Ides of Autumn

We've had a few days of cloudy weather, followed by a couple of nights where the temperature got down to the high 20's, and suddenly the days feel like Autumn.  Now that the sun is back, I really notice how much shadow covers the yard.  

Since it was going to be sub-freezing, I drained the fountain and took out the pump.  This made me melancholy, because now the the hummingbirds won't visit.  The first cold morning I put out a plate of water on top of the fountain's basalt column.  One of the morning hummingbirds zipped over the fountain, hovered around it, and I swear it looked over its shoulder through the glass patio door at me as if to say, "Unacceptable," and zipped over the house and away.  This is the sort of thing that makes me want to have a ritualistic re-filling of the fountain, which will probably have to wait until the March 20 Equinox.  

The second cold morning, all the zinnias durned brown; so did most of the grape leaves, which subsequently fell off of the vine and scattered along the foundation of the backyard-fort-turned-arbor.   

I suppose this will make the yard look seasonally festive this Saturday night.  In lieu of decorating the front, we've been decorating the back for a kind of private display.  I wish friends could come over in person, but with COVID-19, it's out of the question.  I suppose we'll have fun by ourselves -- Mark and The Child have decided that they'll put out Trick-or-Treat bags on a table and leave that out for anyone who wants to walk by the house.  And I still plan to RollerBlade in the full moon light.

Two Marses, Two Moons

I should have posted this a while ago.

Here's a photo of Mars and the Moon from September 5th (three days past full), the Saturday before Labor Day (and all those wretched fires).  

And here's a photo of Mars and the Moon from October 2nd (one day past full).   In this photo, the Moon was still fairly low in the sky, and smoke from fires in California stained it burnt orange.   Mars will be in opposition on October 13th.  

I'd forgotten that I'd taken the September photo -- which really says something about when exposure to ten day's worth of hazardous smoke particulate levels will do to a person.  I was going to say something about how the Earth has moved approximately twenty-six degrees along its orbit and that you can see that in how the Moon's position has changed in relationship with Mars'... but Mars went retrograde September 10, so I'm not sure how much one can really say about the Earth/Moon orbit and its effect on the Moon's phases from these photos.   

John Fiddles with SVG

 This is mostly an experiment to see if Blogger will support internal SVG calls.  If it can, then I can draw pretty images directly on the page.

...Okay... so it works, I just can't see the lines in the editor.

Noble Dog

 Noble Dog is noble.  

Actually, I'm pretty sure she was looking at some people riding scooters and wanted to eat them.

The dog-whisperer at the dog park.  

The water main at the park is broken, and Mark has taken to bringing water (along with snacks) to share with Aoife's various friends.  

Not pictured:  me, the other day at the dog park after winning, "Best (Hair) in Show."  The judge really liked my hair, and I think would have touched it if Mark hadn't cleared his throat and identified himself as my husband. 

Design Gone Wild

 I thought that I would try to make a seasonal design for the Ides of Autumn.  I was trying for something based on a crescent moon, but when I put in a second notch in the crescent, the result looked like something Batman would use to fight crime.  Or a sigil for Klingon Pagans.

I tried a few different designs, but they all looked like something for a Sapphic Pagan Metal Band called "Vagina Dentata."

I finally ended up with some wreath shapes that don't look too lethal.  

Much.

Ides of Autumn Plans

 The Ides of Autumn are approaching. 

I really wanted to have a large, outdoor party for October 31.  There would be jack-o-lanterns in the shrubbery, and small mini-pumpkins hanging by strings from the cherry.  There would be a large punch-bowl filled with hot cider.  There would be friends over, in various costumes (or not).  I'd figure out some sort of directional altars, and maybe even a fog machine, and some music.  

Obviously, that's not going to happen in this season of Covid-19.   At least the friends part.

I thought we weren't even going to participate in Trick-Or-Treating, but Mark was talking to The Child about some sort of candy shoot -- so maybe we'll make some kind of giant snake.  

On the costume front, I've been fiddling with cardboard models of wings, with the idea that I could make some very large, white wings to fit over my arms and then I could go RollerBlading at night and Certain Husbands Wouldn't Worry So Much that I would get run over because I was wearing a black cloak.  

Since I'll have white wings, I'm going to try to make the feathers look like a barn owl's feathers by using the examples here:  https://www.fws.gov/lab/featheratlas/browse-common2.php .  The cardboard I'm using is fairly thick, so I'm unsure how I will make the feather's shafts show up.  Depending on how artsy I'm feeling, I might be able to texture the feathers by painting them with the edge of card to simulate the barbs.  My thought is to make all of the covert feathers one (or two) piece so they can more easily hold the primary and secondary feathers in place.

I'm still debating whether to make the wings one long piece.  The plus is that the wings would be easier to build and more durable.  The minus is that I'd have to RollerBlade with my arms held straight out and could be a good way to rip my arms out of my shoulder socket if I were to have some sort of crash.  I'm not too keen on repeating shoulder problems, so I guess I'll need to figure out some kind of hinge.

Vaux's Swifts of Labor Day

 

Labor Day evening, Mark and I went to watch the Vaux's Swifts funnel into the chimney connected to Agate Hall on the U of O Campus.  It was so cool.  Jupiter (and a faint Saturn) were out, and although I couldn't take any still photos of them, I was able to record this video.

Then the West Coast caught on fire and I forgot about this.  It was only four weeks ago, but it feels like a lifetime ago.