Tag: clouds

Un Árbol con Santa Cynthia for Cindy

Timothy Price46 Comments

Cindy Georgakas of Unique Times was smitten by Holly’s Tangle Heart Tree. After I gave her the history of the trees, she wants a tree, but she wanted a heart in her tree similar to the Tangle Heart Tree if possible. The Tangle Heart Tree is unique, but I found what I think is the perfect tree for Cindy. Not only does it have many of its branches making multiple heart shapes, it has a figure of a saint praying where a large branch broke off many years ago. It’s also multi-dimensional, varies from classic cottonwood to, strangely shaped cottonwood depending on which side of the tree you are on.

I named the praying saint Santa Cynthia, thinking there was probably no real Saint Cynthia. I looked her up, and the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary have a listing for Saint Cynthia [Cinthia] [249], sainted on February 8, 2000, who, according to Catholicism.org, “…was an Egyptian girl who was martyred under Decius. Because she would not worship idols, her feet were tied to a horse and she was dragged through the streets.” She has been praying in Cindy’s tree for many years. Long before she became a saint.

You can make out some heart shapes in the 2nd photo and 3rd photo.

Depending on which side of the tree you are on, it has really interesting shapes.

The first photo shows a decent heart shape. Views of Santa Cynthia.

Splash & Dash

Timothy Price46 Comments
Rise and shine the balloons are coming!

Splash and Dash are when pilots land their balloons in the Rio Grande and then take off again. The river is low enough right now that the gondolas can sit on the bottom of the river since there are only a few inches of water in most places. When the river is running higher, they truly “splash and dash”, or they risk getting carried away by the current if they linger in a higher, fast-flowing current. In 2015 one balloonist hit the water like a Kamikaze. You can see the post at https://photos.tandlphotos.com/blog/2015/10/splash-down. Today the pilots mostly sat their gondolas in the swallows for a few minutes before taking off again. Several balloons splashed in more than one location. The 5-minute video below shows balloons floating in for their splashes and dashes.

Early balloon at dawn.

The green dragon is popular. Here he is from three sides.

The stork balloon belongs to the doctor who delivered Tristan. She was born during the balloon fiesta. Poor Dr. Komadina was going to have to miss the balloon event that morning, but there was a freak snowstorm the night before leaving a foot of snow on the ground the morning Tristan was born. The balloon event was canceled that morning.

Contrails & Special Shapes

Timothy Price52 Comments
Dawn

Today was the special shapes rodeo. I did not see as many special shapes as in years past. Many of them barely rose above the trees and then went back down.

There was a traffic jamb of gondolas trying to get onto the neighbor’s field to launch. A critter balloon. Rising through behind the trees.

All the contrails for the morning jets.

Clouds are best at making special shapes.

Sunset

Burners

Timothy Price58 Comments

Four balloons inflated and launched from our neighbor’s field. Below is a video of the inflating and launching, photos of the burners, photos of the animals watching, and three new balloons.

Birthday & Balloons

Timothy Price78 Comments

Today is Laurie’s birthday and the second day of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta with a mass ascension.

Jake came out for Laurie’s birthday.

One of the helium balloons taking off last night.
X marked the spot.

There were a lot of nice high clouds this morning.

The native flyers. The pTerodactyl stopped to watch the balloons for a few minutes, also.