Category Archives: Mineral

Springtime in the Rockies

Posted on by

Tis a month before the month of May,
And the Spring comes slowly up this way.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Spring in Colorado!!  When I found Mom’s email on Thursday morning with that subject line, I was certain the photos attached would be of her garden–tulips and daffodils and hyacinths, all in full bloom.  Instead, this . . .

Photo Credit: J. Nixon

Photo Credit: J. Nixon

Winter is slow to retreat here in the Rocky Mountains.  I live 350 miles south of Mom near the bottom of the 3000-mile long range.  On the same day I received her email I was bombarded with a flurry of snow pellets when I stopped, on my way to the mailbox, to admire a forsythia shrub bristling with yellow flowers.

Spring is making inroads each day; a black-billed magpie (Pica hudsonia) has been hanging out at the bird bath in my backyard. I’ve scanned the still-bare trees looking for a pile of sticks that could mean she has nested nearby, but have yet to find a sign.  Inside, the Siamese cat sits near the fireplace, head cocked, listening.  I strain my ears to hear what she hears and wonder if the birds have built a nest near the chimney.

By the time I talked to Mom late Thursday afternoon, most of the snow had melted and she said the crabapple tree in her photo was covered with buds and would soon be full of pink flowers..

 

 

For Valentine’s Day – The Red Planet

Posted on by

This should be a good year to see Mars with Earth passing between the sun and the red planet in early April, but to see it now you must be either a night owl or an early bird.

So, if you are up late tonight, look high overhead for the Big Dipper. Then, using the stars in its handle as a pointer, star hop first to Arcturus and then on to Spica.  Mars will be just up from Spica and slightly to the left.  You’ll recognize it by its slightly reddish glow.  This post from earthsky.org has more details.

Star Chart Courtesy of earthsky.org

Star Chart Courtesy of earthsky.org

I tried to find it last night, but my view was obscured by clouds.  Let me know if you have any luck.  Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

“We all share the same sky”

Posted on by

So says Babak Tafreshi, the photographer and amateur astronomer from Iran.   Tafreshi was hooked on stargazing the first time he looked through a telescope and saw the moon.  Inspired by Carl Sagan, he founded the World at Night project and posts photos of the night sky behind famous landmarks around the world on his website.

Last week I was talking on the telephone with my dad, who lives four hundred miles away.  I asked if he had seen the full moon and then told him to check out the very bright star next to it–not really a star, but the planet Jupiter.  His view of the pair was over a quiet Denver suburb, mine above  a scattering of houses in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

In January, and throughout the winter, the most prominent constellation is Orion; the  three bright stars that make up the mythological character’s belt are easy to spot in the southeastern sky.  When I travel this time of year,  I always look overhead and once I locate the great hunter, sword at his side, I feel oriented, at home in the world.

What to Read When Flying over the Pacific Ocean?

Posted on by

The ocean makes me uneasy.  Maybe it’s because I’m  from Kansas.  So, why do I love to read tales of dangerous fishing expeditions and solo efforts to navigate small sailboats around the world?

By P. Nixon

By P. Nixon

This little stack of books has been with me for years.  A couple of times I have tried putting one of the worn paperbacks in the giveaway box in the basement, but they always migrate back upstairs.

Movies, too.   Last year it was The Life of Pi–a boy stranded in a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker on board.  This year I had to see All is Lost–an old man patching a hole in his wrecked yacht in the middle of the Indian Ocean with no radio connections.  I couldn’t believe how long it took him to get out the sextant.

Tomorrow morning I will board a flight for Hawaii.  By the time the jet lifts off and turns west, I will be rereading Dove–a sixteen-year-old boy’s journey around the world in a twenty-four-foot sloop.  It will help take my mind off all of those miles of ocean below me.

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving from Rancho de Chimayo!

Posted on by

A perfect late-fall day in New Mexico–sun, blue sky, snow on Mount Baldy.  A crow was preening on top of this road sign when we turned north on NM 76 to travel the last few miles to Chimayó.

.IMG_20131128_155941_602-1-1

Once seated in one of the many dining rooms of the adobe hacienda, we had to decide:  turkey and dressing with cranberry sauce, or tacos and enchiladas with red chile.

IMG_20131128_154825_002

After pumpkin pie and sopapillas we stopped in the courtyard to take photos of each other and to pay our respects to St. Francis.

 

Blue Moon

Posted on by
Photo Credit: c.fuentes2007 via Compfight cc

Photo Credit: c.fuentes2007 via Compfight cc

I arrived at home last night just in time to see the blue moon (the third of four full moons in a season) at its peak, 7:45 pm in New Mexico.  I was ready to step out on the front porch to enjoy it when we received an email from a neighbor.

He had seen this

Photo Credit: ucumari via Compfight cc

Photo Credit: ucumari via Compfight cc

or was it this?

Photo Credit: Garret Voight via Compfight cc

Photo Credit: Garret Voight via Compfight cc

just moments before in the backyard.  I once saw a bobcat  during the day walking along our fence line and it didn’t scare me much at 25 pounds or so, but I still don’t really want to startle one in the dark.  The mountain lion is a whole different deal.  I don’t fancy encountering one of them day or night.

I decided the best place to view the full moon was from the window in my study.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Starry Nights in New Mexico

Posted on by

Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself,

In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,

Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.

-Walt Whitman

Tonight I watched Venus set in the west behind the Jemez Mountains. It seems like weeks since it’s been clear enough to check out the summer sky.

Copyright Darren KirbyI

Photo by Darren Kirby

I turned off the lights in the house and went out on the portal where I had a clear view of the Big Dipper overhead.  To the south I could see Scorpius with the red star Antares at its heart and Sagittarius, shaped like a teapot.  Chet Raymo’s book 365 Starry Nights is still my favorite star-watching guide.  I used my original copy until it fell apart and had to buy a new one; it has great line drawings and just the right mix of mythology and science.

To find out  which planets are in view this month I went to EarthSky’s website and discovered that if I get up early enough I will be able to see the trio of Jupiter, Mars, and Mercury.  Not likely . . .