Season – Page 73 – Michael Stephen Wills Photography

Columbia STS-107

Painful Memories

June 25, 2022June 17, 2022 MichaelStephenWills

We left our Cocoa Beach hotel in the pre-dawn hours of February 6, 2018 with our tickets in hand for the first launch of Space X’s “Falcon Heavy, our reward for arriving early was a spot on the third bus to the Apollo-Saturn V center. At 4 miles from Launch Complex 39a this is the prime location for “VIP” viewing.

The Columbia Disaster

We were privileged to visit the Shuttle Landing Facility on the way, this hangar on the SLF access road was pointed out by the guide. Here was where the remains of Space Shuttle Columbia were collected after the disaster.

Click Any Image for a larger viewe

STS-107 was the 113th flight of the Space Shuttle program, and the 28th and final flight of Space Shuttle Columbia. The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on January 16, 2003 and during its 15 days, 22 hours, 20 minutes, 32 seconds in orbit conducted a multitude of international scientific experiments. It was also the 88th post-Challenger disaster mission. An in-flight break up during reentry into the atmosphere on February 1 killed all seven crew members and disintegrated Columbia. — wikipedia

The logo is from the Columbia Accident Safety Board, the group that investigated the cause of the loss.

Immediately after the disaster, NASA convened the Columbia accident Investigation Board to determine the cause of the disintegration. The source of the failure was determined to have been caused by a piece of foam that broke off during launch and damaged the thermal protection system (reinforced carbon-carbon panels and thermal protection tiles) on the leading edge of the orbiter’s left wing. During re-entry the damaged wing slowly overheated and came apart, eventually leading to loss of control and disintegration of the vehicle. The cockpit window frame is now exhibited in a memorial inside the Space Shuttle Atlantis Pavilion at the Kennedy Space Center. — wikipedia

I zoomed in for a close look at the interior

The damage to the thermal protection system on the wing was similar to that Atlantis had sustained in 1988 during STS-27, the second mission after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. However, the damage on STS-27 occurred at a spot that had more robust metal (a thin steel plate near the landing gear), and that mission survived the re-entry. — wikipedia

Sources of information for this post: I used information from the Wikipedia site for the key words “STS-107.”

Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved.

Like a Dandelion

and a shifting of crops to (human) wheat from (cow) corn

June 24, 2022June 20, 2022 MichaelStephenWills4 Comments

Wednesday, June 15th, we were on a turn to heat and humidity with this day of light breeze, temperature in the 70s making hiking around Tremen Park a joy.

These snapshots, taken on the fly with an IPhone 7, are the high points.

The first is a dandelion look alike with yellow flowers, petals shaped like teeth, though on a long hard stem and multiple flowers on a stalk. Known as meadow hawkweed, yellow hawkweed, field hawkweed, king devil, yellow paintbrush, devil’s paintbrush, yellow devil, yellow fox-and-cubs, and yellow king-devil with two scientific names: Pilosella caespitosa and Hieracium caespitosum.

Click photograph for a larger view. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page.

Click for slideshow.

Copyright 2022 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

When is “moss” not moss?

Southern Gothic

June 23, 2022June 13, 2022 MichaelStephenWills

We spotted this stuff within minutes of arriving at McKee Gardens for an afternoon visit with the grandchildren. Festooned above our heads from thick Oak branches, I could not resist pulling out the camera for this photograph to capture the flavor of Southern Gothic. Fortunately, our group included neither deeply flawed nor disturbing characters, though we can confess to a touch of eccentricity.

Spanish Moss produces inconspicuous flowers with tiny seeds. Spanish Moss also propagates from fragments of the fine leaves.

Spanish Moss is neither moss nor Spanish. Scientific name Tillandsia usneoides, this flowering plant is in the family Bromeliaceae that includes pineapple. Here we have two epiphytic bromelias sharing the trunk of a palm.

A rootless epiphyte native to the tropical / semi-tropical Americas, Spanish Moss has a preference for southern live oak (Quercus virginiana) and bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) because of their high rates of foliar mineral leaching (calcium, magnesium, potassium, and phosphorus) that provides an abundant supply of nutrients to the epiphytic plant.

My two volume “go to” resource for plants and trees had sparse information about Spanish Moss and no wonder as it is a burden on trees, though not parasitic, and so more a pest than a decorative element to cherish. Surprisingly, Spanish Moss was purposely introduced to Hawaii where it is now known as “Pele’s Hair” after their fire goddess.

Click me for a dinosaur video from McKee Gardens.

Reference: wikipedia “Spanish Moss”

Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Herbaceous Peony 50 mm

Tree Peony

June 22, 2022June 12, 2022 MichaelStephenWills13 Comments

Peony species (scientific name Paeonia lactiflora) with plants that die back in cold weather to regrow each spring from a tuberous root are called “herbaceous,” from the latin word for grassy. The stems and branches remain soft and pliable, some stiff enough to hold the large, showy flowers. The first varieties introduced to Europe and named 1753 were white, “lactiflora” mean milk-white flower.

Reviewing my photography in preparation for this post I discovered not a single one for herbaceous peony, such was my interest in the woody varieties my in-laws planted around the property. Fortunately, they did not neglect the herbaceous varieties featured here.

Click any photograph for a larger view to open in new browser tab.

