Countdown to Solstice

Have humans always counted down this much in the past?  I have a sense that we're a bit frenetic with counting down to various events, moments  occasions, etc. Are we counting down? Yes - we're counting down to the Solstice on Saturday Dec 21 at 11:19pm EST.  And between then and the year-end there are meteor showers, the Moon at perigee (closest point along orbit to the earth), the new moon on December 26th, the conjunction of the Moon and Saturn, conjunction of the Moon and Venus.  Looking at the sentence I've written, I then started to wonder about capitalizations. So I went over to one of the authorities - the MLA Style Center.  This isn't simple:  When Merriam-Webster indicates that a term is “capitalized” or “usually capitalized,” the MLA capitalizes the term in its publications. When Merriam-Webster indicates that a term is “often capitalized,” our practice varies. We usually lowercase sun, moon, and earth, but, following The Chicago Manual of Style, when the does not precede the name of the planet, when earth is not part of an idiomatic expression, or when other planets are mentioned, we capitalize earth: The earth revolves around the sun. The astronauts landed on the moon. The space shuttle will return to Earth next year. The four planets closest to the sun—Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars—compose the inner solar system. I shouldn't worry about this - most people are mediocre at writing a sentence.  But let's find out what the norms are.  It doesn't make sense for planets to be lower case and countries to be capitalized as proper names.  So I checked out  the NASA Style Guide "HERE" - it references the Chicago Manual of Style as the authority.  I can't access it, though.  However the NASA guidelines are clear. So I decided on the NASA guidelines and not the MLA Style Center even though I am not writing a scientific paper. So I can move on to some Moon jokes and hope I have the correct capitalizations to match the NASA style guidelines: Q: What holds the Moon up? A: Moonbeams. Q: How do you know when the Moon is going broke? A: When it's down to its last quarter. Q: What did the Moon say to his therapist? A: I'm just going through a phase. Q: How does a man on a moon get his haircut? A: Eclipse it.  And we haven't even got to winter, and I am referencing Percy Bysshe Shelley for our picture today:  "If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?"

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Summer Storms

I asked Farmer's Almanac:  Which is worse summer or winter storms?  I haven't found an answer.  Not so long ago I watched as a summer storm.  It had such winds that the rain was horizontal.  I had a realization that this is what a winter storm looked like - huge gusts of wind making the snow fly in sheets. I finally took a moment to look at two eye-catching stories on the Weather Network. 1. The billion year old rock found in downtown Toronto.  It made me wonder how old the earth is. It is estimated to be 4.54 billion years old. The oldest minerals analyzed to date are small crystals of zircon from the Jack Hills of Western Australia and they are at least 4.404 billion years old. 2. Grasshoppers swarming Las Vegas.  One swarm catches the light over the Luxor Hotel.  That's the Egyptian-themed hotel shaped like a pyramid so it seems fitting.  What I notice is that there are lots of images of various things with headings Las Vegas grasshopper invasion.  I consider this a pollution of the internet.  This image below matches the headline.  It has great yuk appeal.   Out image today is a tulip.  Doesn't it look like a hot air balloon?  A nice contrast with the situation in Las Vegas.

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Submitted for your approval - June is a Summer Month

June is astrologically in spring, and meteorologically in summer.  Perhaps gardeners are in the meteorological camp.  It is hard for me to consider the current garden a spring one.  Peonies, irises and lilacs all say summer to me.  The early roses are blooming.  Wisteria, laburnum, the Carolina Silverbell have finished.  This morning, I found some blossoms on my tiny Styrax - also known as Japanese Snowbell tree. I got to smell the sweet scent that they are known for. For those who watched television in the 1950's, there was a wonderful expression in Rod Serling's series The Twilight Zone.  It was: "Submitted for Your Approval".  I find out that it was only heard in three episodes.  It is a phrase that most of us associate with the series. This phrase came to my mind as I looked at my Finalist image of a tulip in the Betterphoto's April contest.   For me, a tulip embodies spring.  Having tulips in the garden in June seems out of synch with the season we're in - meteorologically early summer.  The phrase "submitted for your approval" came to mind.  It is an invitation to consider that we've arrived into summer.