The Jupiter Lighthouse (2012) by Ava Hassson

Painting is always a great activity at any age but when I get to paint with my friend Ava,  it is special. Whenever you have an opportunity to be creative, you have the ability to experiment and express yourself.  Many adults fear it.  Ego and judgment play a big part but they miss out.  It is the reason why I enjoy spending time with Ava.  Ava has vision, an understanding of color and dimension and confidence.  She knows where she wants to go with a piece of art.  It is refreshing and fun.  Thank you, Ava. It was a wonderful afternoon.

Kites were used approximately 2,800 years ago in China, where materials ideal for kite building were readily available: silk fabric for sail material; fine, high-tensile-strength silk for flying line; and resilient bamboo for a strong, lightweight framework.

Today you can buy the coolest kites and rekindle your fondest childhood memories within blocks of you home. Go buy and fly a kite. We had a blast.

Happy Birthday,  my darling

(February 26, 2012)

Instead of flippers like a sea turtle, the gopher tortoise has chiseled looking front feet and it burrows.   They are important to our ecological landscape because they share their burrows or “digs”.  If disturbed, they would leave others species homeless. The Gopher Tortoise is on the Endangered Species List so you are unable to touch them or their homes. They get most of their water from the foodstuffs they eat.  The real tongue twister is that the gopher tortoise is a turtle as all tortoises are turtles but not all turtles are tortoises like a gopher tortoise.

(Jupiter, FL)

The owl is a fascinating bird of prey. Much of its hunting strategy depends on stealth and surprise. The dull coloration of its feathers render it almost invisible and the serrated edges on an owl’s remiges muffles its wing beats, allowing its flight to be silent. The owl also has spectacular binocular vision which allows it to pinpoint prey in very low light. Its eyes are close to the size of the human eye and immobile within its bone socket so instead of turning its eyes like humans, it turns its head. The owl’s neck can move a full 270 degrees to see other directions without moving its body.

If the visual capability of an owl does not impress you than its hearing will.  An owl’s hearing is as good if not better than its vision.  The owl has better depth and sound perception than humans. The owl ears are strategically placed on either side of its head. The right ear is higher and positioned at a different angle. By tilting or turning its head, it captures sound equally.  An owl can pinpoint both the horizontal and vertical direction of  sound. They are wonderful to see and photograph in the wild.

Full Moon, February 7, 2012 (ISO 100, F9, 1/320)

On a quick glance, it has  a “Blue Marble” appearance.  If you have not seen the “Blue Marble” series,  they can be seen at http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/.  Using a collection of satellite-based observations, scientists and visualizers stitched together months of observations of the earth’s land surface, oceans, sea ice, and clouds into a seamless, true-color mosaic of our planet. The images are amazing.