Walking out before "first light" in the morning, the sliver of a moon hangs like a stylized bowl just a bit above the horizon. Once the sky lightens enough to photograph though, that bare sliver fades into the background. By the time the shot above was taken, three separate flights…
This is a nice morning. Two flights of whistling ducks flew over. At least three dozen birds or more. The sky is colorful. A mockingbird is starting to sing early. Well I made it to the polls yesterday. When Sherry got home from work we drove to the library to…
A school day, laundry day, early voting day... I'll be busy today. Since it is a school day, I'm on the back porch before the eastern horizon began to color. It's cool, but it's not that cool... so the ceiling fans are on chilling my hair still damp from my…
Fog. The weather prognosticators say it's a dense fog. Out here on the back porch it's as dense as I've seen this fall... but not really all that dense. Just another fall sunrise of cool portents. The dense air is helping the traffic sounds travel from the bypass with a…
Ahhhhhh, sleeping in on a Saturday. Yesterday's windy, rainy weather has moved on to the northeast. Delta has churned her/his way onshore and into the interior were it's still spinning and looking very much like a Hurricane on land. According to the prognoticaters, this coolish morning will have to last…
Another blustery near miss morning. Hurricane Delta is about 180 miles south-southeast of Galveston. This morning's winds are blowing almost east to west at the moment. A few weeks ago the morning temperature would have made me smile, but after a couple of weeks of fall-like temperatures I'm just not…
I slept a bit late this morning since my daughter is home to start her kids off with school. Stepping out on the porch I was greeted with overcast skies. Looking at the radar I can see these are the outer bands of Hurricane Delta starting to move into our…
Fall Morning Redux The whistling ducks flying over each morning keep growing in number... even as they loose all coherence as a flight. Flying over this morning I was reminded of watching a mob move through an environment. I was unable to really gauge there number, but at a guess,…
Another fall morning on the back porch that luckily actually feels like fall. Whispy clouds hide in the first light color. The sunrise should make them pop. The stars are fading rapidly in the lightening bowl of the sky. Birds are singing. Crows are cawing. The whistling ducks flew over…
In order to enjoy this beautiful fall morning on the back porch I had to break out the big umbrella. The stand has managed to get itself broken, but that's ok, it works great laid over on it's side... The morning flight of whistling ducks keeps getting larger. It appeared…
It looks like another cool, cloudless morning. The eastern glow has gone from pink to yellowish. The most prominent sound is of tires on concrete coming from the bypass. Though, the mockingbird is doing it's best to try and outdo the traffic. A flight of great egrets flew over just…
Wordless Wednesday
6:45 am The first real autumn morning. No ceiling fans required. The prognosticators promised a low in the 50's and they were blessed in their foretelling. The flock of whistling ducks grows larger by the day as it circles my house as the sky brightens. This morning it's the cardinals…
It's a warm and muggy pre-cold front start to the day. The first front is around Waco heading our way. There are enough clouds out over Galveston Bay to make the sunrise interesting even if a temperature of 77 degrees doesn't make it very comfortable. There's an owl softly calling…
The sun rose over an hour ago. It's warmer and there's enough humidity to fog my glasses just a bit as I walked out. I had to increase the speed of the ceiling fans back to full power. The hummingbirds are fighting as usual. A daddy longlegs scurries across the…
It really feels of fall this morning. Sixty-six wonderful degrees. What I am assuming is a clear sky... if there are clouds they aren't evident yet. A color on the eastern horizon even before first light. Birds singing, crows announcing themselves on their morning rounds. Theirs a low hazy ground…
Sunrise facing southeast. The temperature outside this morning is delightful. A couple of degrees below that magical 70 degrees Fahrenheit on the thermometer. And after days and days of winds from Beta, it's still this morning. The outsized remnants of Beta have moved into Alabama and Tennessee. Once the storm…
Wordless Wednesday
