A day in the Topsy Turvy life of Waterfront the penguin. No1.

 

Waterfront the penguin may have gone to the corner shop to buy a lottery scratch card but our best guess is he went fishing.

The lonely Moose under the Northern Lights no4

 

Moose quote of the day “Well that’s Christmas over for another year”. (In memory of Albert Roberts)

The lonely moose under the Northern Lights no3

 

Moose quote of the day “Why do reindeers get all the fun”?

A very Merry Christmas 2023 and a Happy New Year

 

A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our friends around the world, who from time to time read this blog.  All our many contributors including: Kurt Thrust, Syd Carp, Steve Dongle and Anita and George send seasons greetings to you all! 

The lonely Moose under the Northern Lights no2

 

Moose quote of the day.

“It’s hard up North “!

The lonely moose under the Northern Lights no1

Moose thought of the Day

“I keep thinking it’s Thursday”

Barry the Snowman Christmas 2023

 

We had snow this morning in Lowestoft and who should rock up but everyone's best Yuletide friend Barry the Snowman! The 2nd of December marks a particularly early arrival for Barry. When Barry turns up, the Christmas Season can officially commence. " Seasons Greetings one and all"

Full Moon and stormy sky

 

The full Moon over Sands Lane Oulton Broad. compilation of two images taken with a Canon 600d DSLR and zoom lens at f=200mm.

Racing clouds and the full Moon rising over the 'One Stop' shop on Sands Lane. Later, the clouds parted  to show a very bright Jupiter leading the Moon across the sky and the constellation Orion striding across the south-east horizon. Sometimes the sky is packed with drama but sometimes it can be the calmest place to lose your troubles.

We don't want another hero and Medusa didn't want another bad hair day either!

 

Andromeda, by Perseus sav'd and wed,

Hanker'd each day to see the Gorgon's head:

Till o'er a fount he held it, bade her lean,

And mirror'd in the wave was safely seen

That death she liv'd by. 

 Let not thine eyes know

Any forbidden thing itself, although

It once should save as well as kill: but be

Its shadow upon life enough for thee.

DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI

Lord of the Dance

 

'Lord of the Dance' - digital painting George Roberts September 2023 

"Dance, then, wherever you may be,

I am the Lord of the dance, said he,

And I'll lead you all, wherever you may be,

And I'll lead you all in the dance, said he".

In loving memory of our dear friend, and consigliere

 Michael John Brookes 1944-2023

The Constellation Delphinus over Carlton Marsh

 

The small Constellation Delphinus, the dolphin, leaping up from the horizon next to the Milky Way on a warm September night. 

Kurt Thrust's favourite image of Saturn at Opposition 2023

 

Saturn and four of its moons imaged from the Jodrell Plank Observatory the United Kingdom's most easterly Observatory.  

Our good friend Kurt Thrust, astronomer by night and party boy by day, sent us this image of the ringed planet Saturn and its brighter moons, Dione, Tethys, Enceladus and Rhea. Saturn can be seen with the naked eye in the Northern Hemisphere night sky just about due south at midnight. It will look like a dull yellow star not too far above the horizon. A telescope providing a magnification of at least x30 will be required if you want to see the rings. Jupiter, the largest of the Solar System planets, is also visible in the night sky but much much brighter than Saturn. Look to the East to see it. Four of Jupiter's 'Galilean Moons' may be seen with binoculars as they move around their orbits. Galileo witnessed these moons with his very basic refractor telescope and based on these observations his contention that the Earth and all the planets orbit the Sun.

Sunflowers

 

Sunflowers - digital artwork by George Roberts September 2023

"I'm now painting with all the elan of a Marseillais eating soup, which won't surprise you when I tell you I'm painting large sunflowers. The idea? To decorate the studio, now there's hope of Gauguin living here. I aim at a dozen panels of sunflowers in the room I've set aside for Gauguin".

Vincent Van Gogh

Gastropods making art whilst devouring algae

 

Zebra Nerite aquatic snail by day artist by night.

I noticed that the aquatic snails in our aquarium were  grazing overnight  upon the algae which forms readily on the inside of the aquarium glass walls. Randomly, the pair of Zebra Nerite snails had created  patterns of great complexity and beauty, which were illuminated by the autumnal sunlight streaming through our patio door.  Easy to underestimate the joy that can be delivered  inadvertently by a hungry tropical aquatic gastropod! 

