Blue Jay in a blue sky

We heard him before I could see him to take his picture.  He was singing away as happy as we were with the week-long string of days with blue skies.  Since you have heard me complain regularly and probably too frequently about the lack of such skies, I must now report on the lack of clouds.  Bill the Channel 8 weatherman says we have had a record-setting number of sunny days this week -- five in a row.  Whew!   Seek more blue skies from around the world at Skywatch Friday.

P.S. You might remember that this is the same guy who looked so cranky just a few weeks ago.

Super moon downsizing

It is a week later and the super moon of 2011 in on the wane this morning.  So sorry to see it downsizing.  The moon will not be this close to the earth for another 18 years, 2029.  Hmmmm, wonder if I will be here for it?!

For more skies from around the world, please visit Skywatch Friday.

a good morning in March

For more good skies, please visit Skywatch Friday.

sky watchers

Yesterday's late winter was a somber gray.  This view of the angles of the brown roof struck me as symbolic of the day.  With only very small white flakes of snow falling,  the satellite dish and tired, old sunflowers reach for the sky, seeking more lively scenes and the return of color to the northern world. 

For skies of more color and life, go to Skywatch Friday!

Seeking summer skies on Skywatch Friday

And I can only find them in old photos or in this wonderful watercolor by Kalamazoo artist, Susan Badger.  This is a photo from the exhibit at the Carnegie Center for the Arts in 2007 of her experiments with small works done on site in northern Michigan.   Exquisite works that help me dream of sunny skies!  For other skies filled with a sun that is not a dream, visit Skywatch Friday.

Last of the ice on Skywatch Friday

Yes, the sky in southwest Michigan is blue today -- at least, it was this bright at noon today, although now at two in the afternoon the clouds are back.   So it goes.

The sun was working its will on the ice remaining on our trees.  In trying to capture the falling ice, I chanced to catch another cardinal.  I thought this additional posting featuring a cardinal would satisfy their hurt feeling, but they are now clamoring for header status like the bluejay!

Please seek out more skies from the around the world on this week's Skywatch Friday.

Cloud travels for Skywatch Friday

Imagine a cloud traveler nestled in the warm, bright billows,
Wandering past the moon and sun, wondering at the worlds beyond.

So swept up in golden clouds, all words fade into stardust.

Find other sky dreams at Skywatch Friday.  There Klaus has shared a magical sunrise with us.

Typical winter sky, almost

Typical in that it is snowing and the skies are gray.  Not typical in that the sun is also almost out.  You will be happy to learn that this weeklong lament for the winter sun is over. 

Happy Skywatch Friday from Michigan!

Morning moon

This simply beautiful waning moon brought me joy on a cold January 31st morning!

More skies await you at Skywatch Friday.

Trees and clouds for Skywatch Friday

The close of today after the gray skies have given way to some blue skies.  For skies from around the world, visit a great spot, Skywatch Friday.

S for sunny, perhaps? Soon?

Have you ever noticed how much we northerners whine about gray skies and get giddy at a peek of blue sky?   This whining seems a more constant state, interrupted only briefly by the marvel of those sunny snowy days when we sing our other song about the truly amazing winter wonderland all around us.    Have you noticed that our blogs show more of the latter than the former!?  We are trying to convince ourselves not you that winter is truly...... well, what?  It depends on what day you ask us!

This is my first alpha cloud and it is dedicated to the master of the alphabet clouds, Cheryl at Dockside!

Seek more mostly blue skies at Skywatch Friday.

Definitely an A+ kind of sky

There has been snow off and on every day now, but then the gray skies will disappear, and a blue sky streaked with whites will appear to cheer us on through January.

For skies from sunnier climes, visit Skywatch Friday!

Snow sky in the morning

These December snow days create marvelous morning skies.  The sun struggles to gain a footing among the swirling fingers of lake-effect snow clouds and we are usually walking in a light dusting of snow flakes.  Today the sun won out by noon but now at 2 pm has succumbed to the pale gray clouds floating in on a northwest wind off the lake.

