What is it? The answer

Yesterday at the end of the post I posed a question about a picture.  

So, what it really is is a very close up photo of the refracted light of the sun shining through my quartz crystal ball.   I was trying hard to get the rainbow in the center of the quartz to come into focus, which is somewhat of a challenge since the camera feels like it ought to be focusing on the surface of the ball.

Here is the refraction:

And a farther out photo of the crystal ball without the rainbow.

One can spend a lot of time staring into this crystal ball.  It has so many fractures that it catches and refracts the light in a most fascinating way.   It has a companion piece on the coffee table, a large polished ball of silver sheen obsidian.

For those of you who are dog lovers, my niece Alex took a video clip of Ruby, the Incredible Bouncing Dog, and posted it here.  It’s very short, only a little more than a minute.    We are working on a better version, but we have to get her properly wound up in order to get the whole effect.

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Friday fishwrap and another “What is it?”

The day began a little rough as I woke up at 4 a.m. with my right arm sort of locked up.   Aside from doing six massages yesterday, which is one more than I really ought to do, I also did the morning workout which included a bunch of biceps work.   In an optimistic belief that the two weeks of preparatory work I have done would be enough to get me ready to start lifting a whopping 2.5 pounds per arm, I added weights to my routine.   Then, in the two hour break I had between morning and afternoon massages, Jesse helped me set the new “hose guide” that he and Jim brought home on their rock picking expeditions.

As you can see, I decided to put it up a level from the proposed place, mostly due to the size of it.   The side you see in the photo above has wonderful lichens on it.   The back side is just a cool, displaying fossilized ripples.

I suppose that the antibiotic I am taking for my kidney/bladder infection is messing with my body somewhat, I feel sort of off.   It seems to be messing with my electrolyte balances.  I’m afraid I probably didn’t drink enough water yesterday either, nor did I stretch adequately before bed time.

The upshot of all that was a set of really horrible cramps in my right biceps muscle that entrapped the nerve underlying it and sent a rather agonizing referred pain down my arm into my thumb and forefinger.  It woke me up, and that is not the sort of alarm clock I recommend.  After lying in bed for half an hour trying to work the cramps out of my arm while worrying about my ability to do my massage work today, I gave up and got up and made a cup of tea.   Things got a little better, but not great, so right as the sun was beginning to come up I decided that if I took Ruby for a dawn walk maybe the exercise would increase circulation and loosen some stuff up.   

Ruby approved the idea, so off we went to the Department of Conservation park where we like to walk.   I took along the camera just in case there was something neat to photograph.   

As we walked along the path, the sun started to show above the horizon and the birds started to wake up.  The first arisers were the chickadees, followed quickly by the Carolina wrens.   There were at least three wrens discussing how they had slept and what’s for breakfast.    A pileated woodpecker called, answered by a pair of red-bellied woodpeckers.    As I continued around the loop, a clan of blue jays began yelling, which disturbed an owl who was up rather late, perched in one of the big oaks in the field.   I think it may have been hoping for an early-rising mouse or vole to complete the night’s hunt, but when the jays got rowdy it ruffled its feathers crossly and silently glided off to bed.   Soon the finches, robins and juncos joined the dawn chorus.

When we got to the small pond at the edge of the field, it had a thin layer of ice on it, which did not surprise me since it was right around freezing all night.   I’m not surprised when a pond has ice at the edges and open water in the center, but the pattern of freezing I found this morning did intrigue me.   There is a tiny triangle of open water in the midst of all the ice here, you can see the trees surrounding the pond reflected in it.   The bottom edge of this open area was only about 3 inches.

I also discovered a log where the moss was sporting fruiting bodies.

We got back home and I made a little breakfast before I went off to get my massage.   Mercifully, the cramps in my biceps finally yielded to the ministrations of Marlene, and the excruciating pain in my hand disappeared along with them.  When I got home I rested the arm for a couple of hours; the biceps showed a distressing tendency to revert to their early morning state, but I did a good stretch every time they locked up and eventually they stopped cramping.   I made sure to get my electrolytes and plenty of water today, did not do any heavy lifting or rock work, and I think I may be over the worst.   

I even took Ruby for another walk after dinner and a lively game of Trivial Pursuit (Alex trounced us) and then another even livelier game of Hearts (I won that).   Ruby was happy to go even though it was raining lightly.  Actually, she could hardly believe she was getting TWO walks in one day.  

Finally, because I have a new little camera to play with, another challenge.   You are invited to guess what this is a picture of.   Your clue this time: it is nothing disgusting.

Y’all have a great day, and stay hydrated!   Don’t forget to stretch, either.

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