A sonnet for September

 

I haven't done this for awhile, but I might start posting one a month. And I'd like to do some with photographic background on my Instagram. Stay tuned.

Fusion's fates

Intangibility divides the void
between the seen and known, and mysteries
that twist and flow from ancient stars destroyed
within their globed gravitic histories
and by the crux of iron that they bear. 
They whisper in the distance of demise,
the fated endings born within the rar-
ity of plasmic depths, from which arise
the spectral host in blues and reds and whites,
the sparkling rings of elven queens and kings,
the blazing eyes of mythic bulls -- and lights
of fierceness famed as diamonds over strings; 
it is destruction which ignites their flame,
a nakedness created without shame.

A brief note about Serdnova Anastasija

 

Serdnova Anastasija (it feels to me like that name should be reversed, but that's how it shows up just about everywhere) is a talented artist who paints watercolors. Many of her watercolor paintings are of nude women. I have featured work by the late Steve Hanks here on this blog a few times, and I think his are better than hers, but her work is very good and she shows faces -- Hanks didn't. 

She has an Instagram page, which show her work, and apparently there's a difference between painting and photography, because her nudes are there.  It is also very, very easy to find a lot of examples of here watercolor nudes, and even to purchase them for display in the home.  Where in the home?  That's certainly up to you, and probably depends on what kind of home you live in and who lives there.

An example of her sensual/erotic, but not nude, work is shown below. 

U.S. Open (tennis) at the half-way point

 

Yes, a timely post (which means by tomorrow September 1, it may be outdated and wrong).

My favorites are already out of the tournament on the women's side (lovely Rybakina and crazy Ostapenko), so the betting odds would be on Swiatek and Sabalenka. Since I always like to see the underdogs triumph, I have to pull for Jasmine Paolini again. Mother-of-two Caroline Wozniacki is still in it (but she won't win), as is yet-to-fulfill-her-promise Jessica Pegula (who might win).  Coco Gauff is still in it too, and has to play fellow American -- who seeds these things? -- Emma Navarro.

On the men's side, with the major upsets of Alcaraz and Djokovic, top seed Jannik Sinner would still be favored. But I'd like to see one of the three T's from the USA -- Tommy Paul, Taylor Fritz, or Francis Tiafoe -- make it to the final. The network wants Taylor Fritz to make it to the final so they can keep showing Morgan Riddle in the stands; see the example below.

Oh great. An omen.

 

There is a bright comet heading toward Earth.

Sorry, this is just not the right time for an omen of impending calamity.   (But I hope it's bright and beautiful and that I can have a chance to avoid urban light pollution to go see it in all its glory.)

Bright comet headed toward Earth could be visible with the naked eye
The incoming comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS might become as brilliant as Venus during its close approach to Earth this fall, potentially making it visible to the naked eye.

Here's a view of it from July 9.

 

According to the article from whence this view came, judging how bright it is (let alone seeing it) isn't easy. But apparently it's still intact.

'Doomed' comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS survives brush with sun — may be visible to naked eye this fall

However, this headline is misleading, as the comet's closest approach to the Sun is on September 27. It hasn't brushed the Sun yet -- so there is no foreknowledge or prophecy about whether it will survive the close approach.

Yet I hope it does, even if it does forebode our impending doom.

More on the Olympics: Quincy Hall's win in the 400 meters

 

One of the biggest surprises of the Paris Olympics track and field (ahem, Athletics) was Quincy Hall's win in the 400 meter race. The Washington Post had a great article about the race, and about him.

Quincy Hall, to whom nothing’s been given, took the Olympic 400 meters

"The latest American track hero of the Paris Olympics was self-made. Hall attended College of the Sequoias out of high school. He trains without partners, often by himself while talking to the coach he met at junior college, Curtis Allen, on the phone. Hall switched full-time from the 400-meter hurdles to the 400 meters just two years ago. On Wednesday night, as he ran a victory lap in bare feet, he considered it the best decision of his life."

"Hall thought about the people who doubted him. He thought about his two brothers who died young. He thought about the mother who raised him — “his heart,” high school coach Caesar Morales said. He thought about his two daughters — Abri, 7, and A’lani, 2. He thought about the hot practices running by himself. He remembered how it felt when he worked two jobs to pay tuition at a junior college."

If you didn't see it, it was an amazing finishing sprint after a punishing hard pace (full video at the link). He's not the most elegant runner, but he sure has guts and heart. He deserved the medal, and I hope it brings him a long measure of satisfaction -- but I hope he stays hungry for more.

Lighthouse of the Week, August 25 - 31, 2024: Cape Borda Lightstation, Australia

 

This is strange. I said in last week's post that Australia doesn't have many lighthouses, yet this week I have another lighthouse from Australia (last week's lighthouse was also in Australia). 

I have different strange ways of finding lighthouses to feature, and some of them are random searches. That's what this one was. I searched on the phrase "boxy lighthouse". That was interpreted as square lighthouse, and this one popped up. It is indeed square (actually, cubical to be precise).

This is where it is, on Kangaroo Island near Adelaide. 

National Parks and Wildlife Service South Australia calls it a lightstation, so that's what I called it in the title. 

Google Search succintly tells me this:

"The Cape Borda lighthouse was built in 1858, and is the third oldest remaining in South Australia. It's also the only square stone lighthouse in South Australia and only one three lighthouses in Australia to retain a Deville lantern room."

So let's go see what the Lighthouse Directory has on it. By the way, Kangaroo Island actually has six lighthouses.

"1858. Active; focal plane 155 m (510 ft); four white flashes, separated by 2.5 s, every 20 s. 10 m (33 ft) square cylindrical stone tower with lantern and gallery, painted white. Rare 14-sided Deville lantern room. The original fog signal cannon, restored in 1999, is fired every day at 12:30. The principal keeper's house and relief keeper's cottage, previously available for overnight accommodations, were closed due to the bushfires of 2019-20. The former stable and storage building now houses the Cape Borda Heritage Museum. ... This lighthouse, South Australia's third oldest, is the traditional landfall light for Adelaide, marking the southern entrance to Investigator Strait and Gulf St. Vincent. Located at the northwestern point of Kangaroo Island."

I'm going to have to find a picture of that lantern room.  Below are a couple more websites for this one.

Cape Borda Lighthouse (Lighthouses of Australia Inc.)

Cape Borda Lightstation - Flinders Chase National Park (Kangaroo Island)

Now, about the lantern room. They don't let people up where the light is (though there is one picture showing the lantern/light). But -- the lantern room has 14 windows, so it's visible in the pictures where you can get a good view of the light. So take a look. 

You didn't think I'd forget the cannon, did you?

Just a little about the Olympic men's 1500 freestyle

 

I haven't said much about the recent Paris Olympics, and there was quite a bit to say. But I finally got around to saying a little bit about the men's 1500 meter freestyle, which American Bobby Finke won, setting a new world record in the process.

It was a little unexpected, a lot amazing, and totally heroic. Finke took the lead on the first 100 and never gave it up, which is not his style.  And he said that he was in a great deal of hurt being chased, but he maintained the furious pace he started on, and then there was this (from the Washington Post article about the race):

"Somehow, after 29 lengths of the pool, Finke dropped an ungodly split of 26.27 on the final 50 meters. For context, that was faster than the closing 50 of any of the eight swimmers in the final of the men’s 200 free a week earlier, a far shorter race that is more akin to a sprint than a test of endurance. It was borderline superhuman."

So, in truth, he deserved it.