Strawberries

It's strawberry season, but it seems we live in a world where "bigger must be better".  I was surprised at the size of the strawberries available at the supermarket.

That's a dollar coin for comparison

Frankly, I can't discern any difference in the taste (for better or for worse), but I am worried what has been done to achieve strawberries of this size.

In the meantime, more conventionally-sized strawberries are around for as little as 99¢ (for 250g).

Supermoon

My efforts at photographing the lunar eclipse a while back weren't brilliant, but since then I've learned a little more about my camera.  I now know how to work the controls, although they're so sensitive and fiddly it's quite a challenge to set them.   So when I was reminded by the ABC weather report that there was a "supermoon" (because its orbit had brought it close to the earth), I though I'd have another attempt.

Still not all that terrific, but maybe with a bit more practice?

Lunar eclipse

I forget about the lunar eclipse until quite late, and then had trouble getting a good photo of it.
However, by taking quite a few photos on a range of settings (aka "trial and error"), I managed to get a passable photo, just before it finished.

The red colour had all gone by then.

However, there are much better ones on the internet, as was the version Paul Henderson showed as part of the weather report.

Sharks

I suppose there are all sorts of reasons not to cull sharks, but I hadn't thought the fact that they don't drink coffee was one of them!
Seen outside a coffee bar.














Posted 26 Feb 14

Winter Solstice

The winter solstice in Australia occurred on Friday 21 June, when  the sun was at its furthermost point north at just after 3 pm.  Thus, the day was the "shortest  day" of the year.    It follows that the nights on either side were the longest nights of the year (perhaps Friday night was actually the longest?)  

The main thing is that each day will now be a little longer than the day before, from now until the summer solstice in December.

When I was young, these events were mentioned but these days they seem to pass without notice [edit - but I've now heard of a "solstice party", and apparently they celebrate it in Hobart by "skinny dipping"!)

Tides

There was a full moon over the New Year period, and at the same time the tides were very low - in fact, as low as I can recall ever seeing them at this part of the coast.  I wondered if these matters were related but, no, Wikipedia informs me that it's far more complicated than that.   As I understand it (and put simply), factors such as whether the sun and the moon are in alignment and the distance of the moon from the earth are the main influences over the level of the tides.