Light from street, Moon and planet

The Moon hangs in the sky to the right of the house, and it’s 390 million km away, so light takes 1.3 seconds or so to make that trip.

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Image 118 – What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every day or so.

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This photo is of the northern end of Gloucester Street, seen from the eastern side of the River Churn, close to Abbey Way Services.

You’ll notice several sources of light. Light travels at a little over 1 billion km/h, 1.079 billion if you want to be a little more precise. Like anything in motion at a steady speed, you can express distances in terms of travel time. If I fly a helicopter in a straight line to London at 100 km/h and it takes me an hour, then the distance to London must have been 100 km. If it takes only 30 minutes, then the distance was 50 km. You get the idea.

The streetlight, the house and the car are all around 20 m away (or 0.020 km), and doing the arithmetic shows that light would take around 80 billionths of a sec to make that trip.

The Moon hangs in the sky to the right of the house, and it’s 390 million km away, so light takes 1.3 seconds or so to arrive from the Moon.

The planet Venus is visible near the top of the photo, and as I write Venus is about 111 million km away, a distance that light covers in just over 6 minutes.

For comparison, our nearest neighbouring star, Proxima Centauri, is so far away, that its light takes 4¼ years to reach us. Space is BIG!

When: 2nd January 2025
Where: Gloucester Street, Cirencester

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Cirencester

For convenience, here’s a list of all the Cirencester area images:

A417 roadworks, Advent Market, Bishops Walk, Baunton, Canal 1, 2, Castle Street, Christmas lights 1, 2, Church 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Churn flood, Countryside, Fallen tree, Fleece, Gasworks, Gloucester Street, Hare 1, 2, Hospital, Market Place 1, Phoenix Fest, Riverside Walk, Stone plaque, Stratton Meadow, Tank traps, View, Wonky 1, 2, Yellow Iris

Themed image collections

The links below will take you to the first post in each collection

Cirencester, Favourites, Irish holiday 2024, Roman villa

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

Reflecting on Christmas lights

A simple reflection can turn a nuisance to be avoided into something beautiful to be captured in a photo!

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Image 117 – What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every day or so.

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Christmas has come and gone; I’m posting this on New Year’s Day but the lights are still shining on Christmas trees in homes and in Cirencester Market Place and in the roads that lead in and out of the Market Place as well.

This is Cricklade Street, running south from the centre of the town, and after some heavy rain this morning and overnight, the reflected lights add to the scene making it even better.

When we think of puddles we focus on their innate properties – wet, probably dirty, inconvenient (step over them or get your shoes damp) a source of splashes from carelessly driven cars, perhaps suggesting a blocked road drain or, worse, a developing flood.

Yet a simple reflection can turn a nuisance to be avoided into something beautiful to be captured in a photo! And this is what we are supposed to be like if we claim to follow Jesus. I might sometimes be seen as a nuisance to others, I may get in the way, I confess to having some bad habits. Don’t we all? I’m not always careful, not always gentle, not always kind.

But if following Jesus means attempting to become more like him, or allowing him to change me, then I should be like the dirty, inconvenient puddle. In other words I should be changed by reflecting his nature. Nothing beyond that is necessary! If, when you look at me, you instead see something of Jesus reflected in me – my work is done and it’s over to you to respond however you choose. You are not responding to me, you are responding to a perception of Jesus’ nature and character.

When: 1st January 2025
Where: Cricklade Street, Cirencester

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Cirencester

For convenience, here’s a list of all the Cirencester area images:

A417 roadworks, Advent Market, Bishops Walk, Baunton, Canal 1, 2, Castle Street, Christmas lights 1, 2, Church 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Churn flood, Countryside, Fallen tree, Fleece, Gasworks, Gloucester Street, Hare 1, 2, Hospital, Market Place 1, Phoenix Fest, Riverside Walk, Stone plaque, Stratton Meadow, Tank traps, View, Wonky 1, 2, Yellow Iris

Themed image collections

The links below will take you to the first post in each collection

Cirencester, Favourites, Irish holiday 2024, Roman villa

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

A Cotswold scene

Travelling north and west from Cirencester takes you through steadily rising hills peaking at 330 metres or so, and dissected by water-cut valleys until you reach the Cotswold scarp.

