Sun Dog Days of Summer

Come join us today at

http://www.fromthissideofthepond.com/

for

 We will be taking a break next week!

1.  I recently read here about four secrets to happiness from around the world. They were-

Overcome your fears by facing them head on, allow yourself to relax and reset, work to live versus living to work, and find the good in life. Not sure if these are the actual secret to happiness, but which of the four do you struggle with most? Which one comes most easily to you?

Probably facing my fears head on.  I'm pretty good at the other three, but I'm afraid I tend to ignore fears and pretend they don't exist until I'm faced with having to deal with them.  I then have a choice to continue ignoring and possibly miss a victory or face them and possibly win a victory.  If its fear of the water, I will miss the victory every time.  If it is getting into a helicopter and flying over the Grand Canyon, the victory is mine!

2. How would you spend a found $20 bill today?

There is a metal plant stand that I want and am debating whether or not to get it.  $20 wouldn't pay for it but might help push me over to the get side of the mental debate.

3. Ego trip, power trip, guilt trip, round trip, trip the light fantastic, or trip over your own two feet...which 'trip' have you experienced or dealt with most recently? Explain.

This is a hard one, Joyce.  Nothing to take me on an ego or power trip in my life for a long time now. I don't like guilt trips because so often they tend to be self imposed and do no good.  Don't dance so haven't tripped the light fantastic and am pretty coordinated and don't often trip over my own feet.  So, I guess I'm going to have to pass on this one.

4. If you could master any physical skill in the world what would it be, and how would you use that skill?

I would like to one day master this yoga pose.  It will only happen in my dreams, of course.  But being able to do this would mean my total body is conditioned to its height of perfection and arthritis and stenosis and steel bars don't exist.

5. As July draws to a close, let's take inventory of our summer fun. Since the official first day of (North American) summer (June 20th) have you...been swimming? enjoyed an ice cream cone? seen a summer blockbuster? camped? eaten corn on the cob? gardened? deliberately unplugged? watched a ballgame? picked fruit off the vine? taken a road trip? read a book? Are any of these activities on your must-do-before-summer-ends list?

Swimming?  No
Ice Cream Cone?  Not exactly but a MUST DO!
Summer blockbuster?  Not yet but a MUST DO!
Picked fruit?  No, too hot and not necessary down here
Road trip?  A short but enjoyable one, but a big one coming up in Sept.
Read a book?  Yes

6. The Republican Presidential candidates will debate on August 6th. What's your question?

Which one of you will actually accomplish what you say you will?

7. What's your most listened to song so far this summer?

I don't, as a rule, listen to a particular song over and over.  But, Hubby wrote a little chorus that he sings a lot around the house.  "Written down, written down.  My name is written down in the Book that God alone holds.  My name is written down."
 
8.  Insert your own random thought here.

Sunday night we had the most interesting phenomenon in the western sky.

 After posting pictures on Facebook, a friend wrote that it was probably what is called sun dogs and that there was probably another one being hidden behind the clouds.  So, I did some research.

Here's what I learned:

Sun dogs are a member of a large family of halos, created by light interacting with ice crystals in the atmosphere. Sun dogs typically appear as two subtly colored patches of light to the left and right of the Sun, approximately 22° distant and at the same elevation above the horizon as the Sun. They can be seen anywhere in the world during any season, but they are not always obvious or bright. Sun dogs are best seen and are most conspicuous when the Sun is close to the horizon.

 Aristotle (Meteorology III.2, 372a14) had this to say, "two mock suns rose with the sun and followed it all through the day until sunset." He says that "mock suns" are always to the side, never above or below, most commonly at sunrise or sunset, more rarely in the middle of the day.

 Possibly the earliest clear description of sun dogs is by Jacob Hutter who wrote in his "Brotherly Faithfulness:  Epistles from a Time of Persecution:

My beloved children, I want to tell you that on the day after the departure of our brothers Kuntz and Michel, on a Friday, we saw three suns in the sky for a good long time, about an hour, as well as two rainbows. These had their backs turned toward each other, almost touching in the middle, and their ends pointed away from each other. And this I, Jakob, saw with my own eyes, and many brothers and sisters saw it with me. After a while the two suns and rainbows disappeared, and only the one sun remained. Even though the other two suns were not as bright as the one, they were clearly visible. I feel this was no small miracle…

 ^{This was indeed no small miracle.  I count it a blessing to have been privileged to witness such an amazing display of God's sun and His rainbows in the night time sky.}

^{And by the way, I was listening for the Trumpet!}