20 thoughts on “smoke-obscured sun”

  1. When I look at that, I can’t help thinking about you and all the others who sees it – it really makes it quite clear what we have done to Nature big hug from Norway, Barbara

    1. Leelah, it’s mind-boggling to think of so much smoke making it here from 3,000 miles (about 4,800 km) away! Mother Nature is sending us a stern message, if only we would pay attention. *hugs* to you, too.

    1. That must be strange, smelling the smoke. The smoke here is floating above us at 15,000 feet so we aren’t smelling it. Maybe people will start acting on this soon…

      1. It would mean having fewer children. Fewer, more modest homes, with solar panels on the roofs. Fewer, cars, and powered by the sun. . Less plastic everything. I can’t say I see us ever doing those things, sadly. Americans just get mad when you suggest they rein themselves in in any way.

        1. There’s a part of me that wishes I never had children because now I have grandchildren and am horrified to think of the condition of the world that we are leaving for them. Some of us are trying to do all or most of the things you mentioned but it seems like a drop in the bucket of all that needs to be done. I hear you…

          1. I feel awful for my adult kids too. For years we’d go to workdays to restore habitat and one day my son looked around and asked when the turtles and frogs would come back….they probably won’t, at this point. My heart broke that day.

          2. It sounds like you taught your children well, taking them to do meaningful things like restoring habitats. I feel for your broken heart. So often I feel like giving up but will keep trying for the sake of my grandchildren…

  2. Living with the inability to breathe deeply, as we are in Calif., and now even across all the country, is a sobering reality. Watching one’s home burn down is devastating. Things have got to change….

    1. I can only imagine, Jet, how awful it is for you and everyone in the western states. We saw someone on the news who just finshed rebuilding their home from the last fires and now have lost it again. Looks like there is likely to be increasing numbers of environmental migrants… Stay safe, my friend!

  3. Oh wow, you’re getting the red sun now! Eerie, don’t you think? It’s like the whole of nature knows something is amiss and the sounds of everything are different. I suppose it’s mostly the birds – they’re quieter.

    1. Very eerie and ominous. It’s interesting you mentioned the birds. When the pandemic started in the spring it seemed like there was more birds singing than usual. Sometimes when I was video-chatting people would comment on hearing the birds singing away in the background. There are fewer now, but plenty of crickets chirping. Except for the sun and reports of the news I wouldn’t have suspected something was wrong so far away. But I’m sure more signs of trouble will become apparent here as time goes on…

    1. Tim thanks you! He doesn’t take many pictures but when he does they are usually spectacular! 🙂 May the results of the coming election get us turned around and headed in a better direction…

  4. That’s an amazing picture Barbara – good for Tim getting this shot. I “liked” for the photo, not for the situation that causes it. We had very gray skies last week and I took a photo, not as clear as this, but showed the sun which was this searing ball with skies that looked like dusk, when I left on my walk at 8:15 a.m.

    1. Tim thanks you, too! Yesterday we took a walk in the woods for the first time since early summer. The sunshine was back to normal and looked pretty coming through the leaves, but the severe drought we are in has made the trail dry and cracked and the brook that was bubbling and flowing had completely dried up. Sobering reminders of the state of things.

      1. That is sad to see. Climate change is affecting us all over the nation and the world … the erratic weather is not to my liking. I worry more about tornadoes and derechos than I did in the past. But I guess we have it better than the West Coast, but there are volatile storms happening more and more here as well. We had an earthquake not long ago and one a few years ago – yes, mild, but still …

        We had the opposite at the shoreline parks with excess water creeping up and over the seawall and onto the trails. I bought some rubber boots but this one trail I like is far from where I park, and the entire park is about five miles wide, so I’d really need to pack the boots, as walking in them a long way may result in blisters. We had very low water levels a few years ago, but the frequent torrential rains has caused such high waters in rivers and large lakes (like Lake Erie) and it has caused riptides as well. We have had a lot of drowning deaths the last two years. We’ve also had some wily waves that have knocked people off piers and into the water. One little boy just drowned a few days ago. They usually flag the high wave warnings so locals know to heed the post, but this was a family from Tennessee and they did not see the posting. The water has taken its share of lives as you well know living so close to it and having family members associated with water.

        1. You’re right, climate change has touched everyone on earth in one way or another. We’ve been getting tornadoes here in Connecticut, several times a year now, when they used to be a very rare happening. Granted, they aren’t like the ones out in your area, just F0s and F1s, but enough to scare us and destroy property. Our biggest worry is hurricanes, but even they are rarely as bad as they are down south.

          Water conflicts are going to increase, too. So many places are getting too much or too little. Sigh. That’s so tragic about the little boy drowning. We do get drownings here, too. A couple of weeks ago a dead body washed up on our beach. I’m glad I wasn’t there when that happened.

          Every day I put my intentions out into the universe that we humans will find a way to live sustainably on this planet. Soon!

          1. The few tornadoes we have had in the last few years were a little too close for comfort – one just five miles away and that was worrisome. We have these volatile windstorms and torrential rain now as a result of climate change or extreme heat. I got a weather radio this year, despite listening to an all-news station which always advises of the weather well in advance. I understand our leaf colors will not be as vibrant this year due to the drought-like conditions this Summer which caused stress to the trees. I imagine New England’s leaf colors will be similarly affected.

            I would not have wanted to see the dead body either.

            I often wish I was born in another era, a gentler era on so many levels.

          2. Oh wow, you brought back a memory: I used to have a weather radio years ago when my kids were small. (1980s probably) It used to tell me, among many other things, if it was a good drying day. (I liked to hang laundry outside on the line.) It might be a good idea to get another in view of the weather events we’ve been having in recent years.

            Do you have a basement or other place to hide in if you do get a tornado?

            Time will tell how the fall colors play out. They usually peak here around mid-October. Perhaps they will come sooner because of the drought, and perhaps they won’t be vibrant. Keeping my fingers crossed!

A box for your thoughts...

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.