Dogs in the sky ...

No ... not flying puppies ;-)

This:



Behind the thin layers of clouds there is a nice big sun on the right ... and a little one on the left?! No ... the sun has not had a baby ... it isn't a shooting star, or a UFO ... it is a sundog.

"What is a sundog?" you ask ... they are also known as parhelia or mock suns - they are sunlight reflecting off ice crystals in the air - this site explains what they are and why they happen - http://www.sundog.clara.co.uk/halo/parhelia.htm

I actually found that website a year or 2 ago, when some website mentioned Brocken spectres ( http://www.sundog.clara.co.uk/droplets/globrock.htm ) and I did a search to find out what those were, and I got lost at that website for an hour or more and found the stuff about sundogs (I looked at all that info because I had heard the name, but didn't know what they were) ... since then I have wondered if sundogs can be seen here in Australia, because I had never noticed them before ...
and ...
... at about 5:25 pm yesterday (SUNday - lol) , while driving home from somewhere, I finally saw one ... 2 actually - one each side of the sun, but the other one wasn't as bright ... I did take a photo of the 2 of them, but it is a bit out of focus (grrr - I couldn't tell that from the LCD screen on the camera - else I would have taken another photo!)

Here is the blurry one anyway ...



It is a bit hard to see the one on the right, but it is there ... just.

By the way ... the strange pink and white circles and ovals in both those photos are not UFOs or some other weird thing in the sky - they were weird reflections or something, in the lens/etc of the camera ... that kind of thing happens when you take photos directly into the sun ... lol

If one is interested in looking at clouds and other weird stuff like that in the sky, then that website is a place to get well and truly "lost in cyberspace" for a few hours ... I have seen what I think was a not very tall pillar ( http://www.sundog.clara.co.uk/halo/pillar.htm ) and on several occaisions I have seen what I think were probably iridescent clouds ( http://www.sundog.clara.co.uk/droplets/irid1.htm ) ... and we have probably all seen rainbows ( http://www.atoptics.co.uk/bows.htm ;-) ... I also like watching sunsets and sunrises (not that I see many of those - LOL) ... the sky is really quite interesting ...

I also took a couple of photos of 2 more journal quilts today ... my second version of "Febuary" - similar to the other one but without real leaves or feathers, and my March one.
I was going to put them here, and in the photos section of the website for the yahoogroup that they are a challenge for, but ... after I put the photos onto the computer I went to a meeting then when I came home I put 2 loads of washing on, in between sewing hems around the edges of 3 Scout scarves (now they just need the stripe sewing around 2 sides with cotton tape) ... they needed someone to sew some scarves and silly me said yes - lol

... so - it was late by the time I came in here ... and now it is even later ... oops!

and ... I still have those 2 loads of washing to hang on the line so the stuff will dry while I am at work tomorrow ...

and ... talking about work tomorrow ... er - today actually, seeing it is after midnight (even if it is really "today" I kind of still think and talk about it as "tomorrow" if there is some night left between now and then ;-) ... I really should be asleep now, seeing I have to get UP for work in a few hours time!

look - even the clouds are waving goodnight ...
(well - they look like waves to me ;-)



I took that photo on my way home from work today ... er yesterday ... Monday ... lol ... (it is now Tuesday here) I should have gone outside and had a look at the sky a bit later, when the sun got down behind the clouds, in case there were any sundogs again ... lol (the cloud and the weather was similar to the evening before)

er ...

goodnight ...