All in a Garden Green

It's got butterflies on it! Wheeee!!

Helmet came in today, fits just like it should, makes me happy. Also, it's not exactly "beige", like the book says... it's gold. All sparkly. Me likey.

A am hoping the weather clears off later so I can see some of the Perseids... tonight and tomorrow are supposed to be peak evenings, but it's currently rather cloudy, thanks to a freak thundershower that rolled through a few hours ago. If it's clear where you all are, find a place that doesn't have light pollution and watch meteors with me... :)

For now, though, off to fencing! Inside, probably... dumb rain, making the grass all slippery...

Meteors were lovely from the hot tub. Myself, nicely simmered. I can turn my head again, as the crick in my neck is gone. Saw many nice Quadrantids, in the first wee hours of their appearance. Most were gold, a few nice blue ones, and most were nice and bright. Fabulous. Bed now. Sleep.

Tip No. 1 for surviving, nay, enjoying a Maine (or New England in general) Winter: Get a hot tub.

Better yet, get some friends that have a hot tub, or convince/encourage/go along with existing good friends that it would be a great idea to get a hot tub, and have them invite you over a lot to soak. It may be barely 25 degrees outdoors and snowy, but relaxing in said outdoors in a nice and toasty warm bath, while meteors zip overhead is truly a wonderful place to be.

Meteors! The sky finally decided to be cloud-free, and boy was it worth it. A half hour in the aforementioned hot tub was prime viewing for day-after-peak Geminids. Saw around 15 meteors, some faint, others VERY bright and spectacular. Their colors that I've seen can be anywhere from bright white to nearly true yellow, some with a hint of orange. When it's clear out, and one can actually see them, the Geminids are one of the more reliably satisfying showers.

Winter roads... now that they're clear and drivable again, I remember that I quite enjoy driving at night in the wintertime. Snow on the trees on the back roads I drive at least once or twice every week changes the appearance so completely. It's dramatic during the day when the green of the pines shows through the white of the snow, onto the blue sky. Snow covered branches against the black of night turn the road into a winding path through the woods. Peoples' darkened houses can not be seen through the trees, and I can pretend I'm back in the country, where WalMart and HomeDepot aren't 2 minutes down the road, and the stars aren't blotted out by far too many bright lights.

Winding paths through the woods... it's been a long time since I've walked in the woods. Dad and I used to go all the time behind our house; just him, me, pristine new snow, and Butter Rum Lifesavers. Still one of my favorites. :) Time moves on, I've moved out, and the woods behind the house are too quickly being chopped down in favor of "progress" in the form of new McMansions homes. Summer is better for that now. The leaves hide things much better than bare branches.

There really is something in the photo there... full view is well worth it, I think. :)

The Leonids were somewhat disappointing last night... I saw 5 or 6 faint ones in 45 minutes or so, then one nice bright streak across the sky as I was playing with my film camera... Played with long-exposure shots on both the digicam and my Canon, this was the best of the bunch off the digital Kodak. Not too bad for a first attempt. I can only do a 16 second exposure, full open f-stops, and 400 speed "film" so it's horribly grainy, but the stars are there! My Canon can do a 30 second (or 'bulb' - hold the shutter open for as long as you want, but good luck eliminating camera shake, even with a tripod. No expensive electronic remote shutter for me...) shot, and I had 200 speed film, so we'll see what turns out... I'm going to take the rest of the roll tonight, then see what I get. :) I may have a roll full of black rectangles, but one shot just might have a meteor streaking through it, if I had the camera aimed right. :)

Went to Harper's Retreat in NH with Max & Mickel yesterday. Much fun was had. I brought the fencing gear, but didn't end up using it. The majority of swordplay happened on Saturday, and there were twisted ankles and a general lack of enthusiasm to contend with yesterday*, so I hung out on the archery field and took lotsa photos. Some of them can be found here.

Day off today, have to do laundry, repot houseplants, clean kitchen. What fun. :-p Fire tonight, though. Am bringing the s'mores stuff.

Also, this is coolness beyond words: Google Sky *drool*

*edit - I don't know what day it is, apparently...

..but cooler. I love fall. So what if it's a month early. The moon and a couple planets (Venus? Mars? I need to look at my star charts again) were in beautiful alignment at the end of fencing practice tonight, and all was right with the world. Practice was fun, as usual; I managed to fence case without chopping my own arms and legs off as I often have in the past. Am now ready to go down to Carolingia on Sunday and play with my fencer friends there. Yay!