I walked out this morning at sunrise to a back porch that was wet. Given the rainfall of the past day... not surprising. But also wet was my rocking chair. So I grabbed my shots and then wandered by in. I did hear yesterday's owl calling plaintively from the soggy…
According to the almanac it's first light right now... but Tropical Storm Beta is putting a lie to that. The only light in the sky is the reflection of civilization on the underside of the cloud cover. It's loud out, the blustery, gusty winds are making the leaves sing. Shadows…
It's a cool, breezy morning. Our first fall-like morning of the late, almost over summer season. But, don't worry, the heat and humidity will be back... we're not done with summer here on the Texas gulf coast. As a matter of fact, as you can see from the radar image…
The silence thirty minutes before sunrise is deafening. The overcast sky just barely lighter than the shadowy blackness of the trees. Though there is enough of a glow to the sky to make the ground visible. The Houston/Galveston eathglow effect. The first bird calls. Then another. A breeze stirs the…
Yesterday's sequence of photos inspired me to do it again once I saw the morning sky... First Light - Dawn The first shot was at Dawn... first light in the sky. The noun dawn refers to the first light of day, or the first time period, like the dawn of…
Wordless Wednesday
It's not cool, but it's not that warm either. Pairs of crows keep flying over heading south... raising a ruckus as only crows can. The day gradually lightening as the sun approaches the horizon. The hummingbirds chatter at each other as they bully their way to dominance at the feeder...…
It's a strange morning, no color in the east... what color there is is in the west as the sun rises. In the east it's bands of clouds flowing across the sky from north to south... filling in as the minutes tick by. While around the porch the hummingbird battles…
There's a difference in the feel of the air this morning. For one thing it's cooler. For another, the clouds are drifting south instead of the more normal northerly direction. I don't know that the front ever made it this far before falling apart. But it really got close. But,…
Once again we are being promised a fifty percent chance of rain. The prognosticators are also foretelling of highs next week in the upper eighties... of course, that foretelling comes with a good chance of rain all week. Oh well, if I can have cooler weather, I'll take a little…
Sunrise is really fleeting. And the glow from the rising sun can begin, become, hit wow and wind down in the blink of the eyes... And all the while hummingbirds swarm the feeders. There always appears to be one feeder that gets the most visitors while the others are claimed…
I awoke to the distant rumble of thunder. I walked out on the back porch to lightening and more thunder and a darker than normal pre-sunrise backyard. The radar tells the story. The only sound besides the thunder... the cheeps of the hummingbirds in the dark. I've figured out what's…
The temperature is down a bit... so is the humidity... a bit. Light clouds are scattered across the sky. It's late, so the sun beats down unmercifully. A red-tailed hawk just flew screaming down the right of way. Blue Jays are jaying all around. And strangely, hummingbirds are everywhere. This…
As the sun touches the horizon, periods of lite rain are falling. Rumbles of thunder roll across the landscape. Dark angry clouds move slowly as the birds sing and the hummingbirds buzz back and forth to the feeder. Dragonflies, as big as the hummingbirds, investigate the bird feeders... only to…
I walked out this morning to an overcast sky. Above eighty temperature, but another shot of not quite oppressive humidity. The hummingbirds are chittering about in the dawn dark. Roosters are softly chattering. A donkey's bray cuts the quiet. As clouds skud north towards a stalled front, the sky goes…
Out 20 minutes before sunup... it's darker out than the images suggest. And way too warm and humid for comfort. A slight breeze wafts around without having a noticeable cooling effect. Even the ceiling fans are fighting a losing battle with the heat of late summer. Even the clouds over…
It's the start of the third day of virtual school after a two day Hurricane break. So it's up with the sun again. One grandkid is up and eating breakfast, I'll go in and wake her brother in a few. It's warmer and much more humid today. They have us…
This morning is the warmest start we've seen this summer, I think. Hurricane Laura is close enough to us that she's starting to pump that tropical air our way. We've already had some rain showers. And it's looking like that will be our weather pattern for the day. The first…
