Synchronized Rising

In the conjunction of Venus and Mars this morning, Venus rose 6º 34′ north of Mars. When I went out at 5:30 am Venus had risen above the trees, but Mars was still in the tress with two stars.

Zoomed in, Mars looks like it’s hanging off the bottom of the branches of Gigi’s tree.
About 15 minutes later, Venus was on the edge of Resa’s Tree and Mars was to the left above Gigi’s tree.
The Big Dipper was overhead, bearly showing in the predawn light.
At 6:00 am, Mars was above the left side of Gigi’s tree, but starting to fade in the light.
A few minutes after 6:00 am, Mars showed up very red.
A few minutes after I took this photo, Mars was consumed by Dawn’s yawning light.

Last Day Of Retrograde

Today is the last day of Venus in retrograde. If you’ve been having issues with relationships, beauty, love, money, and values over the past six weeks, things should start to change. The moon and Venus rose close to the same time this morning, and the owls were in Susan’s tree having a bit of hanky panky at the first light of dawn. I noticed overly excited, simultaneous hooting, saw a lot of flapping of wings in my peripheral vision on Susan’s tree, looked over, and got a photo of the last wing flap before the male flew off, leaving the female to watch the dawn.

Crane Quartet

These guys were really singing tonight.

Trio landing.

Venus at dawn.

Jupiter and moons.

I mentioned the fluorescent bulb that caught on fire when I was twisting it out of the sockets yesterday and gave me inspiration for the Jaywalking song. I recovered the burned sockets this morning and photographed them. In the few seconds it took me to twist the bulb out of the socket, the flames melted the socket as shown in the photo.

Aligned

Jupiter, Saturn and Venus are aligned with the moon close by, but not quite inline. While I was waiting for it to get dark enough for Saturn to show up clearly, I almost lost Venus in the trees.

And The Winners Are…

Spunk waiting with AantíiciipÁation!

Gabriela announced the winners of her Woman: Splendor and Sorrow: | Love Poems and Poetic Prose poetry contest this morning. I am very excited to announce that I shared Third Place with D. Wallace Peach. Congratulations to Virginia Mateias for her First Place poem, and Ingrid Wilson, and Eric Daniel Clarke for their Second Place poems. You can read all the poems at: The Winners of The Poetry Contest Woman: Splendor and Sorrow: | Love Poems and Poetic Prose.

My poem is One Side Sacred The Other Side Profane inspired by Gabriela’s poem Between Sacred and Profane. I based my poem on W. Eugene Smith’s activism against mercury poisoning in Minamata, Japan in the 1970s. He published a book titled Minamata: Life Sacred and Profane in 1972 that brought the issue worldwide attention. I first saw the book when I was a photo student at the University of New Mexico in the early 1980s. I wanted to buy a copy of the book back then, but I couldn’t afford it as a student. Now copies sell for hundreds of dollars, so I still don’t have one. W. Eugene Smith was one of the most important American photojournalists of the 20th Century. I don’t think he ever took a bad photo. His County Doctor series is brilliant. Chisso employees attacked and beat Smith in 1972. Smith lost sight in one eye and never really recovered. He died in 1978 at the tender age of 59. His death was a huge loss to the world of photography.

Dawn

We have cloudy skies tonight. The photos below are from last night before I encountered the zombies and sprites.

Christine’s Tree with the moon in the background. Mia’s Tree under Venus. Christine’s Tree with a bicycle in the background.

Sunset

Lunar Lineup

Jupiter, Crescent Moon, and Venus in a bent line. Saturn’s between Jupiter and the Moon, but it’s not bright enough to show up in the wide-angle photo.

Moon over the Rio Grande at dusk.

Moon over cranes in the Rio Grande at dusk.

Moon in the Tangle Heart Tree.

Jupiter with moons and stars.

Cranes: What’s the big deal? We could fly up to the moon if we wanted to!