Of the Station

In the quiet of the night where life has left the open streets for confined homes, my mind dislocates itself with self-inflicted tasks in my solitude. Yet on the hour, this misty mind hears the clear light of the train's whistle. For that moment, I'm once more aware until the train departs with its passengers aboard taking time with it.

Throughout the evening, this drifting recurs until the last train through the station. As it announces its departure, I am taken away to the bizarre realm of my subconscience until the whistle of dawn's train chases me to return to reality.

Autumnal Moon Festival

With the moon so big and bright, I just had to blind myself through the telescope. In so doing, I decided to make an attempt at lame astrophotography. For the longest time, I've not only wanted a telescope but one that has adapters for cameras to do astrophotography. I dreamt of my very own renditions of what I drooled over in science magazines and astronomy books. Unfortunately, I never got such a telescope. Instead, I was gifted one that drives children far away from astronomy due to the difficulty in just plain aiming the darned thing. Yes, it's a cheap telescope. I don't see much in it at all. Just a closer view of what my naked eye can already see.

Nevermind that. Due to the lack of the ability to mount the camera to the telescope, I decided to see what would happen if I took it thru telescope's eyepiece. It was a random hit or miss since I couldn't aim at anything really. Plus, as a moving object, I would have to constantly chase the moon with the scope. The result was surprising in that I actually did get a shot! The funny thing is it isn't even the whole moon in the field of view. =P So much for capturing the bright full autumnal moon. Still, it's the best shot I've ever gotten at least. =) It's not the best shot I've seen but certainly the closest I've ever gotten so I'm still happy with it. Since it's through the scope, the pic is flipped. It makes me look forward to better, closer, clearer shots in the future. =D

Vacancy

Yard work has yielded yet another delightful surprise! Whilst attempting to clear out a climbing ivy off a tree, I discovered the vacated house of some moth (most likely) shifting about in the summer breeze. Though it's not a colourful cocoon, it's certainly intact to the point where you can see the hairs still there.

Fungus Fest

The mundane task of yardwork has yielded beautiful surprises on many occassions over the years. Though I'd seen this giant piece of fungus growing off the side of a tree for the past few weeks, I hadn't paid much attention to it until today when I decided it was high time to remove it. To my surprise, it was not soft and spongy like mushrooms as it looked like a mushroom on steroids. Rather, it was tough and practically woody. I wouldn't want to eat this! Instead, my eyes had a delicous feast exploring its textures, colors and inhabitants. (Click on the image for a larger view and to spot the "host" at home.)

Summer Sunset Bloom

While waiting for a friend to arrive at her parent's house, I noticed I had parked next to a huge, blooming stand of pinkish-white peonies. With the sun low along the horizon, the flowers were awash in a golden glow of sun. Those who hate to wait need only look around to capture their impatience with something that makes the passage of time an enthralling journey.

Free!!

It's FREE!! Who can pass up something for free? *Everyone* needs a telephone pole in their home, right? The pole is free, no? Well, I'm sure only the sight of this sign is free. A free laugh. In passing this strange graffiti, it just struck me as curious. It appears the letters were scraped in to the wood versus being sprayed on. I had the sudden urge to put something, anything, at the base of the pole plus an arrow pointing down to see if anyone would take it as a freebie. I suppose I wanted to test the response of passersby. Would they even look despite this being a very busy intersection? Would a *car* actually stop to look and/or take? How much time would elapse after placement? Would pedestrians eye it suspiciously? I wonder...

Mystery Cargo

Waiting at a traffic light behind the county's Department of Public Works truck, I became mesmerized by translucent domes stowed in the cargo bay. My curiousity set in as I tried to determine what they were. Giant hats? Oh! The fact that it was a DPW vehicle gave me the vital clue. They were street lamp covers! Indeed, on closer inspection, you can see that these slightly angular domes have an elongated gray base which is the rest of the street lamp. Ah, how disappointing. They were not as exotic an item as I had hoped. Nevertheless, mystery solved!