Word of the day . . . circumhorizontal arc

I woke up this morning with a picture in my mind of a once in a lifetime image from a few years ago.  I knew it had a name and so I consulted t.o.b. hoping he would remember.  His mind went blank but he knew he had it in his well organized filing system somewhere . . .

and sure enough after a bit of digging, there it was!

A circumhorizontal arc is an optical phenomenon - an ice halo formed by plate-shaped ice crystals in high level cirrus clouds.

I found this photo on Wikipedia describing it as "near Coeur d'Alene, ID".  It may be the same one we saw while at a Farmers Market in Liberty Lake, WA (a few miles from Cd'A) a few summers ago.

How often a circumhorizontal arc is seen, depends on the location and the latitude of the observer.

Alentejo, Portugal

The arc has a considerable angular extent and thus, rarely is complete as opposed to the halo that is sometimes seen around the sun. When only fragments of a cirrus cloud are in the appropriate sky and sun position, they may appear to shine with spectral colours.

Ravenna, Michigan

A circumhorizontal arc may be difficult to distinguish from an infralateral arc when the sun is high in the sky. The former is always parallel to the horizon, whereas the latter curves upward at its ends.

Four Pin Friday

This week's Four Pin Friday was a ton of fun.  I typed my initial into Pinterest's search bar and voila ... pins galore!

From architecture . . .

 (removing the letter "S" from Schwab's Pharmacy)

(Stair of Galeries,Vivienne Paris, France)

 

to this lovely bird . . .

and then I remembered a photo I had taken in North Idaho on my way to Kelso Lake . . .

Of course I had to pin it to Pinterest!

Lily of the Valley

I have been nurturing these sweet~smelling lilies for the last few years.  Purchased a few through a garden catalog and some plants were given to me by my friend Karen. They are finally spreading and blooming and making me so happy.  Picked every single one of them this morning and will bring them in the house so that I can enjoy them all day long!

Tiny little bell blossoms look lovely in an antique "sugar" don't you think?

Four Pin Friday

"Art loves us mothers.  We've been depicted countless times in every culture.  Sometimes we are as goddesses, sometimes we're seen enjoying a tender moment - a sweet memory, really - from when our all-too-quickly-grown children were very young, 

 and sometimes it's clear that motherhood is 

grueling, if rewarding, work."  

 ~Shelley Esaak~

Pinterest offered up these lovely examples of motherhood artwork down through the ages . . .

Frederick Warren Freer ~ Mother and Child Reading

Pino Daeni

 Mother and Child Bond

 Mother and Child ~ Xi Pan Chinese Artist

Happy Mother's Day to all you dear mothers, grandmothers and foster mothers. 

Still a favorite quote of mine . . .

The grand essentials of happiness are:

something to do,

something to love,

and something to hope for.

Credit to  

-ALAN C. CHALMERS

Our backyard ROCKS!!

"The old boy" has been moving rocks around this Spring.  Hopefully he finally has them where he wants them!

  

We bought these slabs at the Rock Place.  They're called "cowboy coffee".  Luckily they loaded them up in our truck, but "tob" had to unload and cart them to the back yard, then unload them from the garden cart and put them aside while he determined where each one should be placed.

 

Next step ... sand to steady them and gravel to level them off.  (While the pig watched, a bird came by and made a deposit on his head)

 

A few tweaks for added interest

A few of my doodly smooth river rocks

Some driftwood here and there and the job was complete!

 

Four Pin Friday

If its true that opposites attract, what could be more texturally opposite than burlap and lace?

On Pinterest, I found the combination to be tres chic!  Check out these ideas for how to use the two in a variety of different ways ... all pleasing to the eye!

  
and have you seen the printed burlap they are offering at Joann's?  A bit expensive but you wouldn't need much for these projects.

Our Backyard Visitor

The last few days this hawk has taken up residence in our back yard.  As you can imagine, there haven't been the usual song birds flitting around our trees, birdhouses and baths.  I am torn between chasing this beautiful raptor away, so that my sweet little birds come back, or continue to enjoy watching his patience perching from one area to another.

Dean took these wonderful photos using the zoom on my Nikon