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Image 116 – What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every day or so.

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This farmland just on the edge of Cirencester is a classic Cotswold scene. There is higher land in the background with scattered trees, and in the foreground you can see rich pasture good for cattle or horses.

The flat, pasture land is part of the River Churn flood plain, while the low hills beyond are outcrops of oolitic limestone, the rock that forms the backbone of the Cotswold hills. Travelling north and west from Cirencester takes you through steadily rising hills peaking at 330 metres or so, and dissected by water-cut valleys until you reach the Cotswold scarp that drops back almost to sea-level within a short distance. Beyond that is the wide, flat vale of the River Severn, and beyond that again, Wales with its hills and mountains. In medieval times Cirencester was known in Welsh as Caer Ceri. If the Saxons had not settled quite so far west, Cirencester might have signs saying ‘Croeso y Gaerceri’, and the Severn would have been Hafren.

When: 26th October 2023
Where: Gloucester Road, leaving Cirencester

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Cirencester

For convenience, here’s a list of all the Cirencester area images:

A417 roadworks, Advent Market, Bishops Walk, Baunton, Canal 1, 2, Castle Street, Christmas lights 1, 2, Church 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Churn flood, Countryside, Fallen tree, Fleece, Gasworks, Gloucester Street, Hare 1, 2, Hospital, Market Place 1, Phoenix Fest, Riverside Walk, Stone plaque, Stratton Meadow, Tank traps, View, Wonky 1, 2, Yellow Iris

Themed image collections

The links below will take you to the first post in each collection

Cirencester, Favourites, Irish holiday 2024, Roman villa

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

Dark sky, bright light

The cloud was really, really dark; no doubt it was raining hard not far away. And the honey-coloured Cotswold stone of the Parish Church glowed in the afternoon sunshine.

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Image 115 – What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every day or so.

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When there are heavy rain showers with dark clouds and gaps of blue sky, it sometimes happens that a sunlit object has a backdrop of dark cloud. This photo shows a particularly powerful example of this phenomenon.

You may be surprised to learn that the colours have not been enhanced in any way. I’ve cropped the image and modified the perspective to improve it, but I have not tweaked the colours or the contrast. This is just as the camera recorded it.

The cloud was really, really dark; no doubt it was raining hard not far away. And the honey-coloured Cotswold stone of the Parish Church glowed in the afternoon sunshine.

Contrasts

Of course, contrasts of other kinds can be very striking too; here are a few to contemplate:

  • The mean cold of winter – The warmth of a summer day
  • Living things – Inanimate objects
  • Church as we make it – Church as Jesus intends it
  • Springtime when animals reproduce – Autumn when animals hibernate
  • Russia deliberately targets civilians – Ukraine does not target civilians
  • Youth – Old age
  • Small village, people interact – Large city, people segregate

If you think of some more contrasts, drop them in a comment for all of us to consider. Thanks!

When: 23rd November 2023
Where: The Market Place, Cirencester

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Cirencester

For convenience, here’s a list of all the Cirencester area images:

A417 roadworks, Advent Market, Bishops Walk, Baunton, Canal 1, 2, Castle Street, Christmas lights 1, 2, Church 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Churn flood, Countryside, Fallen tree, Fleece, Gasworks, Gloucester Street, Hare 1, 2, Hospital, Market Place 1, Phoenix Fest, Riverside Walk, Stone plaque, Stratton Meadow, Tank traps, View, Wonky 1, 2, Yellow Iris

Themed image collections

The links below will take you to the first post in each collection

Cirencester, Favourites, Irish holiday 2024, Roman villa

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

Christmas cactus

These plants are easy to look after, almost indestructible really. They grow quite happily indoors or out in a British summer, and they flower easily and abundantly around November.

