A shrouded moon over MtLawleyShire

Enclouded even in the late afternoon, the moon tonight, three quarters full, was not to be swallowed entirely

 

The early evening merely pulled in more cloud:

from a distance, she dominates the sky:

and almost clear in the early evening, she gleams;

only to be almost swallowed by cloud in the next moment:

then the glorious light from departing day gilded her face through the light cloud:

and as light departed, despite the cloud, she gleamed stronger.  Here she is almost clear of cloud:

 

But it didn’t last, though the cloud made a lovely halo

and this last one – almost clear in her proper dark – tonight’s beautiful moon

Happy New Year from MtLawleyShire

I’ve been fairly light on blogging the past year.  I hope to be more active this year.

Happy New Year friends

and here, my first photo for the year: is the moon which I watched rise in the eastern sky tonight – waning and with small attendant just visible:

 

 

May it be a wonderful year in photos and life, for all.

🙂

 

 

Sky calligraphy and the moon over MtLawleyShire

Another night in mid December was another wonderful example of moon-enclouded.  The sky calligraphy looked too sparse to have an effect, though it was lovely:

 

to the west, the calligraphy was sunset stained:

 

the eastern skies were clear

but the sky calligraphy reached out

almost snared:

 

She escaped and began to take on a little colour from the dying day

 

 

moving through wisps of calligraphy stained with the ink of dying sunset:

 

then in the clearing sky, her colour deepened:

 

golden moon:

becoming silver:

 

a last ink-stained swirl of sky calligraphy

and as sky darkens and deepens, she shines:

 

silvered light:

and in her proper dark, in the clear sky, tonight’s beautiful moon:

In MtLawleyShire – Last Night, the Moon

Last night was a beautiful half moon and she sailed through an evening scribbled over with sky calligraphy:

Moving through the spine of a calligraphied skeleton sprawled across the sky:

Momentarily in clear sky, the late afternoon moon:

Approaching soft swathes of cloud:

Sailing clear of a soft clump, pursued by delicate smudges:

Almost clear, but not quite: early evening moon:

Moving through more swathes and curls of calligraphy:

An almost clear patch of sky where the evening moon takes on more of fading day’s light:

Drifting ends of calligraphy fail to dim her:

 

almost clear and brightening in the darkening sky:

Sky clear, darkening and she takes the sunset’s colour:

Then sky calligraphy blazed across the sky, entrapping her:

Deep pink wash over coming night:

All light faded, she illuminates the calligraphy as a pale mist:

But finally clear – gleaming and wondrous in her proper dark:

The 2nd Sunset after Clouds in MtLawleyShire: 25 Feb

On the Tuesday, with the air heavy with cloud and the threat of storm – although nothing happened in the way of rain or storm, the sunset was rather beautiful.

It started with a hint of gold washing a sky of almost tropical-seeming clouds, although to the south-east, it was remnants of storm cloud that intersected the hot blue:

 

Then the sun sank below the clouds and suffused everything with intense gold:

 

Clouds in the distant east began to take on that golden hue:

 

And the sun sinks through the dan of golden cloud:

 

From a distance, you can see the rays of light shooting out across the blue to touch the serpentine cloud above:

 

 

and then it is below the horizon and the gold deepens into rose:

 

 

The rays of light slice into the clouds creating ethereal shadow and light:

 

the cloud darkens, stripes of gold slowly subsumed into a deepening rose:

 

with an underneath of rich gold:

 

the clouds too lose gold and glow a darkening pink laced with shadow:

 

the red diminishes into grey and darkness:

 

leaving the sky clear for the moon:

I hope you enjoyed this sunset.  There is another sunset to come, but not from storm clouds this time. And this week, I am going to Matilda Bay, so hopefully, ravens and other birds.

🙂

 

A sky of mourning over MtLawleyShire

A sunset mired in the haze of bushfires several hundred kilometres from the city.  The light was strange, and later, constrained to merely the sun itself.

