The weather here is crazy. It’s mid-November, and still mostly around 15°C. There was a short cold spell a few weeks ago, and the renewed mild temperatures are playing havoc with plants. To show how crazy it is, I first wanted to show the new growth on our roses. Next to them, the lavender is blossoming again. But then I saw our neighbours’ tree.
At least some trees are keeping to the normal rhythm, even if somewhat later than normal:
The moon is hiding behind cloud, so my lunar series will have to wait. In the meantime, I’ve been photographing the trees changing colour very late this year. My favourite photo so far:
Jim Montgomery, the founder of Dawn Ministries, died recently. Others knew him better, and are more qualified to write about the effects of his life and works, so I won’t comment on that here. I met him briefly in the Dawn offices in Colorado Springs in 2004, and was touched by his friendliness and humility. “To live is Christ, to die is gain”
, as Paul writes. He has gained, we have lost.
I’m working on a series of photos of the moon, one each day for a complete cycle. Last Saturday, I was surprised by the difficulty I had in taking a sharp photo; I could see the moon clearly, and everything looked sharp in the camera viewfinder, but the photos were all blurred. I tried manual and automatic focus, turning image stabilisation on and off, different apertures and shutter speeds, but nothing made any difference. I’ve posted the clearest photo in the gallery, but the contrast to the other photos is clear. Something in the atmosphere, perhaps high cloud or ice crystals, was apparently obscuring the moon just enough to make the photos unsharp, but not enough to be visible to the naked eye. That reminded me of the words in 1 Corinthians 2:9 (even if their meaning is the reverse of what I experienced):
No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him– but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit
I’ve just taken some photos of the moon which turned out very well. I had to use manual exposure, because even with spot metering, the moon was overexposed.
