Public Posts Bellevue, WA Bellevue, WA (zoom)

Shaken branches,
trees tall,
cones dropping,
as needles fall.

Summer heat,
hard on trees.
Rain of Fall,
if you please.

Spewing water
short bursts,
through sand,
waterspouts,
telltale signs
of Razor clams.

A simple soul,
the one I know,
nothing special,
she loves me so.
Long after memories
are gone,
I'll remember her
when I hear our Song.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

The famous Horsehead Nebula in Orion is not alone. A deep exposure shows that the dark familiar shaped indentation, visible just right of center, is part of a vast complex of absorbing dust and glowing gas. The featured spectacular picture details an intricate tapestry of gaseous wisps and dust-laden filaments that were created and sculpted over eons by stellar winds and ancient supernovas. The Flame Nebula is visible in orange just to the Horsehead's left. To highlight the dust and gas, most of the stars have been digitally removed, although a notable exception is Alnitak, just above the Flame Nebula, which is the rightmost star in Orion's famous belt of three aligned stars. The Horsehead Nebula lies 1,500 light years distant towards the constellation of Orion. NASA Coverage: Artemis I Mission to the Moon Teachers & Students: Ideas for utilizing APOD in the classroom

Photo by George Chatzifrantzis

Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862).  American naturalist, philosopher, poet, and essayist. He is best known for his book "Walden" or "Life in the woods", a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay "Civil Disobedience" (originally published as "Resistance to Civil Government"), an argument for disobedience to an unjust state.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Here comes Jupiter! NASA's robotic spacecraft Juno is continuing on its highly-elongated orbits around our Solar System's largest planet. The featured video is from perijove 11 in early 2018, the eleventh time Juno has passed near Jupiter since it arrived in mid-2016. This time-lapse, color-enhanced movie covers about four hours and morphs between 36 JunoCam images. The video begins with Jupiter rising as Juno approaches from the north. As Juno reaches its closest view -- from about 3,500 kilometers over Jupiter's cloud tops -- the spacecraft captures the great planet in tremendous detail. Juno passes light zones and dark belt of clouds that circle the planet, as well as numerous swirling circular storms, many of which are larger than hurricanes on Earth. After the perijove, Jupiter recedes into the distance, then displaying the unusual clouds that appear over Jupiter's south. To get desired science data, Juno swoops so close to Jupiter that its instruments are exposed to very high levels of radiation. Teachers & Students: Ideas for utilizing APOD in the classroom

Where has all the caring
for another gone.
When did it become
not OK to follow the
Golden Rule?
What kind of Society
do we live in when
hate of another due
to religion, race or
country becomes the Norm.
If we wish to salvage
what is left of this Social
Experiment, of Democratic
Governing, we must take
action now, if not for ourselves,
but for our children and
grandchildren to make a place
where they may continue to
live, be happy and succeed.

Only the lonely
walk down the path,
on their life's journey.
Without joy, laughter
and love, Life's burden
may be overpowering.

Another year
of dry weather.
Two years
in a row.
Not a
good thing
in the
Evergreen State.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Inside the Cocoon Nebula is a newly developing cluster of stars. Cataloged as IC 5146, the beautiful nebula is nearly 15 light-years wide. Climbing high in northern summer night skies, it's located some 4,000 light years away toward the constellation Cygnus the Swan. Like other star forming regions, it stands out in red, glowing, hydrogen gas excited by young, hot stars, and dust-reflected starlight at the edge of an otherwise invisible molecular cloud. In fact, the bright star found near the center of this nebula is likely only a few hundred thousand years old, powering the nebular glow as it clears out a cavity in the molecular cloud's star forming dust and gas. A 29 hour long integration with a small telescope from Ayr, Ontario, Canada resulted in this exceptionally deep color view tracing tantalizing features within and surrounding the dusty stellar nursery.

Photo by David Jenkins

Forgive me, please,
for being a fool
by violating a cardinal rule.
I am sorry for the words said,
for a smart mouth remark,
a relationship now dead.
I am a long way from perfect
and you know it's true.
I'm sorry and am missing you.

No matter the words,
which enter my head,
I write for pleasure,
and not wake the dead.

The dead, a space where
words go to die,
unless they become written,
and I must now try.

I will save those words, I see,
for the enjoyment of others
they're not just for me.