The smoke haze blew in from the south and stretches up to Geraldton, hundreds of kilometres of the north of the city.  Suburbs, houses and streets were filled with it, and the smell of smoke is disturbing, regardless of knowing the fire itself is some distance away.

As the sun began to sink towards the horizon, the light changed and made a lovely glow on the tortured branches of this solitary gorse:

The colours were wrong for so early in the day:

 

Sunset shades well before sunset and the sun a glowing orb:

 

It was really difficult to adjust the camera’s light levels, but I got some nice effects:

 

 

Then the sun began to sink into the thicker layers of haze and took on a reddish aura:

 

 

From a distance, the layers of haze were visible:

It sank further and became crimson:

 

 

the crimson deepening as it sank into an ashy ending of day

 

till finally, there was merely a sliver of crimson, a barely visible wound in the smokey gloom.  No reflections, no glory

just emptiness and the remains of great forest trees hundreds of years old, rendering all the endangered animals and birds homeless, without food, without hope.

Even the waning moon was bloodied by the death of forests:

though later, she rose above it and shone clear through the clear ceiling of sky, leaving the polluted atmosphere of summer behind.

It will be the same this evening.

MtLawleyShire witnesses Sunset at the Beach

It’s a rare thing to venture so far from my environs at sunset time in the middle of the week – and to the edge of teh world?  The beach?  Well, the occasion was lovely and the opportunity not to be missed.  But a sunset out of MtLawleyShire!  An ‘un-urban’ sunset!  How would I cope? 😀

The afternoon moon smiled down as we made our way to one of Perth’s most loved beaches: Cottesloe.

After drinks and chat, it was time for sunset.  Elsewhere in the city, further south, there were storms.  They hadn’t happened here yet and I was sure sunset would be naught but glare.  How wrong I was.  There is something sublime watching the sun set, unhindered by the silhouettes or an urban environment, though even here, human-made silhouettes are present: the ships in Gage Roads, waiting to get into Fremantle Harbour.  And I loved the light play of cloud strips:

 

 

These are a little out of sequence, but I loved using the Norfolk pines that grace the suburban beaches:

 

 

The moon was gilded by the golden light spilling across the ocean

And the sun sank towards someone else’s dawn:

 

 

I caught a seagull 🙂

And as the sun is pulled further below the horizon, the red glow of its farewell spreads:

In the darkening sky, the moon comes into her own:

 

But all the drama is far to the west:

 

Almost fully dark and the moon takes on the uncompromising white and black – no shades of grey or gold:

But the western sky flames:

 

 

In the eastern skies, there is the serenity of uncomplicated white in black:

and in the west, finally, the light softens and calms with the last shades of farewell from day:

 

A last view from a hotel window:

 

and there is nothing left in the night but the quite beautiful moon:

I hope you enjoyed my excursion to the edge of the world 🙂

 

Moon over MtLawleyShire

Clear skies, hot weather coming – perfect for moon shots:

the afternoon moon, pale in the bright empty sky

then as the sun sank below the trees and houses, the sky lost the brilliance:

 

Sunset was mostly glare but left a lovely glow:

 

and in the moon’s side of the sky, she began to shine:

 

the glow faded, pulled down to become someone else’s dawn:

the sky darkened further:

   

the fading glow and serenity in the east as light leaves the sky

 

so, finally, in her proper dark, tonight’s beautiful moon.

🙂

New Moon over MtLawleyShire

Barely a smear of sunset, yes, but the clear sky had the beauty of the new moon:

There is a small plane in this:

I love the gradation of the colours:

She isn’t very clear, but I love the flow of light to dark:

Her changing brightness in the darkening sky:

till finally, still gilded by sunset’s glow, she shines in the darkened sky

It is a mostly clear sky again tonight – so if there is merely sunset glare, then there will be the beauty of the young moon 🙂

 

 

 

MtLawleyShire wishes you all A Happy New Year for 2015

Wishing you all a Happy New Year and may 2015 be filled with good things

May problems come up roses

   

may your days be filled with sweetness and light

  

and may the moon shine to dispel all the darkness

  

From me and Fattee Cattee