Big Sky

We have lots of sky here, big sky.

 Sometimes the combination of cloud and sunset and tilting masts lends a scene more glorious than its parts.

That's the steeple of the Freewill Baptist Church, leaning into the sky's gills.
Then we came to the river and viewed the long span from east to west. The east was darkening, fading into deep blue.

 These next two photos show a phenomenon Adam, the astronomy teacher, has spoken of -- the Earth's shadow. The Earth, when positioned between the sun and the palate of the sky, casts a massive shadow. See the slanting line between the blue and pink portions? The darker blue above is the Earth's shadow, cast by the sun that's setting to the right of this photo.

 A little further along, the shadow is still visible and rising, and fading.

 Elsewhere in this same sky the setting sun transmits an eery glow into a patch of cloud.

Today was hot and sticky, with a deluge of rain briefly this afternoon.

 What a sky!

 I always feel the masts are standing at attention like soldiers, waiting for their marching orders, eager to be at sea, wondering when their owners will come.

 The setting sun lit this boat against dark water and lowering sky.
Here's an update on the little cottage that's being redone. This is the back of the house, facing a small pond. Sometimes white ducks play here.

 Lest anyone think Oriental is a corner of Eden, I share the sad tale of two plants. They live at Whittaker Marina and belong to a boat. They live on the dock next to the slip. I don't think the owners have been here all summer.

 They looked so much healthier earlier this summer, but now both the pepper plant (which is simply at its seasonal end) and the rosemary (which is dying from living in that pot) look awful.

 This rosemary makes me a little grumpy. Maybe it's ridiculous, but it bothers me greatly to have such a noble plant dying a slow death from neglect. I could put it in the ground, and it would green up and recover. Its soil is hard. No one waters it there.

Nearby is this catamaran. It's a very tight fit, in its slip.

 Looking carefully down one side of it, you can tell it would not easily back out of here, past that piling at the back. But then, look at the other side ...

 On the other side of the catamaran (which is on the left here), you cannot even SEE the piling back there -- it's obscured by the boat! How did they get it in the slip in the first place? We haven't a clue. Impossible!

 We stared at this situation yesterday evening on our bike ride/walk on the dock. We studied the boat. Yesterday, I did not notice what was shockingly hanging from the life-line on the side of the catamaran today. See it?

It's only a plastic snake, but it gave me a scare! Somebody wired it to the boat's life-line. (Ugh!!) I know it wasn't there yesterday, that's for sure. Today, at some point, somebody attached it. Why? The owners aren't there. This little oddity of Oriental life, itself full of nautical crazies, shall remain a puzzle.