It's almost cool, almost dry, but it's still going to be hot by the afternoon. We are now living in an area of weather forecaster hysteria. Tropical storms headed for the Gulf. Did you notice i said storms,.. as in two. Marco and Laura. And the latest models are now…
Sunrise is spectacular this morning. The sun coming up behind a thunderstorm over Galveston Bay. The temperature is also not too bad, though the humidity is up a bit this morning. Cardinals are chirping all over the yard. And hummingbirds dive bomb the feeder trying to claim it as their…
Not too warm for the start of the day. 75 degrees, not bad for the full blown August. But it's oh so still. Not a breath of a breeze. And quiet... barely a bird singing. I have to go through the process of setting up a couple of computers today…
Overnight the prognosticators were foretelling of a 60% chance of rain. Judging by the driveway out front, that didn't occur. Today, the foretelling is for a 40% chance... and from the look of the clouds it could start at any moment. From the look of the radar, it's all a…
Today's already hot and sticky. It really feels like I'm living in a tropical swamp... right down to the dragonflies patrolling by the squadrons. Though the mockingbird singing in the pine is a nice touch. Well, I see we have a Democratic ticket. I can't say I'm shocked by the…
As you can see, there's a nice rain shower towards the rising sun. It makes for some amazing cloud formations. But it's already warm and headed for hot. The only birds talking this morning are the crows. Construction is going on at one of the two construction sites on this…
It's the middle of my birthday cycle. I'm half a year past the last one and half a year to the next. Not that I really pay attention to them. Though, truth be told, I'm reaching an age where they seem to come faster and faster. The morning is warm,…
When I come out and start these muses each day, I first take my record shots and do the post professing, then I upload them to this site. Once that is done I spend some time reading the blogs of those I follow via the Wordpress app. Once that is…
Looking towards the rising sun, the sky always has a different shade of blue. Especially on these hazy, heavy, humid mornings. It's almost as pronounced as the change in the hue of green that happens as you cross the line between my yard and my neighbors. That color change in…
When I stepped out to grab my record pics this morning the above was attached to the back wall at eye level. The crazy thing is, there's no milkweed in the vicinity this year. What I was actually trying to capture was this... Cloudless blue skies reflected in the dew…
When I stepped out to grab my record pics this morning the above was attached to the back wall at eye level. The crazy thing is, there's no milkweed in the vicinity this year. What I was actually trying to capture was this... Cloudless blue skies reflected in the dew…
The sky looks ominous this morning. Much worse than it actually is. The radar shows little rain falling around the area from the remnants of Hurricane Hannah who went ashore last evening in far south Texas. Yesterday's drive into central Texas was made interesting by the bands of rain that…
Out early on the back porch. There are enough thunder clouds to the east to make the sun work at shining down on the wet earth. Dew glistens all around me. Condensation runs down the windows. There is a smell of wet moldy earth in the heavy air. Somewhere around…
Having a go on the back porch this morning. With an almost cloudless sky and a very bright sun, I won't be out here very long. It's Sunday quiet this morning. No other day of the week has the same ambiance... no traffic sounds from the bypass, no vehicles passing…
I thought I'd try the back porch again since I beat the sun up. The sky's a bit hazy... but that just matches the air across the neighbor's yard. High humidity this morning and everything feels damp. With the temperature at 75 degrees the ceiling fans feel almost chilly. As…
Another of those sticky mornings. Air heavy enough to see across the way. But, I won't complain... it's still green out. It's always a bit quieter out here on the back porch. No traffic sounds, the birds are a little more removed. Not as much tree canopy right above your…
Walking out on the back porch this morning I had to dodge around the LOL pool party. The granddaughter has a bad habit of leaving her toys right where she last played with them. This time they are underfoot. I always balk at stepping out of a morning when the…