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Image 114 – What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every day or so.

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This is our Christmas cactus, Schlumbergera spp. We’ve had it for quite a few years now, probably around fifteen at a guess. These plants are easy to look after, almost indestructible really. They grow quite happily indoors or out in a British summer, and they flower easily and abundantly around November; despite the name, you might need to work quite hard to hold them back to flower over Christmas.

They’re also very easy to propagate. At any time of year, break off a mature pad by twisting it round and round until it separates. Rest it against the side of a small pot nearly full of compost ( the base of the pad can be pushed a millimetre or two into the compost). Keep the compost moist until the cutting has rooted, and as it grows, repot it into a larger container. A good plan is to root three or four pads in one pot, evenly spaced around the rim. You’ll get more balanced growth that way.

If you produce new plants in January or February, and give them plenty of warmth and light (but not too much full sun), they may flower the same year. If they don’t, they’ll certainly flower the following year and every year after that; the plant in the photo is about six-years-old. These Christmas cacti make lovely little gifts for friends and family.

When: 27th November 2023
Where: At home, Cirencester

See also:

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Themed image collections

The links below will take you to the first post in each collection

Cirencester, Favourites, Irish holiday 2024, Roman villa

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

Frosty cobweb

Never give up! According to the story, Robert the Bruce learned that lesson by watching a spider at work. So should we.

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Image 113 – What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every day or so.

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Cobwebs are so-called because ‘cob’ is an old English word for ‘spider’. As you will know, they are usually very hard to see, but moisture or frost renders them clearly visible when weather conditions are right. This example on the wooden fence at the end of our garden is typical.

It’s astonishing that a spider can spin a web like this working almost entirely on instinctive responses to the support structures available. They begin by attaching a thread to any object that may be available. Once they have three or four points of contact set up, they lay out the radial silk threads, and these are purely structural and are all free of the adhesive that traps insect prey. Finally they lay out the spiral with sticky threads. And then they lie in wait until something shakes the web and then dart out to capture a meal if one has arrived.

There is hard work and investment in building the web, and there are good days when food arrives in plenty, and other days when frost makes the hidden net visible and nothing is caught, days when the wind ruins the old web and a new one must be created.

Never give up! According to the story, Robert the Bruce learned that lesson by watching a spider at work. None of us should give up in times of failure.

Christmas has gone and the New Year is almost upon us, so I’ll wish all of you, my readers, the very best of everything for 2025. Grace and peace to you in Jesus’ name. No doubt it will, like all previous years, be full of unexpected surprises, some good, others challenging. There will be things to smile and laugh about, and difficulties to overcome. But by this time next year I hope that most of us will be able to remember the best things without dwelling too much on the problems. However you look at it, life is full, and 2025 is nearly here.

See also:

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Themed image collections

The links below will take you to the first post in each collection

Cirencester, Favourites, Irish holiday 2024, Roman villa

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

Low cloud at Christmas

The Christmas lights had been switched on at the beginning of December and then we had low cloud.

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Image 112 – What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every day or so.

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This was a magical moment that just asked to be captured. The Christmas lights had been switched on at the beginning of December and then we had low cloud. The top of the church tower was partly obscured, but other buildings in the town were not tall enough to be affected.

I took several shots, and this one seemed the best of them. So here it is for all to see. Happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year of grace and peace as we head into 2025.

See also:

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Cirencester

For convenience, here’s a list of all the Cirencester area images:

A417 roadworks, Advent Market, Bishops Walk, Baunton, Canal 1, 2, Castle Street, Christmas lights 1, 2, Church 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Churn flood, Countryside, Fallen tree, Fleece, Gasworks, Gloucester Street, Hare 1, 2, Hospital, Market Place 1, Phoenix Fest, Riverside Walk, Stone plaque, Stratton Meadow, Tank traps, View, Wonky 1, 2, Yellow Iris

Themed image collections

The links below will take you to the first post in each collection

Cirencester, Favourites, Irish holiday 2024, Roman villa

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

Forward look – Ukraine – 3

You’ll find this Times Radio interview with Philip Ingram most interesting.

