see Neowise in the western sky. We went out to look, but we could not see it. I got the binoculars, and Laurie finally found it. It showed up very well in the binoculars. Tristan said it was directly below the bottom star in the big dipper. The comet makes up the apex on an equilateral triangle with two stars from Ursula Major, I believe. You can read more about how to see Neowise at https://www.nasa.gov/feature/how-to-see-comet-neowise/
I dragged out a tripod, got focused on the Big Dipper, turned off autofocus, pointed my leans in the general direction of the comet, and check shots until I saw it on the screen. There were clouds in the eastern skies that were reflecting the city’s light making it so we could not see the comet with our naked eyes. After we found where the comet was, focusing on it was a real challenge. I can’t simply set the lens on infinity and shoot like I could with the old manual focus lenses. These photos give you a decent idea of what it looked like.
The peak of the eclipse at 10:30 pm MDT.
There was a Penumbral Lunar Eclipse tonight, July 4, 2020. The moon was so bright, I couldn’t see any changes to it besides the clouds drifting by adding a little drama to the scene. It was rather anticlimactic, but I photographed in anyway.
The tracker on my screen showed the coverage at the peak on the eclipse.
A cloud drifting by at 10:07 pm gave an eclipse look to the moon.
9:40 pm clouds striping across the moon.
9:45 pm cloud eclipse.
Off Center & Not Even 