Pretty much just what it says. Click on them to blow them up, I’m giving you the full sized files.
Cotton candy skies.
Especially the one below, the panorama!
Category Archives: Sunsets
Sunrise Over The Pergola
In about three hours there will be starting the totality phase of the only lunar eclipse of the year, and the last one in North America for about three years. It may or may not be clear enough to see it here, we’ve been getting on and off clouds all day. It doesn’t matter to me – I won’t be up at that time of the morning to see it. That’s a game for the young.
However, I was up just before 05:00 this AM (another fate caused by age) and saw the most amazing and bright red and orange sunrise. That will have to do for today.
Filed under Astronomy, Forever Home, Photography, Sunsets
Purple Streaks In The Sunset
This whole “stress dreams on top of nightmares combined with having to get up to pee every 90 minutes” thing just isn’t as much fun as it sounds like. My watch says I got two hours of sleep last night. I’m glad that one of us thinks that’s true.
There’s a meme going around that says, “What’s something you’ve never tried in the bedroom bur really want to? ME: Sleeping a full eight hours and waking up actually refreshed with a will to live.” Yep.
At least there was a very pretty sunset tonight!
Just enough clouds to create a canvas for the colors to soak into, not enough to make it gray and gloomy.
Where the Sun had just vanished we got some great yellows, reds, pinks, and oranges.
And off to the north (and a little bit to the south), some deep purples, which were glorious to see in person.
That’s a big “Yes!” checkmark on the plus side ledger for today. Little victories – take ’em and celebrate ’em when you can!!
Filed under Photography, Sunsets, Weather
Above Average Sunset & Crescent Moon
It might not have been one of those mind blowing sunsets that you get in the tropics almost every day and you get here every few years, but it was definitely signficantly above average. Lots of nice color.
A few contrails lit up in nice shades of pink and purplish-orange.
And rising even further away from the Sun, but still close enough to get into the picture with the proper iPhone camera settings, the Moon is now four days past new and 23% illuminated.
All together, it doesn’t suck. Most days that’s about the best you can ask for.
Filed under Astronomy, Photography, Sunsets
Crescent Moon
Not bad for a handheld photo on an iPhone in freezing cold (literally) and 30 knot winds.
Even the 8x telephoto is reasonably crisp.
You’ve probably seen a lot of these types of photos in the last couple of days on social media. Two days ago the Moon was right next to Mercury, and tonight it was near Saturn. A lot of folks have been noticing.
Filed under Astronomy, Photography, Sunsets
Timing Is Everything
Both good and bad. Going out at the right time and you find an amazing selection of overcast textures.
Later, while taking out the trash barrels, I was apparently about ten to fifteen minutes too late to see what must have been an amazing sunset. I just got the dregs, which were still intriguing.
Filed under Photography, Sunsets, Weather
Sundown Behind The Mountain
Today is Thursday. (Right?) Thursday night is take-the-trash-barrels-to-the-curb night because Friday morning at 7:00 AM is trash pickup.
It was cloudy and I was taking the barrels out right at sunset. With the dimmer sunlight due to the clouds, I noticed that the Sun was setting almost directly behind the peak of Mt. San Antonio, otherwise known as “Old Baldy.”
The coloring on the sunset was sort of blase, but knowing this now I’ll have to watch for a more spectacular sunset around this time of year (and presumably, one other time) when the celestial mechanics align.
Filed under Forever Home, Photography, Sunsets
Winter Solstice 2025
As the light dies at the end of the shortest day of the year, we try to supplement the remaining light in the beautiful sunset with those of our own celebrations.
You can think and believe what you want about the Bible and the story of Jesus’ birth, but I’ll guarantee you that he wasn’t born in late December or the middle of winter. Too many things point to a spring birth. But the reason the early Christians celebrated around the winter solstice was so that they would blend in, not stand out, and not be targets for persecution.
The winter solstice was known and celebrated a thousand year or more before the Roman Empire. Pre-historic peoples needed to know the seasons in order to know when to plant crops, when to hunt, how to survive. The days gettting shorter and colder had to be terrifying with no knowledge of what was causing it (Earth’s axial tilt) and whether or not longer, warmer days would return. So when the solstice came and the days started to lengthen again, it was a cause for celebration, often with symbols of light being prominent.
Millenia later, I put up a gazillion Christmas lights. Slightly different reasoning and knowledge bases perhaps, same celebration.
Welcome back to the light!
Filed under Astronomy, Christmas Lights, Photography, Sunsets
Hesperia Christmas Lights 2025 – Day Four
When last we saw our plucky hero, the new Forever Home had a substantially larger roofline than the old houses, so while the “baseline” colored C9 lights and white icicle lights had been put up, there were large gaps in the front that didn’t have lights at all. By the time this was discovered, buying additional lights in the store was out of the question and it took a couple weeks for them to be found and shipped in an online purchase. Now they’re here, and it was time to get those “baseline” light sets up.
Because I’m working from both ends and meeting over the front doors, there are more lights there than anywhere else as the sets overlap. That’s fine. It draws attention to the front doors, which is also where the wreaths are and where the roofline naturally is larger and more distinct.
I also started throwing strings of small colored LEDs into the now leafless maple tree. It’s a good start, but I would like to double the number and get some into the upper branches. We’ll see if I can spare any time tomorrow.
Overall, I like it, a lot. It’s a much bigger canvas than we’ve ever had at the last two houses, so I’ll need to step up my game next year to fill it better, but this year has given me valuable information to use to plan that.
Another area that can use some more lights to wrap up is over by the driveway, where only three of the seven trees have lights right now. Again, we’ll see if I have any time tomorrow to finish it up.
Filed under Christmas Lights, Forever Home, Photography, Sunsets
Go Outside Around Sunset!
Big picture, like, we’re talking “annually,” the timing of sunset shifts with the seasons, so knowing when it is (ballpark figure, at least – 16:30 or 19:30?) keeps you in touch with the planet you live on and the progress of the seasons. The Winter Solstice is next week! Are you ready?
Looking at the more near-term picture, check the weather, look at the sunset (sometimes it’s just okay, sometimes it’s spectacular, most of the time it’s somewhere in between, like today), see if anyone else in the neighborhood has put up any new Christmas lights, (especially if it’s windy as all get out like today) see if any of our lights have come down, and so on. You should be getting out a few times during the day anyway to stretch your legs, but the sunset one is particularly important.
Looking for the meaning of life? The odds are against your finding it out here with this view, but they’re a lot higher than they are sitting in front of a computer playing a game, working on a spreadsheet, doing data entry, or doomscrolling through social media.
Filed under Photography, Sunsets
We Love The Stars Too Fondly 