Thursday, August 18, 2016

I've gone mad for the Perseid {meteror showers} Moon

Long ago and not so far away, I saw a shooting star.   And I was totally dazzled by it.  Long before I had any idea what that I was seeing, I was looking for them,  and I still do.  And I still make wishes on them.  In Appalachia, where I live, they are considered omens of  death, when in fact they bring the elements needed for life to earth, something I have always found an interesting contradiction!

This year the much awaited Persiad meteor shower, was an outburst, the like of which hasn't been seen since the 2009  showers.   The glimmers and streaks of lights across the night sky are the product of the earth's atmosphere  passing through the particle laden tail of Comet Swift Tuttle and may have  reached nearly 200 hundred per hour {that's 3 per minute on average}  on the peak night of Aug11-12, instead of the usual 80 per hour.  Theses bright streaks  which originated from Perseus the Hero were seen across the  night sky, instead of mainly in the  Northern  quadrant.    


I learned this year the increase in meteor activity starts earlier in August and extends for several more days past peak, I also learned that you have to be patient to see them,  and lucky enough to have clear skies and ,  clear skies have been very rare this so far this month.   I was lucky this year and there was about 45 minutes of clear sky that night,  I was dazzled, in awe, amazed, and transfixed as I watched.

A few nights later, I was surprised by the clear skys, and got got this  image of the waxing gibbous Full Sturgeon Moon through the lilac's branches.   
This is the time of year when the sturgeon is most easily caught, an ancient looking fish, which grows to immense proportions and age, who looks like a being caught between the ancient watery past and the land dwellers of the present.  I think they a quite mysterious.  Sturgeon are possibly the grain of truth in lake monster myths, possibly.   Fiercely beautiful, like the  month of August, with it pummeling rainstorms, hurricanes, and stifling heat and humidity.

August's full moon is also known as the Green Corn Moon and the Thunder Moon.   So this could be the Fierce moon, or the Perseid Moon, by my reckoning
.









YUM!, guest blogger on making Naan....something I am new to and still working on

  Naan is tasty!   I wanted to make some, and from there on out, wellllllllllll, it's been a learning experience!   And I don't give...