"Self-sufficiency does not mean 'going back' to the acceptance of a lower standard of living. On the contrary, it is the striving for a higher standard of living, for food that is organically grown and good, for the good life in pleasant surroundings... and for the satisfaction that comes from doing difficult and intricate jobs well and successfully." John Seymour ~ Self Sufficiency 2003

Sunday 20 March 2011

Perigee moon

Last night there was a perigee moon.

A perigee moon occurs when the moon is in its' closest orbit to the earth - and last night it was 356 000 kms (221 208 miles) away.  In addition, it was also a full moon.

It was an exquisite evening, with crystal clear skies and a temperature of 32oC (89.6oF) at 8.25 pm GMT - there was just a hint of a draft wafting through the trees - almost enough to cool down and dry the perspiration which drenched our bodies - it had been a l-o-n-g hot day...

I couldn't resist trying to capture the perigee on my camera.


I was also lucky enough to capture some stars in the night sky, too - before my camera battery ran out...

But, when I viewed the photo's on my desktop I discovered that I had also captured a whole bunch of orbs.
My photo taken at 8.25 pm (GMT)

Magic!

Have you ever taken a photo of an orb?  We have had heated debates in our family regarding orbs, until I proved to my husband that a photo, taken over and over, on the same spot - click, click, click - did not always result in capturing orbs, and when they did, the orbs were in different places and one can clearly see the different colours of each orb and the shapes within the centre of the orbs.

I was frustrated because I wanted to take other photo's of the perigee, so my obliging RSon, whipped out his camera - a new, stronger, more expensive model.  The results speak for themselves.


Am I being fanciful - does the man in the moon look particularly sad?  I could swear he has tears running down his face.

Can we blame him, if one looks at events worldwide - global warming, and natural and man-made disasters - particularly those that occurred in the far east on Friday 11th March, and, most recently, the "war" which has been declared in the middle east.

If the universe is mourning the state of earth - what are we doing?

Perhaps I am being influenced by the approaching autumn and winter, whilst my northern hemisphere friends are eagerly anticipating spring and summer, and the rebirth of their gardens.

The fact remains though, if we continue mistreating this planet through ignorance (in todays' educated world that is not an excuse), for our own selfish reasons or for financial "reward", we will all pay the price for that disrespect.

When one is privileged to live in the country and above us the exquisite night sky is clear, bright and humbling, we surely appreciate that it is not just this planet we need to be aware of, but also our planets' position, and role, in our universe.

Sharing is caring - let us all make this planet a better place - for all its' creatures - great and small.  We have to consider each action that we take, its' impact on this planet and the consequences we deserve for that action.  How else can we make a positive difference?

10 comments:

  1. I often get those 'orbs' on my photo's but it is usually dirt in my lens. I don't know how the dirt gets in there. Yes, I feel every aspect of mother nature is very mad with us. We let her down. It's very sad.

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  2. Jane - we need, collectively, to stop talking about it, and actually begin to effectively repair the damage we have done. We do have the power - we do!

    We don't need increased wealth, we don't need the latest gadget - we need to ditch our arrogance and re-learn humility.

    We can - together :-)

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  3. Dani, the moon was great here to and believe it or not the temp cooled down to just right for sitting out and taking pictures.

    I posted the first of my This Year's desert plant eating on my blog. I'll be trying different stuff as I get the chance and post it when I do.

    I don't see much chance of most of the world's people coming around to our way of thinking. (Well maybe after its too late more will?)

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  4. David - Is it that hot at Terlingua already? I'm going straight to your blog now to find out about desert plants... :-)

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  5. Dani, it has been in the upper 80s and low 90s since well before Spring sprung. It was like going straight from winter to summer in only a few days. I was hoping that since we had a colder than normal winter then we might have a mild summer, but it doesn't look like that will be the case.

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  6. David - guess that's all the more reason for a working fridge (and cold beers) :-)

    Loved your yucca plant info - thanks.

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  7. just came by your blog while searching for the procedure to make a solar oven, and i am glad i found u, so following u. your blog is great and quite insightful. lovely pictures of moon and nice post, so I am now gonna search for - what orbs are ( so with every post on ur blog i am gonnna be more aware and enlightened). u are doing a great job, thanx!

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  8. Manisha - Welcome :-) and thank you for your kind words.

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  9. Love this post. You're right, it's sad to think what we are doing to this planet. We try our little part and sometimes it just seems so frustrating. But we can only do what we can and hope for the best. As someone above said, sadly, people might only come around after it's too late...another reason we want to live life simpler and more sensitive to the environment. And create/more of our own stuff.

    Thanks for your blog!

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  10. 1st Man - If we all do just a little, it is surely better than doing nothing at all...?

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Thank you for taking the time to comment - it makes my day and removes the "loneliness' of sitting at my screen blogging supposedly to myself ;) I try and reply as quickly as possible so please forgive me if sometimes my response is delayed.