DECember 2024(2)

< Dec 2024 | Index | Jan 2025 >

Larger view
(Wikimedia)

This is an interim addition to the series on Ukraine. If you are interested in what lies ahead for Ukraine and the disgraceful Russian invasion that is still underway there, you’ll find this Times Radio interview with Philip Ingram most interesting.

See also:

< Dec 2024 | Index | Jan 2025 >

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

Seventeen Haiku on Covid

Covid in our land – Let’s be very close friends in – self isolation

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Image 111 – What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every day or so.

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(Wikimedia)

A Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry consisting of three lines; the first provides a topic as a phrase (five syllables), then the second (seven syllables) and third (five syllables) form a sentence about the topic. Five, seven, and five is the basic structure of Haiku.

Back in the difficult early months of COVID-19 I began writing some Haiku about the outbreak, social distancing, the way community develops despite difficulties, and hope for the future. At the time I didn’t publish this poetry, but now I think I’d like to – so here they are.

Writing 17 of these little verses (5+7+5) makes a sort of Haiku of Haiku. Read them all if you like, but if you grow tired, skip to The whole story where something magical happens!

Five Haiku

Covid in our land
Let’s be very close friends in
self isolation

Social distancing
Two metres apart is safe
though hearts beat closer

Needing a helper
We’ll support one another
neighbour to neighbour

Encouragment comes
Find something to make us smile
sunbeam in a storm

Compose a poem
So write your best Haiku now
to lift people up

Seven more

Self isolation
A hug is far, far better
but really unsafe

Thinking of others
Ask everyone around you
can I pray for you?

The King of Heaven –
Jesus says to give others
more than they expect

Things my neighbour lacks
If I have an abundance
it’s on offer now

Anxiety gone
No fears brother or sister
what is mine is yours

Loving Tinglesfield
All the people living here
are filling my heart

More strength in numbers
Togetherness is good and
community wins

Final five

Hope among friends
This trouble will not last so
be patient and trust

Patience and waiting
Work for the day when it ends
and have fun later

An end to struggle
The virus is defeated
and it’s street party time

Time of rejoicing
Be loudly thankful and shout
but think of lost friends

Street community
You stood strong as a mountain
now laugh like a brook

The whole story

Now drop the first line of each verse (the ‘topic lines’) and collect up the rest, add a little spacing and punctuation to make prose. This is what you get:

Let’s be close friends in self isolation; two metres apart is safe, though hearts beat closer. We’ll support one another neighbour to neighbour, find something to make us smile – sunbeam in a storm! So write your best Haiku now to lift people up.

A hug is far, far better but really unsafe. Ask everyone around you, ‘Can I pray for you?’ Jesus says to give others more than they expect; if I have an abundance it’s on offer now, no fears brother or sister – what is mine is yours. All the people living here are filling my heart; togetherness is good and community wins.

This trouble will not last so be patient and trust, work for the day when it ends and have fun later. The virus is defeated and it’s street party time, be loudly thankful and shout – but think of lost friends. You stood strong as a mountain, now laugh like a brook!

See also:

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Themed image collections

The links below will take you to the first post in each collection

Cirencester, Favourites, Irish holiday 2024, Roman villa

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

Mixed mushrooms

Cook them with a good sprinkling of freshly ground black pepper.

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Image 110 – What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every day or so.

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Mushrooms are such a useful cooking ingredient, they add a lot of savoury flavour to any dish. Cook them with a good sprinkling of freshly ground black pepper and a little olive oil (or butter if you prefer) and tip them onto hot toast – mmm… Try this search for mushroom recipe ideas.

When: December 2023
Where: At home, Cirencester

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Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!