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A lonely Nymph, sits by the stream,
Preening its wings, in this my dream.
Scantily clad, not as big as an Elf.
A small group of them wander about.
I hear their voices as they run and shout.
It's a beautiful vision, that I now see.
My mind wonders if they can see me.
The innocent joy in this gaggle or group
Should be on my front stoop.
The questions I have for you, young and old,
Where do you go when the weather is cold?
Do you have houses, back in the trees?
With warmth, food and water that will appease
Your continued existence on this Earth so grand,
That has much grass and some warming sand.
I hope that the imagination, that does appear,
Will return again on the following year.
If not that will sadden this old man
Who still clings to the life as it began.

A beautiful leaf, found this Fall,
That I like best of all.
One that is nice to see,
Is from a Japanese Maple Tree.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

What does this aurora look like to you? While braving the cold to watch the skies above northern Canada early one morning in 2013, a most unusual aurora appeared. The aurora definitely appeared to be shaped like something , but what? Two ghostly possibilities recorded by the astrophotographer were "witch" and "goddess of dawn", but please feel free to suggest your own Halloween-enhanced impressions. Regardless of fantastical pareidolic interpretations, the pictured aurora had a typical green color and was surely caused by the scientifically commonplace action of high energy particles from space interacting with oxygen in Earth's upper atmosphere. In the image foreground, at the bottom, is a frozen Alexandra Falls, while evergreen trees cross the middle.

Photo by Yuichi TakasakaTWAN

When thinking about those days of old,
Searching the land for that vein of gold.
Cutting through brush; digging up dirt,
Working so hard that your back did hurt.
Down by the water with pan in hand,
Putting in the oar bearing sand.
Swishing in water, a short half circle,
Removing the sand so handily,
Looking for a nugget the size of a Pea.
Your now on your way to the promised land.

Stay alert for their are thief's out there
That will rob or kill you for your share.
A sidearm is carried, to protect your life,
For your children are safe; home with your wife.
What a tale you will tell when you come home
From your adventure's where the Buffalo roam.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, published over 100 years ago, predicted the phenomenon of gravitational lensing. And that's what gives these distant galaxies such a whimsical appearance, seen through the looking glass of X-ray and optical image data from the Chandra and Hubble space telescopes. Nicknamed the Cheshire Cat galaxy group, the group's two large elliptical galaxies are suggestively framed by arcs. The arcs are optical images of distant background galaxies lensed by the foreground group's total distribution of gravitational mass. Of course, that gravitational mass is dominated by dark matter. The two large elliptical "eye" galaxies represent the brightest members of their own galaxy groups which are merging. Their relative collisional speed of nearly 1,350 kilometers/second heats gas to millions of degrees producing the X-ray glow shown in purple hues. Curiouser about galaxy group mergers? The Cheshire Cat group grins in the constellation Ursa Major, some 4.6 billion light-years away.

I am a hairless Bear,
that is very easy to see.
If you would come over
and visit with me.

I have no hair,
but have many colors,
as you soon will soon see,
visiting my sisters and brothers.

Some say I'm sweet,
others say I'm sour.
You make your choice.
It takes less than an hour.

I expect you may know
when you sample my fare,
as you hopefully, now see
I am just a Gummy Bear.

I have a gruff exterior
but inside I am not,
for I can be a tender person,
if that is what you sought.

Unshackle my mind,
please set it free,
to release all these words,
stuck inside of me.
These words that I hear
and will often mutter,
are mostly clear;
said without a stutter.
Where are they now,
I would like to know?
Please tell me when
so that I can soon go
to another place, lost in my mind
where others aren't treated unkind.

The Ocean sounds
I like the most
Are the ones I hear
On the Oregon Coast.
The view, just out of reach
Is seen at Cannon Beach.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

These bright rims and flowing shapes look ghostly on a cosmic scale. A telescopic view toward the constellation Cassiopeia, the colorful skyscape features swept-back, comet-shaped clouds IC 59 (left) and IC 63. About 600 light-years distant, the clouds aren't actually ghosts. They are slowly disappearing though, under the influence of energetic radiation from hot,luminous star gamma Cas. Gamma Cas is physically located only 3 to 4 light-years from the nebulae, the bright star just above and left in the frame. Slightly closer to gamma Cas, IC 63 is dominated by red H-alpha light emitted as hydrogen atoms ionized by the star's ultraviolet radiation recombine with electrons. Farther from the star, IC 59 shows proportionally less H-alpha emission but more of the characteristic blue tint of dust reflected star light. The field of view spans over 1 degree or 10 light-years at the estimated distance of gamma Cas and friends.

Photo by Cassiopeia

Out in our garage to put something away
When I tried a new dance move,
A slight trip and to my dismay,
Did a pirouette, grabbed at a chair,
Not as good as old Fred Astaire.
My balance, now lost, I let out a roar
As I did a stumbling move
That's when I fell to the floor.
No one saw or heard my yell.
My hands hit the floor first,
The pain I felt could have been worse.
No broken bones; so lucky was I.
My advice to you, is not to do
My dance moves; Don't even try.

Down in the meadow, under the tree
Is the place that love first came to me.
A sheltered spot, staying cool in the Sun,
When my true love and I became one.
My love for you is strong as can be
As I will always take care of thee.