Another 80 degrees plus start to the day. And the forecasted chance of rain is down to 20%. Though rain clouds are moving in from the gulf, and radar shows some small showers down south of us. Mainly it's the high humidity that is making this feel so ... Texas.…
A bright sun and a cloudless sky greet me this morning on the back porch. The temperature has yet to pass 80 but it's headed well north of that today. Yesterday, when she went to water some sunflowers she planted, my daughter picked up her watering can from a chair…
I'm back on the back porch. And, once again, their's barely a breath of a breeze. There is also a haziness to the mostly clear sky... probably the Saharan dust they keep talking about. But, all in all, it's a normal warm summer morning. Cicadas humming, cardinals singing, traffic on…
It's overcast today, with just the slightest breeze causing a leaf to quiver here and there. A mockingbird was serenading me as I sat down... it's a song I've missed this year. Yesterday was a tough, long day. My mother-in-law, Sharon Moore, after a long fight with illness passed away…
We're coming up on the final days of June and the overnight lows are hanging in the 80's. It's part of what I've always disliked about the place I've always lived. I've never been a summer person. But, then again, I've never hated it enough to leave. When this time…
Another weekend in a pandemic hotspot. We need to make a grocery store run... we will be masked. I have noticed that our HEB has someone assigned to sanitizing the shopping carts, Kroger just has a spray and hand sanitizer station where you can do it yourself... and most people…
Warm and Humid. Before walking out this morning I could tell by the condensation on the windows it would be oppressive. I was right. The temperature was already 80º and it feels like 96º with a relative humidity of 86%. The cool front that was just north of Houston all…
After the coolness of yesterday afternoon, today's return to warm and muggy leaves me wanting. Even the birds aren't singing much this morning. Only the cicadas are in song. The few clouds I can see are high and wispy, not the thunder bloomers of yesterday. There were times yesterday when…
After a day of on again off again rain storms, the light at day's end does wonderful thing to the eastern sky.
Father's Day. It's been about a quarter century since my Dad passed... sometimes it doesn't seem that long ago, sometimes it seems like forever. I think about him every now and again and wish I could tell him I loved him. For myself, I had a #1 Grandpa mug and…
As I fought the call of day this morning, rumblings of thunder rolled my dreams. Once I gave up the fight I found rain falling steadily. I wasn't anticipating this type of weather before tomorrow or the next day. I just checked the radar. And it looks like this rain…
It's not as cool, not as comfortable as the past few days. I doubt I'll be hanging out here on the back porch for much longer than it takes to record my morning muses. There's a raft of clouds building to the east. The humidity is up. And the cicadas…
Another bright morning on the back porch. The ceiling fans are turning even though the temperature is mild. The cardinals are making their presence known with their song. Along with the mourning doves, that's about the only sounds on this weekend morning. A lite breeze is rustling the leaves. Low…
Ahhhhhh, spring for the moment. Following my normal routine, I filled my coffee cup and headed out the back door after turning on the outside ceiling fans... after only a couple of minutes in the rocker I had to get up and turn off the ceiling fans. Walking out into…
The air is heavy with moisture from the rains yesterday afternoon. Looking to the east, a haze obscures the clouds on the horizon. The air is so oppressive even the dragonflies are patrolling at treetop levels. At least there's a nice breeze blowing. Otherwise, I don't think even the ceiling…
One of the best investments I made in designing this house was the ceiling fans on the back porch. While, one of the missed opportunities was not adding them to the front porch. That 20/20 hindsight will bite you in the buttocks every time. The breeze is out of the…
It's quiet out on the back porch this morning. Ceiling fans and cicadas, cardinals and finches. A breath of a breeze rustling the red oak leaves. June has settled upon the land rather lightly so far. My blog buddy Linda, posted that today is National Prairie Day. We once walked…
Coffee muses on the back porch again. It's more peaceful out here. Traffic noise from the road out front almost never rises above the white noise of the ceiling fans. As the trees fill out, even the bypass sounds are muted for another season. Looking east. You know summer is…