Blue Moon

 

Moon imaged using a 70mm Celestron refractor telescope, eyepiece projection and an iphone. Image credit: Jasmine Roberts

The Moon over a misty Blythburgh Mere. Compilation image using iphone with integral lens and a telescope for Moon's disc. Image credit: Jasmine Roberts

'At the eyepiece' Image credit Chrissy Roberts

The Blue Super Moon was 'rocking a look over' Blythburgh last night.  There is no better fun than going out at night and looking up at the sky. Just above the Moon was the ringed planet Saturn.

Get Tanked up with Syd Carp No2 - Salt & Pepper Corydoras

 

"These 'friendly little fellows' help to keep a tropical freshwater aquarian clean. An interesting little fish that has evolved to absorb oxygen directly and so can be seen rising to the surface to take a gulp of air. They feed from the bottom so require a tank with a reasonable floor area and a substrate free from sharps, which could otherwise damage their barbels. They are best kept in small groups and larger aquaria with planting." Syd

Dungeness Nights

 

Dungeness Nights compilation image iphone and Canon 600d DSLR - Kurt Thrust on Holiday in the desirable south-east.

Our old friend Kurt Thrust took his bucket and spade on holiday to the breezy south coast.  He spotted gulls, Canada geese and two Kiwis. A fine time was had by all!

With added lamplight

Auroral Crown

 

Single 5 second RAW exposure at f=35mm and ISO1600 taken with a fixed tripod mounted Canon 600d DSLR.

After a successful night photographing the Aurora over the harbour in Reykjavik in 2017, we looked up to see streams of charged atoms falling vertically towards us under the influence of the Earth's magnetic field. We were looking up into the auroral crown. Prior to the availability of artificial intelligent software for image processing, I was unable to present an image that reflected the reality of our jaw dropping experience. I have used Starnet GUI, Topaz Denoise AI, Affinity Photo 2 and Images Plus to obtain the above result which gives some idea of the fantastic visual experience you get from being directly under an auroral crown.  

Weird developments in science No1 - "The Large Padron Collider"

 

A breakthrough in the search for WIMPS (weakly interacting massive peppers) has been recorded at CERN.

Safely Home

 

'Safely Home' giclee print from an original print and collage
by Ray Finch Architect and Artist 1946-2023.

Ray Finch was a friend and colleague. He was a gifted and talented man but best of all chose to be a kind, good and decent human being. In the words of the minister at his funeral " He lived well and died well". Rest in peace with your King Ray.

Reykjavik Reprise

 

Re-worked two photographs taken in Reykjavik a couple of years ago BC (Before Covid) to create the above single image composite. The green Aurora can be seen taking on the blue John Lennon Peace Laser beacon and in my opinion winning hands down! I have to say this auroral display rather puts to shame the faint wisps of it that we saw over Lowestoft one evening in February this year.

Southwold in miniature

 

'3 Beach Huts and a Starfish' - Acrylic on board - George Roberts

'Booming on the Blythe' - Acrylic on board- George Roberts

'The holiday's not over to the ginger cat sings' - Acrylic on board- George Roberts

All by kind permission of Professor and Doctor Roberts Bassingbourn.

Monkey Puzzled

 

For my first post of 2023 I thought I would get a bit philosophical and so I chose this photograph of the sky looking North through one of the Monkey Puzzle trees in our front garden. It was a beautiful clear night when the stars seemed to be everywhere you looked. I wrote this poem in celebration of how magnificent is the cosmos and how insignificant am I.

Monkey Puzzled

There are many philosophical things to find out about.

How did it all begin and what came before?

Is there an all knowing and all seeing being?

Is he a she and is there one, none or more?

There are many disparate things to care and shout about.

The price of sprouts, polar bears and the demise of planet Earth,

And after a terminal breath, is there spiritual life after death?

Do souls exist at all and in perpetuity from the moment of birth?

There are many fabulous things to wonder and spout about.

Multiverses, the equivalence of mass and energy, singularities big and small,

Is the Universe curved or flat or simultaneously both like Schrödinger’s cat?

Is there meaning and purpose for each diverse and unlikely bit of life at all?

There are infinitely many more things to find out about.

In the past, the present and future and why with age increasing, time locally gathers pace?

Why are we here at all, is intelligent life cosmologically common or actually relatively rare?

And at the terminus where will all we have found out go, if we’re ultimately lost from grace?

George Roberts