Venus to Jupiter
“A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows.”
Phase 1: Lower St. Francis Trail
Not a real trail name, what I'm calling the "Lower St. Francis" follows the edge of the field adjacent to the southernmost houses in the Rock Creek neighborhood. The "actual" St. Francis Trail–which I hiked last week–climbs the grassy hill alongside McCaslin Blvd, and traverses the ridge along Highway 128 before finally descending back into the neighborhood. The lower trail is a pleasant 2-ish mile round trip from my house.
Venus settled toward the horizon on the west end of the trail, while Jupiter ascended in the south, chasing the faint light of Saturn.
Last week, while walking the upper trail along the ridge, I spotted a rattlesnake crushed under a rock; hence I elected not to do the upper trail tonight (also because I'd gotten a late start, after sunset). The upper route adds about half a mile (and a bit more of a hill).
50-ish degrees with a moderately cool breeze. Plenty of Halloween decorations in the neighborhoods leading up to the trail. Dogs in back yards, motion-sensitive lights, and great horned owls hooting hither and yon.
Phase 2: Chipotle at Home
Had a hankering for take-out Chipotle the other day, so tonight was part two of that rare indulgence.
Questions of the Night
I don't recall having pondered any questions tonight.
Photography Notes
Images shot with my iPhone. They end up with a low-res painterly texture, which might look interesting splatted on watercolor paper.
The banner image is a blend of three, which is a rather tedious process without the phone's built-in panorama mode. Mainly wanted to show where the planets were.
The owl image is a stacked blend of four, to see if the stacking process would reduce the noise. Anyway, how that owl balanced on such a tiny branch, I have no idea.
Quotation Notes
I searched quite a while for verification of the St. Francis quote. Lots of websites cheerfully paste it into their pages, all trumpeting St. Francis of Assisi, and usually accompanied by some vapidly cheerful image of light and shadow. Trying to find the actual source text was rather difficult. There was one website that claimed he really did say it, but not how they verified it. I did find a translation of his early writings, but no mention of this light-banishing-shadow thing. Any Franciscans out there who can verify this quote, please let me know “in the comments below,” so to speak.
