Favorite Things

When I say 'favorite things,' in the title, that really means that I've shown similar pictures in my posts in the past.  

If you're a long-term reader, you've actually seen bees and sunrises several times, but these are new bee and sunrise pictures, so I hope you won't mind another round. 

I admit that I am fascinated by being able to see a bee as it really is.  Not just a flash of movement and color in the distance that is too small and too fast to appreciate.  

 

Notice how smooth the backs of its wings are. This is a young bee. You may recall some photos that showed a bee's wings that were worn and bedraggled looking.  It never occurred to me in the past that I could age a bee as it flew past me. Now I can. Another favorite thing.  

This was a morning recently when I hoped to photograph an interesting sunrise, but got this equally interesting shot about half an hour later when the sun had climbed a bit.  

Notice that there are two trees in the lower right hand corner that will appear in the next photo as well.  

This one is a new favorite.  For years I have been trying to get a picture of the sunrise on our summer solstice, only to be stymied by the clouds. I could get them the day before or the day after, but this morning I got lucky. 

 

Did you know that there is an actual moment of solstice?  That is when the earth is precisely at that exact point in space, as it moves around the sun, that marks the change in its constant progression from tilting toward the sun as it does in summer to tilting away from the sun as it does in the winter. (And then back again, of course) 

Jeanne did a bit of research this morning and determined that today's solstice moment in time happened for planet Earth just two hours before this sunrise I'm showing you. I like that.  And, I like that there just happens to be two trees that frame its rising point on the horizon as it's seen from our balcony. Kind of a Treehendge sort of thing. 

In case you're wondering where these trees are in relation to our home, I offer the next picture. This was taken a few days ago.  

Standing on our balcony, I have turned to the right and am looking south east. You can see the two 'Treehendge' trees below and slightly to the right of the sun.  

That's it for today's post.  

And thanks for checking my blog. I can't quite believe it but I just passed the 150,000 views mark.  201 people clicked on yesterday alone. Like Fred always says, "Who knew?"  -djf