My Week that Was - April 19

A moment at Badger Band. 2/11/25 dwm

 My weeks, as far as the blog is concerned, start Saturday but since I didn't see the photo at left until Saturday, it doesn't matter that it was shot a night earlier.

 When I'm shooting, I'll try to look at them when I'm still out there to see if they are composed correctly and get an idea if the shots are OK. The screen on the back of the camera is roughly three inches wide and two inches high, not big enough to see if it's in focus.

 The first look at this shot shows the tuba player in the frame with a bell from another tuba above the musician. I didn't notice the little boy until Saturday.

 The boy and his family were two rows in front of me on the other side of the aisle. All of them enjoyed the show. 

 I don't know either subject. The experience in the moment shared by the two is open to interpretation. I think the boy is impressed by the big person holding a large instrument and was maybe wishing he was still wearing the headphones he had on earlier.  The musician, I think, is acknowledging his fan.

Saturday was quiet, after a workout, there were errands to run, then edited photos from three different shoots on Friday and wrote the blog that ran Sunday. That evening I watched the Brewers at Arizona. They had a 4-0 lead in the 9th but two relievers combined to give up 5 runs, losing on a walk-off hit for a tough loss. It was still a good road trip as they split 6 games. 

Moon rise. 4/15/2025 dwm

Tuesday night there were reports that because of a big magnetic storm the chances of seeing the northern lights or aurora boreilas as far south as Illinois.

The best time to look for the lights is between 10 pm and 2 am. I headed out around 10:20 with a plan to find a place where I could get a good look north when the aurora showed up.

I moved a couple of times, finally finding a spot near Fetge County Park where I had a nice view of a dark sky. 

Before leaving home, I was playing with the camera, trying to get things dialed in with the shutter control. The dark sky meant leaving the shutter open at least five seconds or longer.

Around 11 I l saw a reddish moon over the eastern horizon. After using the tripod to get shots of the sky, I held the camera, balancing it on the car's roof. That's the moon's reflection on the car in the photo (right).

I kept taking pictures and looking at the northern sky... no light show. Before midnight, I packed the camera and headed home. If the northern lights showed up later, I tip my hat to those who waited. That Tuesday late night outing reminded me of our trip to Lake Superior in October when the lights were supposed to be visible, we didn't see anything there either. I'll try again but it needs to be on a night where I don't need to get up the next day.

The Magnolia tree blooming. 4/17/25 dwm

 Spring felt official Thursday when the Magnolia tree outside the office blossomed. The delicate flowers won't last long and with heavy rain and thunderstorms coming Friday morning, they are in trouble. 

 

  Another good thing happened Thursday, with Ron's Pretzel truck setting up shop at Oakwood for a couple hours around lunch hour.

 

 They had four types of pretzels, I went with the classic original. It was the size of a text book, well-suited for sharing, but I couldn't find any takers, so I took care of it myself. It was a delicious change of pace.

A pretzel truck. 4/17/25 dwm

When I woke Friday morning nothing was happening outside, so I headed to the gym. The TVs there were showing weather radar and a storm 30-minutes away. Knowing my wife, who doesn't like storms, I returned home where we rode it out.

 

The morning storm delivered large hail in places, but at our place it was pea-sized, so we escaped damage.

 

After it passed, I went back to the gym since I had the day off, it felt different because almost all the faces were new because I'm almost never in there that late. Following the work-out, we enjoyed breakfast at Prairie Cafe, then picked up groceries for future use at the office.

 

Later we observed Good Friday with worship at 12 noon. I like attending that service because it reminds of me of growing up. Dad's work closed for a time in the afternoon as churches across town held services. Not many churches do that now because unless you use a day-off or happen to work someplace that chooses to shutdown, most people attend evening services.

 

Thanks for reading and Happy Easter!