There are some fun "minor" holidays coming up, starting tomorrow...
Friday, 3-14: Pi Day. When I heard of this almost a year ago, I thought it was a fun diversion invented by math "geeks", who challenge each other to memorize the number pi to the most places (Pi starts with 3.14...hence the choice of March 14th). Apparently some people actually wait until March 14, 1:59:26 p.m. to celebrate (to seven places, pi=3.1415926). I have since learned that many math teachers choose this day to come up with classroom lessons about pi, the ratio between the diameter and the circumference of a circle. No matter how it started, it's a good excuse to have pie for dessert.
Saturday, 3-15: The day the buzzards return to Hinckley, Ohio.
Sunday, 3-16: St. Urho's Day. Saint Urho (pronounced ARRR-hoe - stress the first syllable and trill the "r") is said to have chased the grasshoppers out of Finland, saving the grape crop (because of the grapes, people celebrate by wearing purple). For more details, go here. http://www.sainturho.com
Monday, 3-17: St. Patrick's Day. You've probably heard of this one...something about snakes and some island country. And since I'm 1/4 Finnish in ancestry and about 1/4 Irish with some Scottish mixed in, I plan to wear purple on Sunday and green on Monday.
Not to mention the bigger, more significant holiday week beginning Sunday. With Easter early this year...
Sunday, 3-16: Palm Sunday
Thursday, 3-20: Maundy Thursday
Friday, 3-21: Good Friday
Sunday, 3-23: Easter Sunday (He is risen indeed!)
Thursday, March 13, 2008
The Lesser Light To Rule The Night
Not only was February 20th the evening of a total lunar eclipse, it also happened to be my mother's birthday. My family and I went to her house for a quiet celebration of lemon cake, vanilla ice cream, and pleasant conversation. We joked a bit about how we got mom an eclipse for her day. After a while we got curious enough to look out of the appropriate window to see how things were progressing. Since it was an early evening celebration, we didn't see much until we left for home.
The above picture was taken before totality, with the moon mostly in the earth's shadow. This was taken from my front yard looking east, with my digital camera on a tripod. My original plan was to take a few exposures at 15 minute intervals, but the bone chilling cold changed my mind. If it was above 10 degrees, it wasn't by much.
My digital camera wasn't designed with astrophotography in mind, so this was an experiment. The results were pretty much what I expected...not great, but okay considering what I had to work with.
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