Warmer skies can be seen on Skywatch Friday every Friday!

Skywatch Friday

A late November morning and the sun has illuminated the storm clouds making it seem as if it is quite all right for that plane to head straight into them.  But is it?

For more dramatic sky scenes, please visit Skywatch Friday.

Hazy skies of Indian Summer

A temperature that hit 70F and hazy skies have been the norm this week of our Indian Summer, a time in autumn when the first hard frost has come but not the first snow.  The term was first used in Letters From an American Farmer, a 1778 work by the French-American soldier turned farmer J. H. St. John de Crèvecoeur (a.k.a. Michel-Guillaume-Jean de Crèvecoeur):

"Then a severe frost succeeds which prepares it to receive the voluminous coat of snow which is soon to follow; though it is often preceded by a short interval of smoke and mildness, called the Indian Summer." (from The Phrase Finder)

American historian Daniel Boorstin in The Americans: the Colonial Experience "speculates that the term originated from raids on European colonies by Indian war parties; these raids usually ended in autumn, hence the extension to summer-like weather in the fall as an Indian summer. Two of the three other known uses of the term in the 18th century are from accounts kept by two army officers leading retaliation expeditions against Indians for raids on settlers in Ohio and Indiana in 1790 and Pennsylvania, in 1794."  But there is also the suggestion that is named for the traditional period when early Native Americans harvested squash and corn. (see Wikipedia article on Indian Summer)

In Western Europe this type of weather was called St. Martin's Summer from the feast of that saint on November 11, while Russians and East Europeans called it Old Ladies Summer.  And Indian Summer is the name given to the Milwaukee ethnic festival held in September honoring Native Americans: Indian Summer Festival.

No matter what name you give it, we have been enjoying what the National Weather Service defines as,  "a period of considerably above normal temperatures, accompanied by dry and hazy conditions ushered in on a south or southwesterly breeze."  See the attempt by a weather historian to deal with the naming issue in the article, Just what is Indian Summer and did Indians really have anything to do with it?

If you are in the midst of Indian Summer, please enjoy it!  And check out more skies on Skywatch Friday.

Rosy Morning

 

You did not need rose-colored glasses to start your day.  The sky obliged with this rosy glow.  You just have to be early enough! 

For skies from around the world, please visit Skywatch Friday.

Ghost forests in the sky

I was filling the bird feeder (the finches are coming in droves these days) when I looked up and saw these clouds.  Immediately I thought of wispy trees.  Now with a popular song of my youth in my head, I am calling them "ghost forests in the sky."  That song was "Ghost Riders in the Sky" and was a hit on the American popular music charts in 1949.  Burl Ives first recorded it, but he was followed by Vaughn Monroe, Bing Crosby, Johnny Cash, even Peggy Lee.  Quite the list!  A fair warning to parents: be careful what you let your seven year old hear -- it may stick with them a very long time!

To listen to the music and learn more visit Ghost Riders in the Skies.  For more information on the song and its creator, visit Wikipedia.  For more skies, visit Skywatch Friday.

Clouds and Color

in this photo (straight out of the camera), enjoy the color  in the woods at the back of our meadow and the clouds above them.  It is just about seven as the sun is going down in our corner of southwest Michigan last Wednesday, ending another perfect autumn day.    Every day in this October of 2010 has seen warm temperatures and deepening color in the trees whose leaves have not already fallen.

Please visit Skywatch Friday for more fabulous skies from around the world.

Sun and Clouds over the Islands

There is nothing like the cloud formations that roam Lake Superior!  And we had a perfect spot on Shelter Bay for watching them morning and night.  It is early evening and you can see the sun piercing the clouds and lighting up portions of AuTrain Island, Grand Island, and the east arm of AuTrain Bay (Shelter Bay is the small "sub-bay" at the west arm of AuTrain Bay).  

To explore more photos of skies, please visit Skywatch Friday.

Once more sunrise over Superior

The same morning as last week's sunrise over Superior but thirteen minutes later and the sun has appeared on the horizon. 
Do not forget to enjoy more skies on Skywatch Friday.