Tuesday December 31st 2024

[Man From Ironbark]

Well it is only two and a half hours left in the year at this point in Aust.EDST.

Here's some work I was doing with water reflections.
   
   
   

[Dave]

Happy New Year to you, sir.

The warm reflected colors add a lot to #1, and the squiggly dark reflections in the other two are mesmerizing.

"mesmerizing" - without Googling it, which of you know where the word came from?

Back with a photo (I don't think I've posted it earlier) from an outing to the wetlands on  November 17

It's a Belted Kingfisher...

   

[Man From Ironbark]

I think it was named after a man by the name of Mesmer?

Thanks Dave. New Years is 7 minutes away as I am typing.

Didn't know that kingfishers wore belts,
Editing:... I have some new wetland photos from Lake Ginninderra, still sorting.

But for now, here is how my village looks a few minutes ago. No noise, only me crunching underfoot fallen Eucalyptus bark from my large Yellow Box tree and the dogs barking at my intrusion into their evening.

           

Edited to say, well it is 2025 and it doesn't feel a lot different yet.

[Luv2shoot]

Hello all,
I am taking it easy today.  I did not get out of bed until after 11.
I got an electric blanket for my bed, and it might be the worst gift I ever got. I can't wait to go to bed at night, and I don't want to get out of bed in the morning. Oh My Gosh. 

We have no big plan for tonight other than staying up till midnight to ring in the new year.  It seems funny that you, Pete, are already living in the new year.  I remember New Year's Eve 2020.  How did 25 years go by so fast?

I hope all remains calm and peaceful in all areas of the world, just like the mood in all of Peter's photos today.

[Dave]

Lorell, that is a subtly superb image. Is it a double exposure or is there an actual city in the distance?

Congratulations to the Detroit Lions for their exciting comeback win yesterday, despite the many injuries on the defensive side. Huge game coming up against Minnesota. IMO it's crucial for the Lions to win it; that would give them the #1 seed and, more importantly, a much needed bye week so some of the injured might heal enough to play.

[Man From Ironbark]

Yes. 25 years. Now where did I put those years?

[Dave]

MFI, it looks like you had the town all to yourself.

[Man From Ironbark]

It was about 11:30PM. There's only about fifty houses and no shops or anything really.
There were no new years eve parties in the village either.

[Dave]

MFI, I forgot to mention that you are correct: Franz Mesmer was a German physician who moved his practice to Paris, France around 1777. He became renowned for his unusual treatment beliefs and practices: he believed he had discovered an invisible force (in some ways similar to magnetism) and that he could manipulate this force to cure patients of various diseases and conditions.

Most of his claims have been proven to be complete nonsense, but he is justifiably credited with  spurring the field of hypnotism.

I'll pose a question about another famous person late tomorrow.

A photographer friend and I are revisiting the Bolsa Chica Wetlands early tomorrow morning - there have been recent sittings of at least one Burrowing Owl (a year round resident here, but seldom seen because there aren't many of them around and sadly their numbers are decreasing rapidly in all their locations in California, with less than 100 breeding pairs in Southern California) and we hope to find and photograph one.

[Luv2shoot]

Thanks Dave. That photo was taken from my big bus trip to go quilt fabric shopping with my daughter and 49 other women. That was one of several successful cell phone shops from the inside of our touring bus. This was farm land and I think those are silos and barns out in the distance.

less than 4 hours to go around here.