Public Posts Seattle, WA Seattle, WA (zoom)

The Sun sank
into the Sea.
I could hear,
Hawaii calling me.

Come back to here,
where you belong.
Enjoy this life,
while singing your song.

Sweet Leilani,
Heavenly flower,
come back to me,
come back to me.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

What are these two giant arches across the sky? Perhaps the more familiar one, on the left, is the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy. This grand disk of stars and nebulas here appears to encircle much of the southern sky. Visible below the stellar arch is the rusty-orange planet Mars and the extended Andromeda galaxy. But this night had more! For a few minutes during this cold arctic night, a second giant arch appeared encircling part of the northern sky: an aurora. Auroras are much closer than stars as they are composed of glowing air high in Earth's atmosphere. Visible outside the green auroral arch is the group of stars popularly known as the Big Dipper. The featured digital composite of 20 images was captured in mid-November 2022 over the Lofoten Islands in Norway. APOD Year in Review (2023): RJN's Night Sky Network Lecture

Photo by Giulio Cobianchi

Winter winds blow,
icey cold.
Leave are flying,
most gold.

Here am I,
now alone,
no one to visit,
or phone.

When the Sun,
at last,
daylights going,
was fast.

It is when,
I contemplate,
about getting old.
Too late.

I love hearing
the old songs
of Holidays sung
by a choir.

Tales of those
being sung near a fire
where chestnuts roast,
as we hear Jingle Bells,

old refrains of I'm
Dreaming of a White Christmas,
knowing Santa Claus is coming.
God Bless Yee Merry Gentlemen.

He was born upon a Midnight Clear,
as we heard the Angels sing
on high. Oh, Come All
Yee Faithful to Bethlehem.

Frosty the Snowman, rings true,
with All I Want For Christmas,
is You or My Two Front Teeth,
while Mommy was Kissing Santa Claus.

Then Sadly, "Grandmas Got
Run Over by a Reindeer.
Silent Night, Holy Night.
Noel, Noel, Noel.

When words collide,
through action heard,
could we choose
to not flip the bird?

Keep it civil,
please don't shout,
especially when you
don't know what you're talking about.

Meet me tonight in Dreamland,
those words I now hear,
for I miss all those,
who are no longer here.

I was surprised the other day,
when someone said, they liked me.
The remark was much needed,
for I thought I'd lost my personality.

When few becomes many,
in this crazy land, ours,
while sadness runs rampant,
like fallen stars.

So many residents,
here, in this place,
of memory care issues,
a lot or a trace.

Varied reactions, unique
to individuals, of whom we speak.
Everyone is different, what I see,
the way Nature intended
and the way it will be.

Quote from Maggie Tokuda-Hall from her article giving her perspective on Gaza as a Jewish, Japanese American.

Click below to read her essay at Densho or to read a related article by Naomi Ishisaka at The Seattle Times. 

Maggie Tokuda-Hall at Densho ➜      Naomi Ishisaka at The Seattle Times ➜

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

The surface of our Sun is constantly changing. Some years it is quiet, showing relatively few sunspots and active regions. Other years it is churning, showing many sunspots and throwing frequent Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) and flares. Reacting to magnetism, our Sun's surface goes through periods of relative calm, called Solar Minimum and relative unrest, called Solar Maximum, every 11 years. The featured video shows on the left a month in late 2019 when the Sun was near Solar Minimum, while on the right a month in 2014 when near Solar Maximum. The video was taken by NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory in far ultraviolet light. Our Sun is progressing again toward Solar Maximum in 2025, but displaying even now a surface with a surprisingly high amount of activity. Night Sky Network webinar: APOD editor to review coolest space images of 2023