Morning Rainbow

It was windy and rainy this morning, but now and then the sun would burst through the clouds.  At one point this produced a very nice double rainbow.  Here are some pics of it:





The reflection of the rainbow in the water was quite striking.

The rainbow arced over a large part of the sky.





It didn't last long, but it was spectacular while it did.

Walker Physics 5e

Here's the cover of the upcoming fifth edition of Walker Physics.  It should be in hand early next year.

Halloween 2015

We only had about a dozen trick-or-treaters this year, even though the rain held off.  Still, we had our jack-o-lanterns out as usual.  Here they are in our front yard:

The top one is inspired by the Happy-face Dragonfly, and the bottom one is a ghoul.   Here's a closer look at the top one:

Here's a closer look at the bottom one:

Fall Colors

Two years ago Betsy and I spent a few days at the Sun Mountain Lodge in Winthrop, WA to enjoy the wonderful Fall colors.  We've been seeing similar beautiful colors this year, but still nothing to match that year.  That visit was incredible also because of the six different species of meadowhawks we saw.  Here's our report from October 23 and 24, 2013:

Last week, October 23 and 24, Betsy and I went to the Sun Mountain Lodge in Winthrop, WA to enjoy the Fall colors for a couple days.  It was beautiful there, as you can see in these photos:

Sun Mountain Lodge from our room.

The Fall colors were in full effect.

A Golden-crowned Kinglet gave me an opportunity for a quick snapshot.

We went to the Beaver Pond, of course, but weren't expecting that much dragonfly activity.  We would have been happy to see a few.  As it turned out, the activity was very good, with lots of darners patrolling the shore looking for females, and meadowhawks flying in tandem over the water, dipping and laying eggs.  In some areas, each step would flush several meadowhawks from the ground into the air.  It was delightful.  We had a six meadowhawk day, with the following species:

White-faced Meadowhawk
Striped Meadowhawk
Saffron-winged Meadowhawk
Band-winged Meadowhawk
Black Meadowhawk
Autumn Meadowhawk

A six meadow hawk day would be good in the summer, but was especially pleasant to experience this time of year.  The most common species was the Saffron-winged Meadowhawk.  We saw only one White-faced Meadowhawk, and it set a new record late date by 16 days.  Here are pics of the meadowhawks:

White-faced Meadowhawk.

Striped Meadowhawk.  An older individual with frayed wings and faded stripes.

Saffron-winged Meadowhawk on the left, and Band-winged Meadowhawk on the right.

Black Meadowhawk.  We don't see Black Meadowhawks all that often, so this one was a particular treat.

Autumn Meadowhawk.  One of the "field marks" for Autumn Meadowhawks is that they land on you.

As usual, we had a great time at the Sun Mountain Lodge and the Beaver Pond.

Cactus Flowers

Last night we went to a movie (Ex Machina), and as we walked back to our car we could see frequent flashes of lightning in the distance – too distant to be heard, in fact.  During the night we heard the thunder, and then raindrops hitting the roof.  It seems the rain helped to encourage our cacti to bloom, after several hot days in the upper 90s.  The result was a series of beautiful blooms, as shown below:

Two cacti bloomed today, one with reddish-orange flowers, the other with yellow flowers.

Betsy was enjoying the garden more than usual this morning.

Here's a closer look at the red blooms:

Notice the beautiful shades of pink around the interior of these blooms.

It seems that May showers brought May flowers.

Mickey Pitching in Arizona

Yesterday we went to Goodyear, Arizona to watch Mickey pitch.  He did well, but his team lost 10 to 7.

Here's what the ballpark and the stands looked like:

The ballpark at Desert Edge High School in Goodyear, Arizona.

The faithful crowd is here to enjoy the game.  Umbrellas for the sun were a common sight.

Next, we have a few pictures of Mickey pitching:

A quick throw to hold the runner on first:

Then, back to business:

It was a fairly warm day, especially for March.  After the game we all went to Barro's for some dinner before heading back to Mesa.

Beautiful Days in Anacortes

We've been having some beautiful days this February in Anacortes, the jewel of Fidalgo Island.

