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Even if it hadn't been too cloudy for stargazing last Saturday, the full moon would have presented difficulties. That didn't stop us from having a picnic on Coronado Heights, and as it turned out, the clouds lightened, allowing me to get a few interesting pictures of the full moon over Lindsborg.
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The photos were all shot at ISO 400, f3.2, for between 2.5 and 8 seconds. Larger versions are available at Flickr.
How Long?
by Kenny White
one's slow & one's grumpy
they live in the white house
they have lots of parties the fun never ends
let's make sure when the day finally comes
time to move out
they don't hand the keys off to one of their friends
and how long are we gonna put up with this
how long can we keep getting kicked in the head
come back and beg for more
this renegade frat boy is hazing the country
his cronies and yes men all cheering him on
when we beg him to stop he just pulls off our dignity
pins down our arms 'til our spirit is gone
and how long.....
the Miller's next door, we don't see them much lately
their kids used to play 'til the light disappeared
and the oldest one, James, so proud in his uniform
let's see, he would've been 20 this year
still you send off our boys with a patriot noise
and you can't even show up on weekends to serve
you strike up a war to settle a score
yeah you know what it's for
and you've got your nerve
and how long....
what happened to leaders who actually cared
for their places in history, cared for the truth
now we get dimwits who gloat over gimlets
with kerosene eyes and hearts cold as duluth
and how long...
i'd so love to not feel so constantly twisted up
heated, clench-fisted and chronically mad
no better than those dealing the blows
and spending the time i'll wish later i had
when you care for the cause,
you act to protect it
when you care for the truth,
you do not correct it
when you care for the earth,
you try not to neglect it
when you care about light,
you help to reflect it
history's memory is snap photographic
and history's eyes have the deadliest aim
but history's heart will be far from empathic
when it finally gets to uncover your game
and how long....
one's slow & one's grumpy
they live in the white house
they have lots of parties the fun never ends
let's make sure when the day finally comes
time to move out
they don't hand the keys off
to one of their friends
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I can't find a free online version for you to listen to; the song is available from the iTunes music store. You can listen to the first part of the song here.
Motivated by the desire to make something with pecans and chocolate, I ended up making this recipe last weekend. These cookies are really very good! They taste somewhat like regular chocolate chip cookies, which is surprising given their dark color.
Chocolate Chip and Pecan Cookies
Ingredients
1 C butter
1/2 C brown sugar
1/2 C granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1.5 C flour
4 Tbs unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
6oz semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 C toasted pecans (I toast lightly in a small no-stick pan for 5-10 mins on low heat, watching and stirring all the while)
Preparation
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add lightly beaten eggs and vanilla and mix.
Mix sifted dry ingredients into creamed mixture and stir.
Mix in chocolate and pecans.
Drop teaspoon size balls of dough on greased cookie sheet (Pam works nicely) and bake for 10-11 minutes at 350 degrees.
My on again, off again interest in astronomy is on the rise again, and this time I plan to focus on an area that's always held my interest, astrophotography. I've dabbled before, but never really engaged, but I think this time will be different. Rather than focusing on some telescope I wanted to buy, and then trying to figure out if I could use it for astrophotography, I began with trying to understand what equipment I would need to take quality images. A high quality motorized German equatorial mount seems to be the place to start.
While that does imply some shopping in the future, I decided to give it a shot using my existing photography equipment. And so I took my camera and tripod outside last night, and started taking photos of Jupiter and the Milky Way. At first I was going to try and shoot "star trails" but decided instead to just take a few slightly lengthy exposures and see how things worked out.
Overall, I'm ok with my first results. There is a bit of star trailing, but the focus seems good and my first attempt at astro image processing using Lightroom's rich controls gives me hope for even better results as I gain experience. Actually, I'm happy enough that I'm likely going to get an appropriate motorized mount (which will move the camera at the same rate the earth turns, thus removing the star trails) and just use my camera for a while (though as George correctly noted, I really do want something like an 80mm refractor).
Below are the two best images of the night, viewing the Milky Way, looking east. Both photos were taken using my Canon 350D with the 17-55/F2.8 lens. I opened up all the way to 2.8 and used the camera's remote control to minimize vibrations. Using the bulb setting, I exposed the first image for 17 seconds, and the second for 40.
I didn't make a Flickr set with only two photos, but you may click either of the images below to see a larger version at Flickr.
Rain delayed Lindsborg's annual fireworks display by one day, until July 5th. While this may have led to a smaller crowd, it didn't hurt the fireworks at all. You can see even more images (larger ones, too) at my Fireworks 2007 set on Flickr.
I love fireworks; here's a photo from last year's celebration here in Lindsborg.
