Setting sun, crescent moon

Tonight’s sunset as seen from suburban Ferndale, Arkansas.

Memphis curves

This week’s photo challenge is all about curves.  There’s rarely a bad angle when trying to grab a picture of the “M” bridge that carries Interstate 40 over the Mississippi to connect Arkansas and Tennessee. The image below is in downtown Memphis looking west.

Happy Place

This week’s Weekly Photo Challenge asks: ” Where’s your happy place?” For us,  it’s that place where the rising sun’s rays skim across the mountain folds, and updrafts sustain the wind play of vultures and hawks. It’s that place where birds fill the ears with chirps and whistles and hoots, and buck snorts add exclamation points to the Ouachita Mountain soundtrack. It’s also the place that has served as a bird blind, galactic observatory and deer-watching platform. That happy place is our deck.

Sunset Sept. 19, 2015.

AUTUMN FOG — Fog fills valleys in the Ouachita Mountains. Taken Sept. 15, 2016.

Living color

Tonight’s sunset was quite a contrast to last week’s WordPress Photo Challenge, which had “monochromatic” as its theme.

RED AT NIGHT — Setting sun’s red light sprays the bottoms of cloud deck as it sinks behind the Arkansas Ouachitas.

Serenity now!

Just one of those evenings where the only things to say are “oooooh” and “aaaaah.”

Crescent moon shines as setting sun paints the sky.

And the sharp-eyed observers in Greenbrier, Arkansas, found a planet hiding in the pixels. Props to @AstroScanObs!

Late in the day

Interplay of sun and clouds near the end of the day.

SIDELIGHT – Setting sun skims the tops of clouds.

ANVIL — Cloud convects into an anvil with virga.

Almost bookends

We’ve seen a bit of unsettled weather in Arkansas over the last two days. Not ideal for meteor or Super Moon watching, but the sunrises and sunsets have been spectacular. These two are bookends for the last 48 hours.

Sunrise on Friday, Aug. 8, 2014.

Sunset on Saturday, Aug. 9, 2014.

Who needs TV?

With skies like this? Who needs TV?

Water from sky to earth and back. No tornadic activity, just scuds in the center and mist sweeping upward at the right of the frame.

Storm brewing to the west and south. With a little of everything. Rain, crepuscular rays, convection and dissipation.

Anvils

Sure looks like summer out there.

Thunderheads developing in SW Arkansas as seen from near Little Rock.

 

Sometimes, it pays to look back

Advent is a time of looking forward — preparing one’s self for the feast of Christmas. However, after last night’s vigil Mass for the final Sunday of Advent, looking back paid off too.

For almost 24 hours, nature had soaked the state in a deluge that saw nearly 8 inches of rain fall in parts of the Arkansas Delta. The same system also spawned tornadoes in other parts of the state. When the heavy rain finally stopped, those leaving church were welcomed by a fiery orange sunset. En route to the parking lot,  paused on the steps to take a shot or two of the sunset with my iPhone (bottom photo). But something made me look back. And there over the church, the sky glowed with a luminous double rainbow.

The iPhone’s ‘pano’ setting sure  came in handy in trying to capture such a wide view. 

Fiery sunset with the old bell tower in silhouette.