2011 Super Moon Rising...

On Saturday March 19th, there was a pretty special Full Moon, it was a "Supper Moon" this happens when we have a Full Moon at the same time the Moon is at its closest approach to the Earth in its orbit around us. This only happens every 20 years or so, so it made this evening a good night for moon watchers and photographers alike. I had made a decision earlier that week I was going to take the evening and go out and photograph the Moon rising over the mountains here in Las Cruces.

I was talking to my landlord earlier that day and we decided to make a day of it and go out together to photograph the Moon rising and then go have dinner someplace afterwards. We went out and found a good spot and set up our cameras and waited for the moon to rise. Here is one photo of the moon coming up over the peaks of the mountains and then a second image that I created in photoshop, it is more what I was hoping to see when the moon came up but did not so I made it happen.

Bosque Del Apache Sidetracked...

So Max and I where in Albuquerque this past weekend and on the way home Max convinced me to take the more scenic route and drive by the Bosque Del Apache (I guess because he is a BIRD dog). It was a little windy but all and all it was a pretty nice day and this is one of the photos I took along the road.

Future Fruit...

So I was in the back yard a few weeks ago and noticed that there is a pomegranate tree in the neighbors back yard but a bunch of the branches hang over our fence so next year when the fruit is ready I will be picking and eating some yummy pomegranate (is it stealing if it is hanging on my side of the fence?). There are several pomegranates still hanging on the bare tree, all of them are broken like this one and it looks like maybe some birds have been taking some of the seeds from inside some of them.

February 5th Visit to the VLA...

I went up to Socorro this past weekend to visit with my friend Judy and to go out to the VLA to look at the site for a sundial exhibit they are working on. I am going to do some concept sketches for them and I wanted to take some photos of the site to work with. I took lots of photos and also took some panoramas and have put a couple of them together.

I am never disappointed with the vistas in New Mexico, this is such a beautiful state and how amazing to see so much technology (VLA) out in the middle of nothing almost, it is so amazing to see all these radio antennas stretched out along the plains of New Mexico. This truly is a "Land of Enchantment" and I am very glad to live and work in such an amazing place.

If you look closely you will notice quite a few extra antennas in this panorama; I really like the program I am using for these (it came with my camera) but if you are not careful when you select the images to stitch together it will find matches and almost seamlessly add them to the rest of the panorama. It looks like it was able to match up the mountain ranges in the distance. It still came out pretty cool, even if it is not correct.

Working Together...

I am not an extremely political person but...

At the President’s State of the Union Address on January 25, 2011 there was an effort made by our lawmakers to break the tradition of the Democrats and Republicans sitting on opposite sides of the room, divided by an aisle. I also understand that this was nothing more than for show, they were still divided but they were willing, for a short time, to ignore their differences and mix things up and break from long held traditions.


I also understand that the way business is done in Washington was not going to change because of this symbolic show, the ideals and beliefs of the individuals have not changed, at least by much. But, despite my understanding of the divide between different political parties and even between individuals within the parties; there was some hope that maybe this show of cooperation may lead to some actual cooperation and people would start to work together.

I was listening to Morning Edition on NPR this morning and they were talking with two of those who broke from the tradition and sat together, a Republican and a Democrat ignoring the divide for a few moments to sit together. During the interview one of the two made the statement “people should not expect this to occur next year, this was a onetime thing” or something along those lines. I am not sure if it was the Democrat or the Republican that said it but it was very disappointing and disheartening to me. That one statement summed up what I knew to be true; THIS COUNTRY IS DIVIDED!

I was hoping for those few moments, that “we, the people” could set aside our differences and beliefs for a moment and listen to what each other has to say, then work together to come to some understanding that will benefit all. I no longer have much confidence in our elected officials to be able to work together to get things done, it appears that they will continue to sit on separate sides of that isle and are not willing to make an effort to honestly work together to make changes that will make a difference in all of our lives.

I will continue to hope that in the future, hopefully not too distant, we will elect someone; democrat, republican, independent or whatever, who is willing to ignore the “this is the way it is always done” idea and sit on the opposite side of the isle not only for the few moments the President is speaking each year but throughout the year. One of the news people last night explained that there are no assigned seats; well it is time for someone to stand up and say “I will sit where I want” and “talk to who I want to.” Our elected officials will never truly be able to work together until they are willing to make the symbolic seating arrangement at this State of the Union Address permanent and not just something they do for show.

Milky Way in watercolor...

Watercolor painting of the summer Milky Way, completed on January 2, 2011. I am beginning the New Year with a new painting and am going to try and spend time this year painting some of the wonders of the night sky as well as try and complete more sketches of the Messier objects to work on completing the Messier Sketch Poster I decided to start last year.

2010 Total Lunar Eclipse

This eclipse occurred last week; I posted a couple of photos to Facebook until I could finish this up. I hope you enjoy this mosaic it was a lot of fun to photograph and watch and it was a lot of fun to put this poster together. The first part of the eclipse was clear all the way to totality; I went inside during totality to re-charge camera batteries and download some photos then came back out as totality was ending for the second half of the eclipse. It remained clear most of the time but a few high clouds and some haze passed by during the last half of the eclipse but it was still visible.