Glowing sky is a glimmer of hope for rain swamped SE Texas

A soft glowing sky settles over Beaumont, TX -- hopefully a sign of better times to come as the region tries to recover from the torrential deluge with which Harvey swamp our area.

Fire-breathing sky

A fire-breathing sky  in Beaumont, TX settling in for the night.

Eclipse slips to the west

The Moon takes a bite out of the Sun in today's eclipse, but the clouds are waiting to devour the remains at the Sun slips below the horizon.  The shot is Beaumont Texas, where we were told to expect the moon to cover about 40 percent of the sun at sundown.    The folks on up through the west of the United State will enjoy the better views of the eclipse  -- our time is gone.

That old moon

There must be a million songs about the moon. Probably my favorite is the Beatles son, "Mr., Moonlight."  You can pick your favorite and sing it now.  Wax and wane all you want.

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Tattered, strewn sky

This is just one more look at that jigsawed sunset that spread out like a lint-covered ceiling a couple weeks ago.

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Shredded hope

This is another shot from that amazing sunset this past weekend.  With the way the clouds were shredded I expected some wet weather.

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Folded, spindled, mutilated and pierce clouds.

It was a very strange sunset the other night with winds shreding clouds in to tethers with sharps winds aloft.  This is a straight up shot that lost some of its blueness in trying to bring out the clouds. Notice the jet piercing it's way across the sky.  I can't even imagine what the heavens looked like from up there.

Boom the moon

I will confess that the moon you see is superimposed.  The moon in this shot was way over exposed, so I borrowed one from another shot of mine. 


Still, the juxtaposing, you have to admit, brings up lots of antithesis -- the whisperless quiet of the moon; the fireworks booming through the smoking, sulphur-smelling sky.  The moon, peaceful, tranquil.  The firework, exploding, like the fireball of a supernova.   The steady, steely brightness of the moon.  The short-lived, damn-the-torpedoes life of the firework.

The firmament tolerates a variety of behaviors.
--steve buser

Fireworks, Moon, Texas

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Sundown -- the passing nature over to the night.

It is that time of the night when the sun has slipped beyond the horizon, but still leaves its magical visage hanging in the waves of darkness that seep into the clouds, stealing their substance.  There are no sharp lines anymore, they exist only only in the firmness of the light. Now, the horizon is just a water coloring smearing upon itself. Soon the sun share no soul with the color-drained heavens. Reds will drift in the night sky as greyish ghosts, forgetting for one dreamy night their water-giving nature.
--steve buser

Sunset

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River of light, ripples along the way

This was the upside down beach-of-a-sky sunset over Beaumont, Texas, a few days ago. Dark clouds upstaged by ripples catching the sunset light
--steve buser

sunset, texas

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Embered sky

I don't know if this is related to the subtropical depression that is crawling across the Gulf of Mexico toward us, but the sunset tonight was in all its splendor.  Helios was sliding over and under clouds, spraying rosy-orange beams across selected sectors of the sky.  Then as he sunk over the horizon, he was leaving embers behind from his fiery gallop across the vault of heaven.

--steve buser

Sunset, Beaumont, Texas, sundown

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Red-heads come visiting

Linda and I were enjoying the evening with our son, Shawn and his wife Sarah, in their backyard, the other day. Backyards can be such wonderful nature places. Because they have a forested lot across the street, they get a lot of birds flying through in the waning hours of the evening.

This evening, a pair of Red-headed Woodpeckers (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) made several appearances as they flitted around the neighborhood. I'm not sure if they were trying to make up their food quota for the day and go store it, or just feeling playful.

They stayed up near the top of the towering trees in the neighborhood. That, plus the dimming evening light, made taking their picture a challenge. This was the best I could do.

--steve buser

Red-headed Woodpecker

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Sun duels lighting and thunder

Thunder behind me, sunset in front, lighting to the sides. The huge snapping thunderclapper passed through just before sunset. That left an eiry burn-orange cast to the roadway and the buidings. Then, the lighting started crackling straight across the sky, including in the dark area just above the sunset. We used to call it "heat lighting" as kids. There was certainly a Alamo-style battle for dominance going on between armies in the sky. I'm not sure the sun won.

--steve buser

Sunset, lighting, sky, thunderstorm, Beaumont, Texas

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Want to race? You have to beat the sun

We wereata diathlon in west Houston a while back supporting our son, Charles. This was the scene as the racers prepared their bikes before sun-up for the grueling ride and run.

--steve buser

Diathlon, Houston, rate, sunrise

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Stark wonder

I think this goes a little beyond serendipity -- when you are searching for something and you unexpectedly find some other valuable thing. We've talked about that before.

But this? Way beyond that.

I was shooting a picture of the famous Stark House in Orange, TX the other day. Then I thought I would get some shots of the details. That's when I shot this.

I didn't even look at the picture till just now. I saw it just a few minutes before you. - the three egrets flying past.

Now, I don't believe this is seredipity, because I was only shooting a picture. Its as if you were shooting a picture of the Mall in Washington, D.C. and the President walks up. No way you can say, you're being in Washington allowed that to happen. It did of course, but that was just the smallest cog in a bunch of cosmic gears that would allow something like that to occur.

These three cosmic actors puzzle me. I suspect there is something going on in this universe that I cannot comprehend. Somehow, that comforts me.

--steve buser

Stark House, Orange Texas, egrets, serendipity

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Dusky duel

Before I file these photos away, I wanted to show you one more shot from the other day.  

The sun was really showing off -- looking bold as it played with different layers of clouds during its slow descent.  I'm sure it was really ticking off the darkness -- holding it at bay and taking more than it share of time.   Even as it slipped below the horizon, it was just warming up -- throwing amazing colors from its palette onto the clouds.

The clouds seemed to be indifferent to the war between the sun and darkness.  "Look this is not our fight.  We're just sailing by.  It's not our fault if one of you throws brilliant oranges on us, or the other other cloaks it in dark somber shades."

--steve busr

Fire in the sky

Across the street, the direction that the sunsets, is a row of trees that hampersust running out and shooting a sunset picture. A couple days ago, I found a break in the row, whereI can stand a shoot a pretty wide open sky. This sunset was the reason I found it.

I walked up and down because the sunset was a real blazer. I guess I probably should have ran and not walked. A few seconds before this the sun was really in an inspired mood. It has already slipped below the skyline. I guess the resulting sunset was some wild dream he was having.

Hope you enjoy this SkyWatch Friday photo. Go to the SkyWatch Friday site to enjoy 100's more.

--steve buser

You give me fever

This was the sky that seemed to be burning with fever the other night, looking out over Lamar University in Beaumont. I walked out and saw this and wished I would have got to my car a few minutes earlier so that I could find the perfect vantage point. As it was, I shot as fast as I can as the sun fought off the fever and began to get drousy.

--steve buser

Go and check out more Skywatch images at the Skywatch Site!

sunset, Texas, sky, clouds, Beaumont

Backwards rays

Daylight reflects back on Houston's Discovery Green Park as the sun start's lighting up the buildings on Houston downtown's east side.  The early morning sun shimmers down the board walk of the park across from the George R. Brown Convention Center and near the Toyota Center.

--steve buser

Houston, parks, Texas, Discovery Green Park, George R.Brown, Convention Center

Sky climbing

Soaring above the clouds, probably 35,000 feet up, about 6 miles from earth, a metal bird carries people quickly across the earth. Down on the ground, in Beaumont, few people even notice.

This is a Skywatch Friday post. See all the other post today at the Skywatch Site!

--steve buser

airplane, sky, sundown