Paeonia lactiflora, in the family Paeoniaceae, contains around 30 species in Europe, across Asia and in western North America growing wild in scrub and woods, often in rocky places or on cliffs. Most species in Eastern Europe, others in the Caucasus, central Asia, the Himalayas, and Japan, mainly on limestone, and a species in dry parts of California.

Peonies have long been cultivated for their spectactular flowers as well as for their medicinal preoperties, particularily in China

Reference: “The Botanical Garden” by Phillips and Rix, Volume I (2002, Firefly Books, Buffalo, New York and Willowdale, Ontario

Copyright 2022 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

A Brief Happy Movie on the Solstice

a gorge walk

June 21, 2022June 10, 2022 MichaelStephenWills20 Comments

Walking around Taughannock Falls New York State Park on the solstice of 2019 starting from the Black Diamond trail head on Jackson Road, down the South Rim trail, up the North Rim Trail. We had a great deal of rain this week and the water filled the falls the full channel width.

The header photograph is a waterfall of Fillmore Glen, also in the Finger Lakes.

For a full screen view, click on the UTube icon, lower right of the video panel. The resolution is not very good so I also posted the source videos.

The movie is from the following videos and photos from my IPhone. The quality is better than the compilation video. I uploaded the following videos directly to WordPress. I was not able to get the “full view” icon to work on my browser. Enjoy

View of the upper gorge, above the falls, from the South Rim

View into the gorge from the South Rim

Distant view of Taughannock Falls from the South Rim

Click on any of the photographs for a larger view.

The stairs up to the North Rim of the gorge

View of the forest of the North Rim

A turkey vulture soars by towards the end of the following.

View of gorge from the North Rim

Taughannock Falls and “Ant People” from the overlook

Taughannock Falls from the North Rim

Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Roadside Shrine and Island Landscape, Inishmore, Aran Islands, County Galway, Ireland

Island Shrine

part of the Irish landscape

June 20, 2022June 20, 2022 MichaelStephenWills10 Comments

A roadside shrine on Cottage Road, Inishmore. The faith brought by the saints has deep roots here.

A large crucifix set with wet stone walls with cut flowers. The walls are the native limestone.

It is a spring (early June) afternoon and there are fern and wildflowers. The white flowers are Greater Burnet saxifrage (Scientific Name: Pimpinella major).

Click Me for Getty IStock photography of the Aran Islands

The existing dry stone wall was interrupted by the shrine. In the distance are dry stone walls around fields, a stone shed, feeding horses and the sea, being Galway Bay, storm clouds with distant rain.

Aran Islands, County Galway, Ireland.

Click me for the first post of this series, “Horse Trap on Inishmore.”

References: search google “Wet Stone”

Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

The Waterlily Genus Nymphaea

Congrats to all fathers and grandfathers, Happy Fathers Day

June 19, 2022June 12, 2022 MichaelStephenWills4 Comments

The McKee informative placard divides the Genus Nymphaea into “Hardy” and “Tropical” waterlilies. “Hardy” being plants native to temperate climates, such as New York State. I do not have photos of these from McKee. Nor are there examples of Lotus.

**The idiosyncratic categories of McKee Gardens**

What I have is an abundance of the “tropical” varieties.

“The family Nymphaeaceae, of which the genus Nymphaea is a part, is thought to be the most basic of all the Angiosperms. A minute flower of the Nymphaea type was found in early Cretaceous deposits in Portugal, dating early waterlilies to at least 115-125 million years ago.“

*Bright sunlight washed out the flower, not so for the reflected image*

Here is a brightly colored “tropical” flower well above the water surface on an erect stem emerging from the water.

“Angiosperm,” the word referring to all flowering plants, is composed to two greek words angio-. meaning enclosed, and -sperm, meaning seed. “DNA studies indicate the Nymphaeaceae separated from the rest of the angiosperm family tree…..before the separation of the monocots and dicots.” – see reference.

Click me for wonderful sculpture at McKee Gardens

Reference: The Botanical Garden, Volume II, by Roger Phillips and Martyn Rix, Firefly Books, pp 382-383

Peppermint Drops

Left for us by Pam’s Father

June 18, 2022June 9, 2022 MichaelStephenWills6 Comments

Pam’s father planted this rose on the east side where it is warmed wintertime by several hours of morning light when the sun is out. Extra attention is needed for watering as the roots are under a bay window and an awning.

It is a miniature rose, the blooms about 1.5 inch across, this and the irregular red and white coloring reminds me of peppermint candies, so we call it our peppermint rose (not to be confused with the “Peppermint Rose” branded doll). The descent from wild rose is clear in the simplicity of the form. The number of flower petals identify it as a hybrid “modern rose: there are many more than five (5) petals of the wild rose.

These photographs were taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV dslr and the Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM lens with a “BeFree” Manfrotto tripod with ball head. f-stop was tamped down to the maximum, f16 for this lens. In spite of the light intermittent breezes I chose ISO 200. The combination of f-stop and low ISO resulted in a longer exposure that I worked around by waiting for the blooms to settle down between the breezes.

First Bloom

“Princess of the Night” one evening

June 17, 2022June 17, 2022 MichaelStephenWills13 Comments

Our Night Blooming Cereus spent this winter on a stand on an eastern facing window. The day after Memorial Day it is back to the poolside rain barrel where, looking up from swimming laps June 12th, I spied the first bloom of the season.