I couldn't pass up the chance to take a photo of the Blue Moon on New Year's Eve! The clouds are racing, in the foreground the branches are blurred as they move. The moon and the stars appear and re-appear. A blue moon occurs when there are two full moons in one month, which only happens every other year or so.

High Flight
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of—wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air....
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark nor even eagle flew—
And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,

Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

John Gillespie Magee, Jr

This poem was used in a book I'm reading, "The Way the Crow Flies", by Ann-Marie MacDonald. The poem was written by an aviator in the Royal Canadian Air Force who was killed in WWII.

Christmas dinner leftovers - ham quiche. It turned out to be the best one I've made - very good!

Spent the afternoon hiking around Fort Ebey and Fort Casey state parks. Tim and Cody on the beach.

In the look-out tower.

Peeking into a bunker.

On the bluff.

Lake Pondilla.

The setting sun over the Olympics.

We're having frosty nights and sunny days. The sun melts the frost, but

part of the lawn doesn't see the sun, so the frost has been building up every night. This is actually blades of grass with frost so thick it looks like snow!

The prism without water inside, although there are some drops left. I just wanted to see how it looked. Without the water inside, it only sends out light, not rainbows! I'll be getting some distilled water to refill it and hang it in the sun.

HOPE YOU ALL HAD A VERY GOOD CHRISTMAS!

Under the tree . . .
The Christmas day sunrise . . .

Cory with the prism in the sun.

Grandma Barb, Jay, Barb, Tim, Jon, (standing), Tiffany, and Ashlynne.

Cody is here with his girlfriend, Tim. They helped with cookies . . .

but we still have a few left to frost and sprinkle!

We had our family Christmas Eve dinner, with Grandma, the kids, their cousins, new girl- and boy-friends, and some of David's buddies. It was great - lots of good food and company! Afterwards, the dominoes came out!

We got a lot of rain - the run-off streams are full!

The days are getting longer - well, not noticable quite yet, but at least we got a little sunshine today! I took advantage of it to get some 'blue' photos for our next Photo Art Journal, the theme of which is blue.

Some of the very few blue items I could find around the house!

I love these antique pieces.

WINTER SOLSTICE!

OK - I promised you some christmas photos. Here are the lights outside, where it was rainy (because it's now officially winter) and dark (because it's the shortest day of the year), so this is the result. I was focused on a drop hanging from a branch, but wasn't able to hold steady for the long exposure. And, of course, it was in a place where it was impossible to put a tripod. But I like it!

It's only 6:oo, yet it has been full dark for hours. Tomorrow is the solstice; the tide of light will turn; the days will slowly grow longer.

I walked out into the warm dark evening, a few spatters of rain falling around me. As I paused, watching the sky, the clouds brightened and thinned, and the crescent moon slowly appeared, with an attending planet. Ragged edges of clouds flew across her face, then slowly covered her light.

All around, stars winked into and out of sight as the cloud cover shifted. Raindrops continued, pattering on the lawn around me. Time to go in.

All the ornaments are finally on the tree, and the presents wrapped and tucked underneath. We're ready!

Aahhhh, the tree!

Goofing around in the kitchen at Grandma's house! Jon, Grandma Barb, Barbara, and Ashleigh in front with a plate full of christmas cookies.

Tiffany, Ashleigh and Barb work on decorating the cookies while Cory and Jon lounge in the background. It was fun baking and celebrating Cory and Jon's birthdays.

A quick wind storm sped through today, nicely raising the temperatures to an almost balmy 50! The sun peeking through the swiftly moving clouds late in the afternoon.

And I couldn't resist the green onions. Now I can see the inspirations for some of those 1950's era designs!

I apologize for the crappy photos of the TV, but this was the closest I was going to get to seeing the 787 take-off! For those who didn't get inundated with this on the news, this is a brand-new airplane built by Boeing, and today was the first test flight. Almost 30 years ago, I had just started working at Boeing and watched the roll-out and test flights of the 767.

Lift-off! This plane is built to be lighter, and is made with plastics, as opposed to aluminum, like every other jet. The wings will flex and are more upswept.

It heads west toward Whidbey Island, kind of visible just below the plane. I ran outside, but it was above the clouds by the time it went over. I could hear it, and the accompanying chase planes. They ended up passing overhead a couple of times, then headed south to Seattle's Boeing Field, where it will be for the next few months of rigorous testing.

Wheeee! You're in for it now! We went and cut a christmas tree today, so look forward to plenty of ornament and light photos!

David had to crawl underneath to cut the trunk - I know he's hard to spot with the camo jacket, but if you look closely, you can make him out.

It started to snow as we drove there, and if you look in the background, you can see the flakes floating down. Not cold enough to stick, and the snow didn't last long, but it was perfect timing, to cut the tree in the snow!

The freezing weather is hard on the ducks at the pond at Greenbank Farm.

They have an area of open water, but most are sliding on the ice or huddling on the frozen lawn.

The pileated woodpecker was working his tree next to the driveway - he was fine while I stayed in the car, so I didn't get out, but got a fun shot with the sun behind his red head.

More ice photos - I am endlessly fascinated by the shapes and colors.

At this time of year, the sun is low on the horizon almost all day long. It takes a concentrated effort to get out there while it is high enough to shine into the woods so there is enough light for shooting!

Still freezing today - in the swamp, the setting sun lights the ice.

Leaves and branches are frozen solid - the surface of the ice has ridges and rumples, like the water was still moving as it froze! The blue sky and nearby tree branches are reflected crazily.