Here's a view to the west, looking out toward Burrows Island and Washington park:

Looking south toward Whidbey Island, the sun was glinting off the water:

Yesterday it was so mild and calm that Betsy did quite a bit of gardening in the backyard.  Here's the view from our deck:

The cloud formations were quite interesting this day, like a succession of small triangles.

The clouds add to the beauty of the sunsets.  Here are a couple shots from just the last few days.

In this shot the sun is setting right behind Burrows Island, a state park:

Here's the view to the south, toward the Olympic Mountains:

As the sunset continued, the colors darkened:

Here's the sunset from last night.  The sun is setting a bit farther north each evening:

The view was also lovely in the direction of the Olympic Mountains:

Again, the colors got more intense as the sunset progressed:

Quite a show outside as we eat our dinner.

Unexpected Pleasures of Dragonflying: San Juan Surprise

Last September, Betsy and I took a short ferry ride from our home in Anacortes, WA to San Juan Island, in the heart of the San Juan archipelago of northern Puget Sound.  In the photo below, we're coming into Friday Harbor, where the ferry terminal is located.  After disembarking, we spent the day exploring the island by car – with an eye out for interesting dragonflies, of course.  We weren't disappointed.

Pulling into Friday Harbor on San Juan Island.

One of our first stops was Roche Harbor, where we had a nice lunch on the pier.  Lots boats anchor in this harbor, and you can see many of their shore boats docked in the photo below.  The name of the large boat in the foreground pretty well sums up the feeling of the place.

I went into an old Mom-and-Pop general store with wooden floors, crab traps, fishing gear, as well as groceries and snacks.  I picked up a delicious ice cream bar for us.  It was wonderful on a pleasant day like this.

Roche Harbor, on San Juan Island, WA.

After lunch we headed for Lime Kiln Park on the western shore of the island.  The land you see in the distance is Canada's Vancouver Island.  The passage of water between the islands is the Haro Strait, known for frequent visits by pods of killer whales.  We saw groups of porpoises, but no whales this time.

A lighthouse overlooking Haro Strait on the west shore of San Juan Island.

Next, we dropped by a small pond that looked like good dragonfly habitat.  Sure enough, we saw lots of Cardinal Meadowhawks, a few Striped Meadowhawks, and some Spotted Spreadwings.  The activity level was quite good.

The pond was in the middle of a large sculpture garden.  The photo below shows a dragonfly sculpture we found there.  It was quite detailed, even in the wings and the eyes.  It put one in mind of the large dragonflies that flew during the Carboniferous period.

Dragonfly sculpture on San Juan Island.

This dragonfly was a bit large to hold in one's hand, but worth the try anyway.

"Nice dragonfly."

This wasn't the only large dragonfly seen at this pond.  More on that later.

U-Haul Dragonfly

I've seen lots of U-Haul trucks with interesting graphics on their sides highlighting animals, events, landmarks, etc., from different states and Canadian Provinces.  They call it their SuperGraphics program, and I think it's a great idea.

Here's a SuperGraphics I'm suggesting for the state of Washington, which highlights animals seen on Fidalgo Island in Puget Sound.  After all, the Happy-face Dragonfly was discovered right here on Fidalgo Island, at Cranberry Lake.

I think this would make for a great U-Haul SuperGraphics.

Dragonfly Art

The beauty of dragonflies has inspired me to try some dragonfly drawings based on my photos.  Here's one based on a photo of a Blue Dasher:

This male Blue Dasher is perched on a stem above the ground, which is typical of this species.  In fact, out of all the hundreds and hundreds of Blue Dashers I've seen over the years, I have yet to see even one perched on the ground.  They just don't like to perch there.  

On the other hand, our other blue dragonfly, the Western Pondhawk, wants to land on the ground.  It will be found on the ground unless bare ground is not available in the habitat.  Thus, a very good rule of thumb for our area is the following: Blue dragonfly on the ground = Western Pondhawk.

January 2015

Here's a calendar for January 2015, featuring various dragonfly photos as a reminder of what we can hope to see this summer:

Happy New Year, 2015!

Happy New Year from the Happy-face Dragonfly!

We've been enjoying Christmas here, as you can see:

Now that the Christmas season is winding down, we've started off the New Year with a great day.

A Cooper's Hawk visited the backyard to add a touch of excitement.

Happy New Year everyone!