FLAMING SUNSET

 Not sure where this picture was taken. Some posters share the shot but not where it happened. Lightning strike at sunset. Truly fire in the sky. Don't see any skyscrapers for what it's worth. 

FIRE IN THE SKY

Picture  credit MaryBeth Kaczinsky for Astronomy Picture of the Day. When the going gets tough down here I go looking for the stars. 

The Milky Way above the Devil's Tower in Wyoming. Best theory is this is a magma intrusion that didn't make it to the surface to become a volcano. The Milky Way fires in the sky. Spectacular as hell.

TAKE TIME TO BREATH

 I think we could all use a bit of forest right now. If you really listen you can hear the trees breathing. And then we pick ourselves up dust ourselves off and keep putting one foot ahead of the other. 

APUN MY WORD

 A bit of a smile for this day. A cat dictionary

EPITAPH

As usual I went looking for one thing and found another. Now this is a poem but I couldn't match the formatting. Actually I want folks to have a party. Have fun, tell lies, and when it's time (and you can't get to the coast) wait for a strong east wind and send me west on it. 

 EPITAPH  by Merritt Malloy

When I die give what's left of me away to children and old men who wait to die.

And if you need to cry, cry for your brother walking the street beside you.and when you need me, put your arms around anyone and give them what you need to give to me. 

I want to leave you something, Something better than words or sounds.

Look for me in the people I've known or loved, and if you can't give me away, at least let me live on in your eyes and not your mind. 

You can love me most by letting hands touch hands, by letting bodies touch bodies, And by letting go of children who need to be free.

Love doesn't die, people do. So, when all that's left of me is love, give me away. 

SLEEPY BUMBLE

 While I'm trying to sort out what passes for my brains these days a sleepy bumble bee in a rhododendron blossom courtesy of Elizabeth McCallum over in Flora and Fauna of Oregon page on FB.  This is one of the reasons I stay. The rhodie blossoms are pretty cool too. 

YELLOW STRIPEY THINGS

 That's how the poster on Neil DeGrasse Tyson labeled the picture.

My dad, the logger, had a story about yellow jackets and young guys who were new to the woods and the job. It was summer in the woods and the yellow jackets were trying to hijack the guy's lunches. Newbie got tired of it and headed for the nest with an ax. Basically it was "if you are planning to do what we think you are planning to do let us get in the crew bus first. (crew bus usually known as a "crummy.") Actually I believe the sentence was a lot shorter and probably involved a damn fool and SOB. Didn't take the new guy long to figure out that kncking down the wasp's nest wasn't the best idea he'd had that morning.