Pic(k) of the Week: Turkeyfoot cascades

"If you hold my hand and sit real still, you can hear the grass as it grows." 

I took this photo of small cascades on Turkeyfoot Creek. And then I sat there and listened.

Cascade Springs Nature Preserve: City of Atlanta, Georgia, USA. 9 August 2024.

***************

-----more-----

Pic(k) of the Week: Blue sturgeon supermoon

A rare lunar convergence: August's full sturgeon moon was a blue moon AND a supermoon!

As seen over the Columbia Presbyterian Church, in the City of Decatur, Georgia, USA, on the evening of 19 August 2024 at 22:06 EDT.

☞ The name Sturgeon Moon comes from the giant lake sturgeon of the American Great Lakes; this native freshwater fish was readily caught during this part of summer and an important food staple for Native Americans who lived in the region. At one time the lake sturgeon was quite abundant in late summer, though they are rarer today.

☞ The super moon part refers to the moon's orbit, which brings it slightly closer to Earth this month, making it appear bigger and brighter. This occurs since the moon’s orbit around the Earth is elliptical instead of just a circle, and thus there are times when the moon is further and closer to our planet.

☞ A blue moon is not about the color of the moon, but instead the frequency of the full moon. There are two definitions of a blue moon—the first describes when there are two full moons in a single month. Since the moon’s cycle is 29.5 days, and our average calendar month is 30-31 days, this blue moon occurs every two to three years. There are also seasonal blue moons, in which a calendar season contains four full moons instead of the usual three, and the blue moon is the third of the four full moons. August’s full moon is of this variety. The next seasonal blue moon is expected in May 2027.

☞ The combination of the super moon and the blue moon is rare, and the time between their occurrences is quite 'irregular' and could be as much as 20 years, with 10 years between the average. Though we had a super blue moon somewhat recently, in August 2023, the next super blue moon will not occur until January 2037.

— Old Farmer's Almanac.
— Time Magazine.

***************

-----more-----

Pic(k) of the Week: Hail, ale!

On 9 August 2024, the pub, My Parents' Basement, celebrated its ninth anniversary of good beer and food, comic books and graphic novels, pinball and arcade games, good folk and good times (and proper use of an apostrophe). Congratulations!

City of Avondale Estates, Georgia, USA.

The pictured beer is Night on Ponce IPA, a permanent on-draught offering at the pub. It is brewed by 3 Taverns Brewery, which is located only a half-mile from the pub. To be precise, I was at the pub that day but, this image, I captured one month earlier, in July 2024. The felicitations remain the same.

***************

-----more-----

Pic(k) of the Week: Welcome to East Atlanta

A macabre greeting.

Mural by Atlanta-area artist Emily Cadena at a suburbanesque crossroads between the city neighborhoods of East Atlanta and Gresham Park.

Atlanta, Georgia, USA. 18 July 2024.

***************

-----more-----

Pic(k) of the Week: Daybreak over Constitution Lakes

Two small lakes —once excavation pits for an early-20th-century clay-brick manufacturer— now are beautiful bird-and-plant-fecund wetlands of the South River. Here, pictured just after daybreak.

Constitution Lakes Park: DeKalb County (Gresham Park), Georgia, USA. 18 July 2024 (7:35 am EDT).

Constitution Lakes is a 125-acre park operated by DeKalb County, the land purchased for $1.28 million in 2003. Part former brickworks, part wildlife refuge, part hiking trail, part snake pit, and part art exhibit, the land has been transformed by both humans and the flooding South River into an ecological sanctuary smack in the middle of an industrial district.

At the center of the park lie two small lakes that were excavation pits created by the former South River Brick Company [late 19th and early 20th-century] digging out the soft red clay for bricks. The lakes feature countless turtles, crappie, and catfish, along with bass fish: large mouth, small mouth, spotted and striped bass. For bird watchers, you’ll see belted kingfishers, woodpeckers, ducks, blue herons, >[ibises], geese, hawks, and more.

— History Atlanta.

***************

-----more-----