Category Archives: Moon Cycles

Smorgasbord Posts from Your Archives 2021 – #Potluck – #ChineseNewYear by Miriam Hurdle

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I’m with Sally at Smorgasbord Blog Magazine today. Sally features my post about the legend and traditions of Chinese New Year. I learned a lot by preparing this post. It brought back many childhood memories. Please head over to visit Sally and her rich features on her blog.

Smorgasbord Blog Magazine

Since this series began in January 2018 there have been over 1100 Posts from Your Archives where bloggers have taken the opportunity to share posts to a new audience… mine.

The topics have ranged from travel, childhood, recipes, history, family and the most recent series was #PotLuck where I shared a random selection of different topics. This series is along the same lines… but is a ‘Lucky Dip’

In this series I will be sharing posts from the first six months of 2021 – details of how you can participate are at the end of the post.

This is the first post from children’s author and poet Miriam Hurdle and was published in February 2021 and is a celebration of Chinese New Year.

Chinese New Year – Memories, Calendar, Legend, and Traditions

Chinese New Year begins on Friday, February 12, 2021. It is the year of Ox. The holiday was…

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Lens-Artists Photo CHALLENGE #114: Negative Space

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This week for Lens-Artists Photo Challenge 114, Amy invited us to look at Negative Space in photography.

This is my first time explored negative space in photography. It made me interested to do a quick study about the subject. I only looked at three photography sites and the following is the basic idea.

Negative space is the area surrounding the main subject in a photograph. It allows us to create a dramatic image that attracts viewers to lead their eyes towards the smaller area of positive space.

Negative space should take up more of the image than the positive space. It has the effect of making us notice and inspect the main subject even more. It can be an unoccupied area.

This was three days before the full moon in July 2017
California fires: 3,154,107 Acres Burned, 7,718 Incidents, 20 Fatalities, 6,334 Structures as of Sept. 12, 2020
(Photo from my backyard Sept. 6, 2020 4:00 p.m.)

The contrast in size makes us more curious about the main subject. The smaller the subject in the positive space is, the more noticeable it will become.

A grasshopper the size of a grain of rice sitting on the African Lily in my garden.

The negative space does not have to be an empty space. Things surrounding the subject are peripheral. They almost blend into the background, but they should never be the main subjects.  They cause you to focus even more on the subject.

Rose bud in spring
I captured this yacht during a whale watching trip.
My husband turned around for a photo before he dived in the Great Barrier Reef.

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LENS-ARTISTS PHOTO CHALLENGE 114: NEGATIVE SPACE

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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #66: Filling the Frame

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For Lens-Artists Photo Challenge this week, Patti invited us to look at Filling the Frame. She demonstrated her photos of the differences of not filling the frame and filling the frame.

 

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The bees love sunflowers. This photo was taken in the summer 2018 as I waited to catch this position of the bee.

 

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There are many kinds of birds in my garden. I watch them and feed them and caught this House Finch cracking a sunflower seed.

 

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This photo was taken when we walked around Laguna Lake by our house. There were many turtles but this one was most handsome and colorful. This close-up shot allowed me to see its body texture and colors and the look on its face.

 

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There was a wildfire in Columbia Gorge in Washing, Oregon area in September 2017 caused by a 15-year-old boy igniting fireworks. The sky was covered with smoke. This was early in the afternoon.

 

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The human eyes usually cannot gaze directly to the sun. The smoke was intense and filtered the ray so we were able to look right at the sun.

 

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I used to study the moon cycles and paid attention to the Red Blood moon and the Blue moon. California is not a good location to glimpse the intensity of the colors of the moon. January 2018 was the first appearance of full moon of the year. This full moon photo was taken from our driveway early at night.

 

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This was taken at the same time of the night. I zoomed in to view the shadows of the moon.

 

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #66: Filling the Frame

 

 

 

 

 

Total Lunar Eclipse July 2018 from NASA

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The longest total lunar eclipse of the 21st century takes place today Friday, July 27. Blood Moon 2018: The time of greatest eclipse will be 4:21 p.m. EDT (2021 GMT) on July 27, according to EarthSky.org. The total eclipse will last from 3:30 p.m. to 5:13 p.m. EDT (1930 to 2113 GMT). There will also be sometime before and after when the moon is in the lighter part of Earth’s shadow, which is called the penumbra. Including that penumbral time, the eclipse will last for 3 hours and 55 minutes.

Blood Moon 2018: The total phase of the “”blood moon”” eclipse of July 27 will last 1 hour and 43 minutes, during which Earth’s natural satellite will turn a spectacular red or ruddy-brown color. From start to finish, the entire celestial event will last nearly 4 hours.

 The eclipse won’t be visible to viewers in North America, except via webcasts. But observers in much of Africa, the Middle East, southern Asia and the Indian Ocean region will get an eyeful, given the cooperative weather, according to lunar scientist Noah Petro, of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

July’s total lunar eclipse occurs on the same day the planet Mars reaches its opposition when it will shine at its best in the night sky. This month, Mars will be at its closest to Earth since 2003. After opposition, when Mars will be brightest, it will reach that closest point on July 31. You can learn more about that event in our dedicated guide here: Mars at Opposition 2018: How to See It and What to Expect

What is the Blood Moon of July 27?

Unlike with solar eclipses, you need no special equipment to observe lunar eclipses. These latter events, which occur when the moon passes into Earth’s shadow, are safe to view directly with the naked eye, telescopes or binoculars.

The moon turns deep red or reddish brown during eclipses, instead of going completely dark. That’s because some of the sunlight going through Earth’s atmosphere is bent around the edge of our planet and falls onto the moon’s surface. Earth’s air also scatters shorter-wavelength light (in colors such as green or blue); what’s left is the longer-wavelength, redder end of the spectrum.

Where and when will it be visible? The timing if this total lunar eclipse means it won’t be visible from North America, though much of the Eastern Hemisphere of Earth will see part or all of the eclipse. The entire eclipse will be visible from Africa, the Middle East and countries in central Asia. The eclipse will be visible from eastern South America as it is ending, and from Australia as it is beginning.

Super Blue Blood Moon – 2

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I did take some photos of the super blue blood moon. I was fascinated by the supermoon photos around the world so I was anxious to do the previous post.

The super blue blood moon only appeared in a short duration of time and the red color was more intense in a certain part of the world. The photos I took was more of a super blue moon rather than a super blue blood moon – the red color from the eclipse only last for a short while. The last photo was taken on January 30th.

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Super blue blood moon 9

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