Contributor Posts

Am I embittered?
Yes I am.
Life was not to be
As ugly,
as today.
My loving friend
Has gone away.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

What's that approaching? Astronauts on board the International Space Station in 2010 first saw it far in the distance. Soon it enlarged to become a dark silhouette. As it came even closer, the silhouette appeared to be a spaceship. Finally, the object revealed itself to be the Space Shuttle Endeavour, and it soon docked as expected with the Earth-orbiting space station. Pictured here, Endeavour was imaged near Earth's horizon as it approached, where several layers of the Earth's atmosphere were visible. Directly behind the shuttle is the mesosphere, which appears blue. The atmospheric layer that appears white is the stratosphere, while the orange layer is Earth's Troposphere. Together, these thin layers of air -- collectively spanning less than 2 percent of Earth's radius -- sustain us all in many ways, including providing oxygen to breath and a barrier to dangerous radiations from space. Coming up Friday: Earth Day 2022

Photo shared by Heather Cox Richardson from Letters from an American

Four forces are propelling the rising rates of depression among young people. Read more

Oh Vanity, thou have a name.
It has been said by others,
to those who appear vane.
" There is no conceit in your family,
as you have it all."

A frog, a fox
and a ring-tailed shrew,
were very bored,
having nothing to do
Until they encountered the
notorious fellow, Mr. Fitch.
He was a mean one, was he.
Often referred to as a son of,
ask him no questions,
he'll tell you no lies,
he is that type of a guy.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Taken with a camera fixed to a tripod, many short exposures were aligned with the stars to unveil this beautiful, dark night sky. Captured near the rural village of Albany`a at the northeastern corner of Spain, the three stars of Orion's belt stretch across top center in the starry frame. Alnitak, the easternmost (left) of the belt stars is seen next to the more diffuse glow of the Flame Nebula and the dark notch of the famous Horsehead. Easily visible to the naked-eye The Great Nebula of Orion is below the belt stars. A mere 1,500 light-years distant, it is the closest large stellar nursery to our fair planet. Best seen in photographs, the broad and faint arc of Barnard's Loop seems to embrace Orion's brighter stars and nebulae though. In the northern spring the familiar northern winter constellation is setting. Near the western horizon toward lower right Orion's apparently bright blue supergiant Rigel just touches the branches of a pine tree.

Photo by Juan Carlos Casado

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Wind-sharpened rocks known as ventifacts, cover this broad sloping plain in the foot hills of Mount Sharp, Gale crater, Mars. Dubbed gator-back rocks their rugged, scaly appearance is captured in these digitally stitched Mastcam frames from the Curiosity rover on mission sol 3,415 (March 15, 2022). Driving over gator-back rocks before has resulted in damage to the rover's wheels, so Curiosity team members decided to turn around and take another path to continue the rover's climb. Curiosity has been on an ascent of Gale crater's central 5.5 kilometer high mountain since 2014. As it climbs, it's been able to study layers shaped by water on Mars billions of years ago.

Here I am, in the
memory care facility,
as I observe a resident,
Audrey, the wanderer.
She is small in stature
and patrols the hallways
of the facility. She seldom
sits at a table during dining hours,
but will wander around, tables
up to the counter and ask for food.
She is very quiet and has a quaint
accent which may be Irish or
Scottish.

Watchful the wind,
sailing through the Firs,
shaking branches as
needles fall, covering
the ground. A sound
of Fir cones striking
the deck with a
rat a tat tat,
a staccato, rings in my ears
as I try to sleep
in the warmth of our
bed, alone.

I lay with my head
on the pillow.
You are asleep.
I'm amazed by the
clarity of your skin,
sans wrinkles, which
is remarkable at this
late time of life.

Camille Pissarro (1830 - 1903) Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but then in the Danish West Indies). His importance resides in his contributions to both Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. He "acted as a father figure not only to the Impressionists" but to all four of the major Post-Impressionists, Cézanne, Seurat, Gauguin, and van Gogh. Read more
This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer.