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Winter Solstice Eclipse

Late last night/early this morning there was a lunar eclipse (where the earth’s shadow passes over the surface of the moon). I hadn’t expected to stay up for it, since the sky had been mostly cloudy all day and evening here. However, not long before the eclipse was supposed to start, I happily discovered that the sky was mostly clear (just a little hazy at times), so I ended up staying up to watch a little over half of the event after all.
Of course, as an astronomy nerd, I’ve seen plenty of partial and full lunar eclipses before, but I still think they’re neat, and never pass up an opportunity to try to watch at least part of one. Lunar (and solar) eclipses themselves are actually not rare at all (like the media would have you believe); eclipses like this one are visible at least every couple of years in North America. However, what makes this particular celestial event kind of special is that it’s the first total lunar eclipse to occur on the Winter Solstice since the year 1638!
From beginning to end, the eclipse lasted about three hours and twenty-eight minutes. Where I am, in the central part of the U.S., the eclipse lasted from about 12:33am through 4:01am, and totality (the time when the earth’s shadow completely covers the moon) lasted about 72 minutes. I called it quits a little over half-way through (around 2:30am), because my fingers and toes were frozen. But then I ended up catching most of the rest of it via the internet while I uploaded images from my camera. The last half of the eclipse looked like the first half, just in reverse.
Below are a few of my photos of the eclipse. As I said, the sky was a little hazy at times, so they’re not the greatest, but I had fun taking them anyway. It was quite chilly outside, so at first I just bundled up and went out on the front porch with the camera every now and then to take a few shots and then came back in when I started shivering too much to focus the camera properly. However, eventually the moon got dark enough that I gave in and stayed outside, setting up my tripod in an attempt to get less-blurry images with long exposure to capture the deep rusty-red color of the earth’s shadow on the moon. (I was happy to see this color appear, because sometimes it’s just a disappointing gray).

Happy Winter Solstice!

Let’s Play Ball

Red Daisy Chrysanthemum

Autumn is here and with it has come bright blooming Mums.

Chocolate Labrador Retriever

What I See

I made a similar post on my “anonymous” personal blog probably 7 months ago, but it has come to my attention that it might be a good idea to share this here too.

As a person who is considered blind, and yet still has some vision, I have often been asked questions about my sight.

What can you see? How do you see?
How blind are you? What’s it like to see how you do?

Having never had good vision, I’ve found that it can be difficult to explain, especially since a lot of what I “see” and/or how I recognize things is based on knowledge from previous experiences. As an example I sometimes reference the tree in my front yard: Because I know there’s supposed to be a tree there and because I know that what I’m seeing is supposed to be a tree, I can usually end up correctly identifying it as a tree, even though what I’m actually seeing doesn’t look much, if anything, like one. Over the years I’ve developed some pretty good guessing skills, but, like I said, that usually only works if I have prior knowledge of an object similar to the one I’m supposed to be identifying. And along those same lines, when in a new/unfamiliar situations I really appreciate good descriptions of my surroundings from others – it helps me to make more sense of what I am seeing.
I’ve often wished I had a pair of glasses people could put on to make them see the way I do – that sure would have been handy when dealing with ignorant/arrogant classmates and teachers in school. Lately, the best way I’ve come up with to explain what or how I see is to use the super-macro (up close) setting on my camera, since this setting makes the camera extremely near sighted, like me – I can see pretty well when I’m up very close (1-4 inches) from something, but more and more details are lost as the distance increases. Color is basically the only thing I see at distances of more than a few feet. This photo method is not totally accurate, of course, because there are other issues with my eyes (including Glaucoma, Cataracts, horizontal Nystagmus, Chronic Dry Eye, and Photophobia) that all affect how well I see what I see, and also because a camera is only a moderately good imitation of a real human eye. However, it’s better than my usual vague or confusing, and sometimes snarky answers to these questions.

So, below are a few snapshots of my first guide dog blending in with the kitchen floor (3-4 feet away from me), as well as my keys laying on a table (an inch or so away from me), and my first guide dog sitting in our living room (about 1 foot away from me) to illustrate. On the left are photos representing sort of what I see, and on the right are photos of what I can only assume to be good/normal vision:

Like I said, it is NOT at all a perfect representation (some things I definitely see worse that what is depicted here, and some details I might see a little bit better), but maybe it’ll give a slightly better idea of what my sight is like for anyone who is curious.

After the Rain

Big Three Zero

Well, I’ve officially reached the big 3-0, also known as the first anniversary of my 29th birthday.

Super Harvest Moon

For the first time in almost 20 years, autumn in the Northern Hemisphere began tonight on the same night as the full Moon. This coincidence is often referred to as a “Super Harvest Moon”. It’s pretty hazy/cloudy here tonight, but I still had fun trying to get a somewhat decent photo.

Life Goes On

My sincerest apologies to anyone who may be visiting this site regularly looking for updates and not finding any. This year has been quite a roller coaster and the last couple of months have been no exception, leaving little extra time for updates here. And with a new guide dog on the way next month, I don’t foresee things calming down again anytime soon. I am still here though, life goes on, and photography goes on… sometimes. I have added a few new (backdated) photo posts today, but in all honestly (as I expected and warned at the beginning of the year) I haven’t done as much photography this year as I normally do, This is due, in part, to the many changes going on in my life right now, and also to my eyes not being able to keep up with me as well these days. At this point I know that taking pictures may never be more than the hobby/side-job it is now for me, but I still love photography and will continue to do it whenever I can.

Skeins of Yarn

I’m not sure I’ve ever written about it here, but one of my other favorite hobbies is crochet. I have been an avid crocheter since I was a small child and have made many projects, big and small, over the years. I am currently using this fuzzy, colorful yarn to make myself a new winter set of matching hat, scarf, and fingerless gloves.

Parsley Eating Worm

This is another good example of how photography enables me to see more. We found this tiny, fat worm in my Mom’s garden, but I never would have even begun to notice all the details in its camouflage without the aid of my camera. To me it just looked like a tiny green thing.

Tesla the Cat

No, this pretty little girl is not mine. I’m allergic to cats, but that doesn’t mean I won’t photograph them whenever I get the chance.

Retirement Home Found

Today my sweet retired guide dog is leaving for her new “retirement home”. It is not easy to let such a special girl go, but I know it’s the right thing to do for her.

Down Hill Nap

We had a visit from my former pet dog recently, during which she took a rather down-hill nap.