Much of the planted gardens here in our town (as well as throughout the desert) is xeriscape. This agave is in an area surrounded by a staircase from the parking area to the specialist clinic at our local medical center. This lush desert succulent, rendered in sepia, is a nice still-life showing the artistic nature of our gardens. Click on the image to enlarge.
Today marks the cross-quarter event of Imbolc, the halfway point between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox. Here in Arizona, we are having a mild winter thus far; today’s high was 59° with broken clouds and no precipitation hitting the ground, although we could see virga several times today as we were out and about.
The image above is a screen capture of the dynamic depiction of the grand octal earth orbital clock at Archaeoastronomy.com. I captured the image when planet Earth paused briefly at the Imbolc position in the orbit. Imbolc and the other cross-quarter names come from the Celtic to describe the seasonal mid-points in ancient times. Click on the image to enlarge (slightly).
After dinner yesterday, Damsel looked out of the front window and saw a cloud that appeared to look like the silhouette of an aircraft. She grabbed her camera and got this image of the phenomenon before it morphed into a randomly shaped cloud.
I remembered that there is a term to describe seeing objects in nature that one perceives as resembling something else. However, I could not remember the exact term so I did an internet search on “clouds that resemble things” and found a definition on Askville which led me to this definition on Wikipedia:
Pareidolia
Pareidolia (parr-i-DOH-lee-uh) is a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus (often an image or sound) being perceived as significant, a form of apophenia. Common examples include seeing images of animals or faces in clouds, the man in the moon or the Moon rabbit, and hearing hidden messages on records when played in reverse.
Interesting. Click on the image to enlarge.
ALSO: Seeing extraterrestrial alien faces in Ice Cream: Alien Frosty Paws.
Huge sunspot AR 1967 erupted with an M6 class solar flare a couple of days ago. It is not aimed directly at Earth, but scientists predict a 45 percent chance of auroras at high latitudes when the CME glances off the magnetosphere tomorrow. I photographed these two active sunspot regions around noon local time in Arizona. Solar north is up. Click on the image to enlarge.
There was a larger event in late December when the prediction for auroras was such that perhaps they could be seen at lower latitudes, but alas, nothing here at latitude 34. It is possible at this latitude (I have seen auroras in Southern California) so if we live long enough we may see them again here in our Arizona dark skies.
Ramirez’ response to Obama’s veiled threat to act unconstitutionally made during the SOTU . . .
On our weekly shopping trip, as usual, we bought some flowers for the house. During the winter season, tulips are generally available. We bought these nice, mostly orange tulips with bright yellow highlights. Most of the dozen stems are in the vase on the dining room table with one in a bud vase in our bathroom. Click on the image to enlarge.
I took this image of our little desert house just after sunset this evening as we were walking the dogs. The light from the fiery sunset in progress at that time gives a wonderful glow over my little dream home.
The temperatures have been mild for the last month, but there is possible rain coming over the weekend, The temperatures are forecast for a little cooler in the wake of the rain than the nice 70 plus degree days we have recently had. Click on the image to enlarge.