Home Invasion

So my sister and fiancee have arrived at my parent's house for Christmas, which is exciting enough, but they've also brought their two bengal kittens with them.

I say kittens, but at 6 months old they are great long cats, heavy with solid muscle and tails like snakes. I can hear them thundering up and down the stairs while I type this. A lampshade has already been broken; these kitties are expert climbers. Bans are in place in certain rooms with nick-nacks on shelves.

It's been a few years since there was last a cat in the house, we've all missed kitties. It's wonderful to have these furry menaces here.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 23.12.18

Owls and Raptors at Christmas

My Christmas shopping has been delayed this year, as I was waiting  for some vouchers I'd earned at work to get posted to my house. I also wanted to get my hair cut, so I've been wandering all over the place today, buying stuff and being scalped so I look less like wreckage from an explosion in a poodle factory.

It took a lot of walking about (Hello Doctor Scholl insoles, little difference though you are making yet) to get myself sorted, but apart from a couple of things to get tomorrow, sorted I am. Then there is  the trauma of wrapping, which I am staggeringly bad at.

In the market today, the raptors of Kilton were about; always nice to see these birds. The bird being  handled is a ferruginous hawk, a very impressive bird indeed.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 22.12.18

Sketching Industry

I found myself with five minutes spare before a two hour seminar today, and with nothing else to do to kill the time other than stare out of the window, I decided to stare out of  the window anyway, and draw what I saw.

I like sketching, despite being no bloody good at it. I find doing it very quickly, and just using very bare curves and basic shapes, gives the least terrible results.

So here, in all its glory, is the sugar factory vista.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 19.12.18

A Christmas Gadget

Today has been a filthy day, and thanks to a day of pushing a trolley around playing a sort of lollipop lottery with our staff, my foot has been very very sore today and my recovery set back. Grrrr, feeling very flabby at the moment as not exercising well.

So, with nothing to see outside other than distant black dots flocking about outside the window - probably goldfinches feeding amongst the teasels as they got blown along in gale force winds - I reflected upon the very kind gift my manager gave me, a little bicycle multi-tool, the first I have ever owned.

It is a "Iron and Glory" tool by Luckies, and comes in a very smart tin. It's a handy set of 5 allen keys and a couple of screwdrivers, handy for basic adjustments on the road. Very pleased to have it.

Regards

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 18.12.18

Venus before Dawn

I've noticed Venus high in the sky in the pre-dawn twilight while riding my bike to work in the last couple of  weeks, but I haven't seen it in a truly dark sky setting until this morning at 5am, where it was blazing low down along the road as I pottered about, unable to sleep.

It really is a stunning object at its maximum magnitude.

Earlier on, I'd had a good evening's observing with my binoculars, again spotting Comet Wirtanen which I think is now on the fringes of naked eye visibility, despite what I said a couple of days ago. Too bad moonlight will obliterate it from here on in.

I also observed all manner of star clusters, some like the Mirfak cluster in Perseus which are larger than my binocular field of view, and others that are far less prominent like the three Messier clusters in Auriga - 36,37 and 38.

Comet Wirtanen itself was just about in the same binocular field of view as the most famous star clusters, the Seven Sisters, or Pleiades, in Taurus.

I enjoyed taking in the sights, on what was a much milder evening than a couple of nights ago.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 16.12.18

Newark Christmas Market

Today has been bitterly cold, and after about 2pm thoroughly miserable with added freezing rain, although the forecast snow stayed away.

So it hasn't really been a day for doing much, rather a day lazing around under a duvet watching Jason and the Argonoauts and falling asleep after an exhausting week doing Christmas stuff at work.

But I did manage to get into town at lunchtime, where the Christmas market was taking place. Now I don't really shop at Christmas markets, feeling there is a lot of overpriced tat and food masquerading as "artisanal" at these sort of events. I don't really need a lamp made out of a giant salt crystal either.

However, I do like to see town space being used constructively and purposefully, with people enjoying themselves. So, I took a few pictures of  the scenes, wondering when I'm going to get my own shopping done.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCRackeredNature 15.12.18

Gemind Meteors and Comet Wirtanen

Well, I was awake as the sun rose, awake as it set, there as the moon rose, and there as it set.

Only one of those times is significant, the time of moonset. For this would take its ivory glow out of the sky and let the night darken for the two major astronomical events of the night.

The Geminid meteors, and Comet Wirtanen.

I'll get the Geminid meteors out of the way first. These days it is regarded as the best UK meteor  shower to watch, not so much because of the number of meteors you see, but because unlike the Perseids in August, the radiant rises at a much earlier hour and you don't have to stay up till past 1am to get good shooting star views.

Although, you know, freezing cold.

They were actually quite disappointing! Yes I saw a few meteors, but nothing particularly bright, let alone spectacular. And fewer than I was expecting given that late on when I was observing the radiant wasn't far enough off the zenith. Boo hoo.

Now to Comet Wirtanen.

This comet has a period of 5 and a half years, is barely a mile across, and like most short period comets normally requires a telescope the size of a cannon to see it. But due to freak things like Newton's laws, the comet is in its best position for observation from the Earth. Of all time, past and future.

Last night, I managed to see it. OK, it was a misty blob of very low surface brightness about half the size of the full moon. Magnitude 3 maybe, but so diffuse the chance of seeing it naked eye as the newspapers have suggested are virtually zero unless you are in a dark  sky park at least 50 miles from the nearest glow-worm.

But I saw it!

I don't see many comets, so to see this misty blob is a rare treat. It made up for the underwhelming meteors. It also convinced me eyes are still just about OK too.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 14.12.18