Well, here we are, the last 90 minutes of 2021, at least on the West Coast.
Proving that 2021 is still trying to rack up points to win the award for Worst Year EVER, on top of COVID and all of its variants, and the GOP, and the brush fires, and the climate change, and on and on and on, we got the news that Betty White, beloved actress and comedienne supreme, died just seventeen days short of her 100th birthday.
This year is going to need to be strangled hard and have a stake driven through its heart.
On the other hand, as my SIL said, “What did she know about 2022 that we don’t?” Yeah…
Looking for some light in that tunnel, specifically some starlight and Christmas lights, I figured out tonight how to get my annual picture of Orion over the house with the house lit up with Christmas lights. It used to be easy with Orion high in the south and the house facing north:
From 2007. But that was the old house, and the “new” house (coming up on three years!) faces west. So I had to change the angle a bit, go stand in the middle of the street for a few minutes (what a stupid way to end up in ICU that would be on New Year’s Eve!), and end up with a huge freakin’ telephone pole in the way (nothing a chain saw wouldn’t solve).
A 1/2 second exposure. The urban forest with utility poles, streetlights, and wires everywhere.
A one-second exposure. It might not be art, but it is what we have.
To top it all off, I yoinked some muscle in my back this evening doing nothing more strenuous than sneezing. It’s a good thing that the alternative is worse, because this getting old crap is a pain in the ass.
With all of that said – Happy New Year to you all! I hope that you are all safe as 2021 ends and 2022 begins. I beg you all to continue to be careful, both with politics, our changing world, and especially the diseases threatening us. We still have a way to go and every indication is that the next few months (the “fifth wave”) will be brutal.
Be kind.
Be smart.
Take care of yourself.
Take care of others.
We’ll get through this together.
Happy New Year!
We Love The Stars Too Fondly 