Moon Over Papaya

The night skies are full of wonders right about now, with Jupiter and Venus edging closer and closer to one another. It's worth going out and checking on: clouds move, stars and planets move. Tonight they are doing a close (eyeballed from Earth speaking) tango that gets closest on the 15th, check it out in the west/southwest starting at sunset.

We had clouds early on here, but I did get a couple of shots late in the evening, not dramatically close but beautiful just the same.

You might have to turn out all of the lights and look at this in the dark
to see what I saw (a light and color show), as I don't own the Hubble telescope to shoot with. Drat. 

Before the sun went away, I was pretty happy to see that the sea almonds and papayas, after dramatically shedding their leaves are making an immediate reshowing, unlike their Northern cousins who take months to get dressed again. I planted these trees ten years ago to give the yard some shade and they have done admirably well, until the once a year shedding which leaves (pun unintended) the yard bright, way too bright. In a week or so, just in time as the days get warmer, shade will once more cover my world.

Sadly, my biggest papaya was so beaten up with our days and days of gale force winds that it just fell over.  Now this one is the biggest and I thought, until a couple of days ago, that it too was a goner. Happily, not.

Sea almond in bud

What will become almonds. Alas, my mango blossoms all dried up in the winds as well. Maybe next year.

The cat, who is strangely attuned to dawn beauty, complained loudly until I went outside to see what there was to see and found the sky still holding the moon, while the birds were waking up and singing on the wing. I took a couple of photos (with flash, even though there was some light) as CWIM stood by. The second I was done she did one of her best mad dashes for the hung screen in the doorway. I can never have a proper screen door as one of her favorite things is to crash through it full blast, coming to a complete stop inside with a cat smile on her face. It always makes me laugh. She never laughs. She's now curled up on the bed, full, herding completed. Not bad for barely sunrise.

art director: CWIM

Have an un-monotonous Monday! Do something that makes you marvel.