In my oversized rocking chair under the ceiling fans on the back porch once again. The morning is cool enough, though, not really cool at all. It was quiet as well... then I was joined by my chatterbox of a granddaughter. My two resident tree ducks just flew over headed…
Once again I'm sitting on the back porch listening to the birds and a distant train whistle. It's 74 out already, but the ceiling fans make it just right. There's enough moisture in the air to make it hazy in the distance. The birds today are very active. I guess…
Laundry Day. If I can be said to have a schedule, about the only sure thing I do with regularity is laundry day. Every Tuesday I get up and take my shower, then I sort the dirty laundry and take the first load to the laundry room and get the…
It's not too warm, but, after raining almost all afternoon yesterday, it's all kinds of muggy. Seems appropriate for the first day of June. The sky is still overcast... really dramatic looking in today's photos. Looking southwest. There's a train in the near distance announcing itself at a crossing. Coming…
I'm out on the back porch once again. With the ceiling fans moving the air, it's comfortable. The birds are filling the air with song a bit more than yesterday. Even had a couple of crows cawing from a sentinel pine next door. And Linda, there's even a squirrel playing…
On the back porch this morning. Ceiling fans on... the movement of the air provides some comfort on another muggy morning. The temperature is already in the mid-seventies and the clouds cover most of the sky. Looking southeast towards Galveston. It's quiet out this morning, I can't hear any traffic…
The morning is cool and bright. No evidence of the excessive heat to come by afternoon. The prognosticators are foretelling of more rain in the early afternoon. But the forecasted high is still in the upper 80's. Their scrying is calling for a upward rising trend with 90's within the…
I'm up earlier than normal. The house is empty of everyone but me. That's something it hasn't been since early March. The sky is overcast, some rain fell overnight. It's even cool enough to make me forget, for awhile, the summer like highs we've been seeing. A good little breeze…
“Americans now seek Life without fear of pandemic, Liberty to choose their leaders in an environment free of disease and the pursuit of Happiness without undue restrictions,”
Testing social media integration. I want to see how this populates.
It's just after noon on this mid month Sunday. Ten days before Christmas and the weather feels anything but Christmas like. We are headed towards 80º today. At least it's breezy. So much so that the air is full of goldenrod seeds. I keep watching the fallen leaves scud along…
Cool... quiet... There's a silence in the world this morning... an anticipation of awakening... A fluttering of feathers... a sudden bursting of birdsong... and suddenly, the silence is gone as if it never existed.. Enjoy the day...
Yesterday's rains left it cooler this morning. The prognosticators are foretelling of another front this weekend. Winds of change are blowing... Today's photo...
Humid, very, very humid this morning. Not feeling the muse this morning.. So here's the photo of the morning... 0
I wasn't able to enjoy the weather change last week. I was under the weather myself. An end of summer cold knocked me out for a few days... then, it took a few more to recuperate. Sitting out on the back porch this morning, light rain falling... it's cool, but…
I'm waiting for round two. Another front coming down to reinforce the cool that came thru on Monday. Today is just wet... foggy condensation dripping from the roof. Evidently I'm coming down with a cold... scratchy thought, slight cough. Muscle aches. All coming on yesterday late afternoon. I spoke to…
Out before sunrise on this cool morning. The first time in what seems like forever that the outside and the inside temperature are a wash. It's quiet, it's still, it's cool... not a normal morning. But, I love it and could live with plenty more mornings like this... Have a…
A change is coming... feel it you can... hear it you can... sense it you can... We can put a pin in the Family Reunion. A vote was taken and an end was announced. So there will never be a 61st Annual. When all was said and done, half of…
The neighborhood crows just moved thru the yard looking for a handout. The hummingbirds are fighting everywhere. The sun peaks over the eastern treeline. Something keeps bending the bird feeder pole to the ground and eating all of the seeds. Well, the sun is up and in my eyes, so…