My Solar Observatory!

Do you miss the scenes from my 5th Floor Window? I know some of you have already seen my sunset posts in the past, but I am sure you will not be tired looking at them, just like me! I have a lot of different styles of sunsets again!

This is the wide angle shot of my horizon. At the left is the most prominent structure of the church, at the right is the 2nd prominent structure, which is the TV station tower. I am putting this wide angle shot as a reference for all the shots taken for the whole year!

 January 2012: This is where the sun is a year ago, this position is at the left of the church in the first photo. I just have zoomed in closer because these electric posts are not visible in the first photo wide angle shot.

 March 2012: This month you can see the big leap of the sun from the extreme left of the church to the right! 

 May 2012: This is at the TV station tower at the extreme right in the first photo. In a matter of two months that is the movement of the sun in photos.

July 2012: The sun now moved even to the extreme right of the TV Tower!

 August 2012: This month the sun visible returned back to just at the right of the church! It seemed to have jumped far enough to the left in just one month.

 October 2012: again, the sun is already nearing the church after 4 months of moving left

December 2012: at the end of the year it returned to where it came from in January!

It is amazing to see and record the observations of the sun's movements in a year! I am fascinated with my records and i am eager to show them with my blogger friends around the world. This movement of the sun is very well documented in scientific observatories and expressed in very complicated equations of the astronomers and scientists, that most of us might not even want to look at. 

My 5th Floor Window is now transformed as my Astronomic Observation Station, or to be more precise, My Solar Observatory! Happy Weekend everyone.

Skywatch Friday

Unusual Creatures for Food?

We were on holidays in Saigon, Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City) for one week four years ago.  I tagged along  with my friend's family. Our group had two old ladies, a couple with their 3 year old son, and I. I guess it was a group not meant for long and difficult rides. It was a pre-arranged travel, so no hassles for transports and hotels. We arrived at around 2am, so no traffic yet on the roads from the airport. Being there for the first time, all my senses are always open, partly for being naturally curious and partly to assimilate a lot of information. 

The younger generation want to explore the historical places, the tunnels, etc, but we were only able to avail of the one day Mekong River trip, with a visit to the islands at the middle. Our days were mostly spent eating and going to the market, shopping left and right. But I don't like shopping, so i just join and take photos. These are some of the most unusual things I've seen in the wholesale market. I saw them here for the first time. 

These are the dried sea cucumbers called trepang, delicacy for the Chinese, wherever they are in the world. But other Asian countries also use this for food recipes, as influenced by the Chinese. I am so fascinated on how they can be eaten, as i can see fungus already growing on the dried organisms! I guess i captured in photos the three species. Maybe i have eaten it already in Chinese restaurants, but it is very different when you see them in its condition as in the photos. 

 species 1

 species 2

species 3

They are called sea cucumbers because they look like our table cucumbers. They are also called more technically as Holothurians being in the Class Holothuroidea. I am only very familiar with them as living marine animals we see in our rocky shores. Kids play with them because they spurt water on you when touched. However, even as a child I am scared to touch them, being scary, slimy, and gelatinously soft! They even look like short snakes or big slugs! Yaicks! I am sorry for the quality of the photo below, as it is the only one i got from our seashore.

live sea cucumber

Survival of the fittest!

These are billions of spores of a bird's nest fern, Asplenium nidus. If environmental conditions are favorable, like the humid but warm rainforest setting, a lot of these will find germination easily. However, nature provides allowances for harsh environments. For assurance of the species to continue living in the world, with whatever confrontations they might encounter, a lot are provided. This is the analogy of the single sperm cell that solely will be fertilizing an egg cell.

My two bird's nest plant are started from a seedling less than a foot in diameter. They are planted very compactly near each other so competing for space. Each one is now growing to about one meter in diameter, and have been producing spores for a few years now. However, i have not yet seen a nearby seedling yet in our vicinity. That is probably because we are in the more dry conditions, unsuitable for their growth. But i hope a few of them are carried by winds and water to nearby trees for propagation and continuance of the species.

Cycle of Life!

I found this moth already decapitated with these ants partaking on whatever remnants will still be useful in their colony. They will chop-chop the whole moth according to the size they will be able to jointly carry to their sanctuary underground. And that is the food chain, food web, or the cycle of life. I wonder if there is also a butterfly or moth haven to accommodate them!

This is Straight out of Camera for Sunday - SOOCS!

Watery Reminiscense

I realized I have not been taking wide angle shots anymore, blame it to the newly acquired macro lens and the miniature world of critters under the canopies. So i dug my point and shoot files for these water shots. I always have my Cybershot P and S as my buddy camera.

This cemented barangay road goes to where i call my ancestral home, at the middle of the hill. Even if i've been working in the metro city, I always come home on some weekends specially long weekends. The road goes uphill to the more upland plateau, overlooking this bay while the backdrop is the mountain. These days that the urban jungle is sometimes too chaotic to live in, and air is not as light as the times past, going home to my paradise is always like going to vacation. At the left of these row of coconut trees is already the beach below.

It might not be the best beach for swimming because it is not a sandy beach, but we love it. This is a case of "I love you very much because you're the only one I've got". I most specially prefer a rocky shore. A lot of marine life lives in rocky shores and i am very fascinated observing these critters. Scuba divers also love the marine life underneath these sea, as lots of nudibranchs, scorpion fish, lion fish, corals, water slugs and sea anemones can be found there. At the end of that promontory at the right are some big boulders, iron rich deposits made it red, so we call it Pulang Bato (Red Rock). 

This is correctly named as Pulang Bato (pula is red, bato is rock in Tagalog). Some kids make this rock as diving board to the water below. Splaaash!

I sometimes leave at dawn and this is one of the scenes i snapped while on the jeepney to the city at the horizon on the other side of the bay. Lights are still on at this hour. It takes almost one hour to this local city. I need another 2 hours to reach the countries biggest city, Metro Manila.

 The sea is a bit rough today, the color of the water above is partly due to siltation and also to the rusty color  demineralization of the rocks rich in iron.

Rough seas means these small fishing boats are parked at the shorelines. But i might be wrong, as the one above is used for night fishing. The double lamps are the evidence.

This boat might be used for night fishing too, but i might again be wrong, it might be otherwise parked because of the rough seas. Whatever the reasons are, i enjoyed my time taking the photos. And i surely enjoy my watery areas in my little corner of the world.

Our World Tuesday 




Outdoor Wednesday

Borrowed from Oxygen Generators

Crossandra infundibuliformis (you might think it is easy for me to memorize that, but you're wrong)

Mirabilis jalapa (four o'clock) and an early morning visitor


Orange You Glad It's Friday


Floral Friday Fotos


Fertilizer Friday