Gentle Joy Photography: 2017

Sunday, August 27, 2017

Syzygy or Solar Eclipse ... and Storm

The Solar Eclipse of 2017 is now past. The solar eclipse was also a Syzygy - an alignment of 3 celestial objects like the sun, earth and either the moon or a planet.

We first learned the word Syzygy because we have a game by that name. It has Scrabble-like tiles, but no board. The point is to use up your tiles while building your own crossword, before the others in the game do.... and to get points. We have really enjoyed that game.

It was fun to experience the day of the eclipse and put it together with the name Syzygy.

The day started out by clouding over with storm clouds building and lightning flashing. We wondered if we would even see the eclipse.

The kids and I went to a small lake to take pictures as the storm was quite beautiful. We were hoping it would be done by time of the eclipse, but if it wasn't, we still had some nice pictures of the storm.

Shortly before time for the eclipse, the clouds moved away to the horizon where they formed a solid border all the way around. At least the overhead sky was clearing off.

We had our special glasses to view the solar eclipse. We had 2 pairs for 4 of us to share, so we took turns.

It took a bit for me to get used to holding the glasses tightly over the extended lens of my camera while it was on the tripod. I also had trouble finding the sun while doing so as I had to tip my head WAY back and had to be careful not to catch an unexpected glimpse of the eclipse with my eyes unprotected.I was pleased to get a few pictures and some that I really liked.

The clouds started to move in again, so I could only get pictures through the clouds and I did not use the protective glasses since nothing showed through them. Still I was able to get the eclipse from about all sides and I was pleased.

The clouds moved in much stronger after this picture and while we had a couple more faint glimpses of the eclipse, this was the last picture that was nice enough to share. I hadn't expected to care that much about the Eclipse, but it was a great time with some of my kids as we worked hard to get photos. It was very cloudy the rest of the day and I think we may have had some more storms. The weather was rather strange that day.

Here are some of the storm pictures from the morning. There was a LOT of lightning, but I didn't get any pictures of that. The clouds were wonderful to see though... it was windy and stormy.

What a day! We enjoyed it and I hope you did too. Did you see the Eclipse? Did you get tired of all of the "hoopla" over it? We did ... but we were also able to enjoy it. Thank you for visiting. I hope you have a great week. :)

Other posts you may enjoy:

Lunar Eclipse - Red Moon

Stormy Spring Sky

LOOK At The Clouds!!!

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Sunday, August 20, 2017

Farmstead Garden Pictures....

What beautiful gardens on the farmstead. We sure enjoyed visiting them.

We visited the Farmstead with my parents and we all had a good time. It was a special treat.

Dad wore his straw hat to protect from the sun... and used his cane... and wore his insulated vest so he didn't get cold! :) You can see him in the picture below.

So many beautiful flowers...

This shows my Dad, 2 of my daughters and one son.... and my son is actually pushing my mom in a wheelchair. She can walk, but long walks like this are too hard on her since she injured her back a couple of years ago, so we push her in a wheelchair for such a trip.

This woodland garden was quiet and peaceful.

There was a nice collection of large chimes in the trees in the woods and what a beautiful sound they made!

A fun idea for a planter... appropriate for a farmstead garden!

I especially LOVE the picture below! That little girl had just hugged the statue of the little girl. I didn't get a photo of that, but I did get this photo of her saying good bye to the "little girl". So sweet! :)

The grain bin tops out there house an eagle, bobcat and other animals and birds.

My dad loves the farm equipment and he tells us what each item is and if he used it when he was a kid on the farm. These are precious times.

The bridges in the woods were closed because of flood damage and some of the paths were closed. This tree's roots have become exposed by the flood waters and hopefully, the tree won't be damaged from it.

I loved looking at the barn through the flowers.

What beautiful gardens they have. We have been to this place before and I posted about it in this post:

Getting More Out of a Field Trip

The flowers are different this time... and so were some other things, but it was another enjoyable trip.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures of the homestead gardens. Thank you for visiting today.

#FarmsteadGardens #gardens #farmstead

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Monday, August 14, 2017

Beautiful Reflections

Beautiful reflections catch my attention, like this reflected house. The sun on the side of the house, the still water, the early morning... all worked together to create some beautiful reflections.

I love the colors and shadows of the early morning.... the softer light... and the peacefulness.

This picture shows the heron and its reflection.......... and also the reflection of the house not shown in the picture. It seemed to be an interesting way to crop the picture.

The sunrise was beautiful............. and its reflection was amazing! What a blessing to be there and to capture it on my camera.