Three more days of cold

Is how the local legend goes when you see three sundogs at once. I had never seen sundogs until I moved to Minnesota but couldn't believe what a beautiful show three at one time can be. I took this from an empty grocery store parking lot on Tuesday morning when it was -9 [or -14 with the wind chill.] What a nice beginning to 2011!To see more awe-inspiring skies from all over the planet, visit Skywatch Friday.

Happy New Year too!

Halo on Owasso Lake

Cold Minnesota skies the past week--sub-zero temps and ice crystals in the air plus bright sunshine will almost guarantee a 'sun dog' early in the morning. Sundogs are as captivating as their visiting summer cousin, the rainbow. An odd photo below--and it must have looked even odder when I stopped by the side of the road to take this view of the exhaust chimney at a local elementary school. The air was frigid and the sky amazingly blue except for the pink from the sunrise. The whole equation became a mini sunrise within a puffy cloud of steam.

SkyWatch is an amazingly successful weekly meme where over 300 amateur photographers from around the globe post 'their sky' each Friday. Stop by and join in the fun.

Trying not to overthink

“The true harvest of my life is intangible - a little star dust caught, a portion of the rainbow I have clutched.” Henry David Thoreau
Sunday morning last dawned clear and cold at -37 degrees windchill. These were perfect conditions for a sighting of the sundog above. I actually saw two, one on each side of the sun, forming a broken halo. Sundogs happen when the sun shines through ice crystals in a cirrus cloud and even though I'm usually always easily impressed, seeing this for the first time left me speechless.
Now, moving from the sublime to sorta the ridiculous. An article appeared in the St. Paul Sunday newspaper from a Los Angeles column by Larry Smith and Rachel Ferschleiser who have written a book called Not Quite What I Was Planning--Six Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure. Whew!

Long story short, they borrowed an idea from Ernest Hemingway challenging readers of their online magazine SMITH to write their life story in just six words. To get the juices flowing they offered examples like chef Mario Batalli who submitted , "Brought it to a boil, often." or Nora Ephron's "Secret of life: Marry an Italian." and Stephen Colbert's "Well, I thought it was funny."

I was totally taken by this simple idea. They added, "As we type this [column], a quick glance reveals that Emily Hambridge 'wanted to write but feared failure.' With a half a dozen words and few clicks of the keyboard, she's just rewritten the story of her life."

Here's some of my favorites:

My second grade teacher was right.--Janelle Brown

Dad wore leather pants in Reno. --John Falk

Where the hell are my keys?--Brady Udall

Fifteen years since last professional haircut.--Dave Eggers

I think, therefore I am bald.--Dickie Widjaja

Its pretty high. You go first.--Alan Eagle

and my favorite:

Became my mother. Please shoot me.--Cynthia Kaplan

So, I'll share mine with you when I figure it out and maybe you'll do the same?

I hope life isn't a big joke, because I don't get it.

Jack Handey