Tag Archives: water

we return thanks…

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“Bouquet of Chrysanthemums” by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

We return thanks to our mother, the earth, which sustains us.
We return thanks to the rivers and streams, which supply us with water.
 We return thanks to all herbs, which furnish medicines for the cure of our diseases.
We return thanks to the corn, and to her sisters,
the beans and squash, which give us life.
 We return thanks to the bushes and trees, which provide us with fruit.
We return thanks to the wind, which, moving the air, has banished diseases.
We return thanks to the moon and stars,
which have given to us their light when the sun was gone.
We return thanks to our grandfather He-no,
that he has protected his grandchildren from witches and reptiles,
 and has given to us his rain.
We return thanks to the sun,
that he has looked upon the earth with a beneficient eye.
 Lastly, we return thanks to the Great Spirit, in whom is embodied all goodness,
and who directs all things for the good of his children.
~ 19th-Century Iroquois Prayer
(The Joy of Family Traditions:
A Season-by-Season Companion to Celebrations, Holidays & Special Occasions)

treasure house of infinity…

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“The Rainbow” by Nikolay Nikanorovich Dubovskoy

Infinite riches are all around you if you will open your mental eyes and behold the treasure house of infinity within you.  There is a gold mine within you from which you can extract everything you need to live life gloriously, joyously, and abundantly.
~ Joseph Murphy
(The Power of Your Subconscious Mind)

Evening Scenery

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Sunday night we decided to have supper at the health food store in Mystic and then take a little stroll along the Mystic River.  We wound up eating outside and enjoyed a little tourist-watching.  The summer tourist season is fading away…  The old salts at Schooner Wharf must be tired of having their gravel parking lot thrown into the river, rock by rock.  (see signs above)  We didn’t see the attack seagull, but then again, we didn’t dare to even touch a rock!

The brick building across the river in the next picture used to be an elementary school called Mystic Academy.  Now it is a “senior care community” called Academy Point at Mystic.  Some of the people living there must have rooms with fantastic views…

The reflections of the clouds in the water were delightful…

A boat color coordinated with nearby homes…

When we started to drive home we finally noticed the huge almost-full moon.  So we made another stop at Eastern Point and took a picture of her, looking towards Avery Point.  With the moon illusion at work here, she looks much smaller in the picture than she did with the naked eye…

I found this interesting explanation at Grand Illusions, but I don’t really comprehend it!

The first problem is for photographers.  A wonderful picture presents itself, with the full moon just rising above a spectacular horizon.  Click, the picture is taken.  Yet the result is disappointing.  The moon seems much smaller in the photograph than it did when viewed with the naked eye.  Even professional photographers fall for this one.  Yet on a normal lens, 50mm on a 35mm camera, the field of view is around 50 degrees, and the width of the moon, subtending an angle of 0.5 degrees, will be 100th of the width of the photo!  Many photographs that you see in magazines, containing both a moon and a landscape, will be composites.  The landscape will be taken with a normal lens, the moon taken with a telephoto lens, to get a bigger image.

Irene Aftermath – Storm Surge

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We were not permitted to drive down to the beach because it is still flooded, even at low tide.  So we got as close as we could get, a bit north of the beach on the Thames River.  No one playing golf today!  Notice the white caps on the Thames River, from the tropical storm winds.

Other families had the same idea – gathering on a little strip of land between the golf course and the Thames River.  The wind was still very strong, in fact I had trouble pushing my car door open!

It’s hard to comprehend that this is the low tide!

This seagull was gliding in place, kind of floating in the wind…

In this picture you can see a line of seaweed on the lawn, marking where the storm surge reached at high tide, and this home is on the Thames River.  I hope I can get to the beach tomorrow as I can only wonder how things are down there with the houses right on the ocean!

Irene Aftermath – Downed Trees

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Happy to report that we are safe and sound and the kids are as well.  We partially lost our power early this morning, so we have no air conditioning – ugh!  We ran an extension cord into the kitchen to keep the refrigerator running.  We’re only getting a couple of cable stations.  We brought our laptops down here to the living room and set them up where we have power.  There’s a good stiff breeze, but it’s still a pretty humid breeze.

We slept through the worst of it and were lucky to have no damage.  We did lose part of a tree in our condo complex (above).  Then we decided to go out for a drive…  This tree (below) was behind the Groton Town Hall.

The storm surge at low tide still swelled the Poquonnock River…

A large family of swans on the Poquonnock River seems to be all accounted for…

This tree was near the Groton-New London Airport…

Irene was a tropical storm when she got to us so we were very grateful – things could have been so much worse.  With the windows open now I’m smelling the aroma of someone’s delicious dinner coming in on the wind.  Tim’s asleep and I’m hoping Irene washed all the ragweed pollen out of the air!

In the Offing

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In all the excitement yesterday I forgot I had a prescription to pick up at the drug store.  So… we decided to go get it this morning, even though it was already raining, but with no wind to speak of.  Workers were boarding up the large expanse of windows at CVS.  I wonder if they will stay open for 24 hours through the storm.

Since we were already out and about we decided to have second breakfast (as Hobbits refer to it) at our favorite restaurant.  And then we decided to go to the food coop for Tim’s sliced almonds.  And then we decided we may as well check out the beach before returning home.

On the way we spotted some die-hard golfers, out for one last round!  That’s the Thames River behind them, shrouded in mist.

I’m guessing these birds were getting a feel for the wind direction.  :)  They didn’t fly, they were just standing there with their wings open…

This little house is on a rock island in the Thames River and is the object of much curiosity and speculation.  We have never seen people there before, but today these two kayaked out there!  When I got home and uploaded my pictures to my laptop, I noticed that there seems to be a wind turbine just behind the bushes!  I called Tim over and he had never noticed one there before either.  It’s strange that I didn’t even see it while taking the picture.

We drove right up to this seagull.  He was unimpressed with us and wasn’t about to leave his post.

This gull had a long and mournful cry…

As I moved closer to him I could see something wrong with his foot, perhaps it was injured and healed in an awkward position.  He seemed to know I meant him no harm and allowed me to come very close to him and talk to him.

Another gull was waiting patiently, hoping to get a crumb from a woman enjoying one last hot dog before the storm arrives.

On the way home we stopped at Baker Cove and found this tranquil scene…

There have been a few evacuations near us, but so far we’re good to stay.  The storm track is a little more to the west, so we’re out of the “red” zone.  Now we’re more concerned about Larisa in New York than about us here.  There is a high new moon tide coming along with a 6′ storm surge.  (We’re 20′ high.  If I see water, though, I’m out of here!)  Tim has his webcam aimed out the window – wonder what we’ll see?