Hotter than hell and lighter than air

At the Hot Air Balloon festival in Gonzales, LA, a pilot pumps a flaming plume into his eagle-shape airship to give it lift into a lightless sky.  The event, at the Lamar Dixon arena was a great hit for kids and us older kids.  It was my first time to see the Moon Glow of hot air balloons

Egrets fight for landing rights

This shot from Lacassine, Louisiana, reminds me that crowded skies are not just a human problem. The herons (Cattle Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Great Egrets, Blue Herons and more) come to this spot each night for some camaraderie. They start showing up about an hour and a half before sunset and quickly the supply of available branches approaches zero. This incoming feather ball seems to be saying, "clear the way for landing or we all end up on the ground!" 

This was the sunset by the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge the other night as I was driving to Beaumont, TX.  The sky was a giant maelstrom of sorts. It was very distracting.

A cloud's brief life in the heavens

Clouds climbing on top of each other push upward into the thinning sunlight at day's end.  Without the sun's help, the vapor hordes will lose their urge to soar and shape-shift into huge lawn sprinklers.

Featherly evening festival amazes

The birds come flying in for the nightly confab at Lacassine, La, on Interstate 10. Hundreds of birds fill the trees near the I-10 exit.  The birds send up a cacophony of squeaks and squawks until each has settled into its short space of limb span for the night.  I was able to see Ibis, Blue Herons,  Snowy Egrets, Cattle Egret, Cormorants, Roseate Spoonbills and even some shore gulls.  It is an amazing site to watch the feathery festival.

Clouds play king of the sky

A lone palm tree occupies a front seat view to the surging summer-lit passions of clouds as they play king on the sky over Beaumont two nights ago.

Sun nixes thunderous conspiracy.

This thunderhead held its head high until the sun refused to go along with his plan to light up the night.  Losing the sun's heat, the cloud started shedding rain drops at nearly the same pace as the Helios' decline.

Exterior decorating -- sky styling

Sundown was very complicated last night. The golden last rays of sunshine were glittering in one corner of the sky.  A massive rain cloud covered the opposite side. Covering the entire sky between the two was a lightly rose-brushed blanket of clouds.

Clouds climb is futile

Billowing clouds punch futilely up into the sky, because the sun has spent his fury for the day.  It did make a nice closing act at the end of the day.

Rain through the clouds

Rain through the sun creates a heavenly vision.

Flying home -- neither wind, nor rain, nor...

I was surprised to see a plane flying below the clouds yesterday when a storm was broadsiding Beaumont.  The storm blasted passed with winds whipping the trees and the clouds swirling one way, then the next.  However, there the high flyer was.  We are driven by schedules and time tables.   Nature has to push harder than this to hinder our plans.

Angry clouds hiss and hurl

Angry clouds crowded the skies today in Beaumont, TX,  hissing rain at the ground. It was good for the plants and cooled things down, but thunderous lighting was being hurled across the sky sizzling through the rain shrouds.

Pushing back the darkness

Early in the morning heading East on I-10.  The sun is pushing back the darkness and raising the curtain of black clouds.

Foggy droplets make spider web sparkle

A spider guards his pearl-covered web -- the tiny droplets came from a morning fog that settled in thick in the woods of Mandeville, LA, over the weekend. I suppose the spider was having a panic attack about what the weight would do to his handiwork.

The changing of the guards

The sun, sapped of its strength, passes reign over to the misty night, in the slow hush of night fall.

The heavens heave in billowing battles.

Up where these jets fly, the winds can be colliding and clashing as if in battle.  It does, however, make for a beautiful sky for us earth bound mortals.

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Lofty game of Sky King

Is is just my imagination or do the Sun and the clouds sometimes like to play a game to see who is the most majestic.  Kind of like King on the Sky.

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Sun and geyser -- furies abate

This was one of the geysers at Yellowstone Park, gurgling its dwindling fury just at the sun's strength was sapping also.

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Sun magic above the ceiling

The clouds were blowing by fast and low enough that the sun had plenty of space to work its magic, nearly unseen, above it all.

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In the still of the night

This shot was a cool, crisp December night last year.  Still, it had a lot in common with tonight. 
Calm, peaceful, still, expansive and unhurried.
The colors force your eyes upward.

Sunset, night

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The artist as art

I was just playing around with the sky vision in this window of a Houston Building one day.  The first time I realized I was in the picture was when I opened it on my computer.  I thought it was a throw away picture.  Now, I am not so sure.
--steve buser

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That old flat sun

That fat old lazy sun gives one last yawn before sinking into Lake Pontchartrain, in New Orleans.
--steve buser

New Orleans, Sunset

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Flying the Saints Superbowl banner in New Orleans

I don't know if this is what is meant by "when the Saints go marching in," but someone had Jean D'Arc carrying the banner for New Orleans favorite footballers.  The statue, quite frankly, never look so powerful and inspiring.  It got a lot of attention down in the French Quarter before and after the Superbowl.
--steve buser

Superbowl, French Quarter, New Orleans

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The slipperyness of Sundown

This about the slipperyness of sundown.  Leaving behind it shining on the puddles of the day, the sun silently slides to the safety of the night. (Beaumont, TX)
--steve buser

sunset, photography

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Clouds shouting darkness

Heading into a hefty thunderstorm on my way back into New Orleans one day.  The clouds were shouting darkness at me, probably trying to get me to turn around.
--steve bus

Thunderstorms, New Orleans

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Lake Conroe sundown

The sun concedes the blues and greens first, and lastly the oranges and roses, over Lake Conroe.  We were there for the weekend to support our son Charlie in a half-Ironman race at La Torretta Del Lago.  This was our first trip there since the new owners took over and gave the place a new make-over.

Sky symphony

A thunderstorm, a sunset, a refinery, powerlines and crepuscular light all play their part in this sky symphony.

--steve buser

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Light-eating storm descends

This was a few days ago when a line of heavy showers was powering down on downtown Beaumont, just as I was heading out for lunch. The buildings are so bright because the sun was still shining behind me.  However, it took me a few seconds to get my camera ready for the shot.  In that time, I lost the real brightness of the scene.
--steve buser

Storms, Texas, Beaumont

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Sky trail

A jet trail takes part in an abstract painting across the evening sky. 
--steve buser

Jet Trails, sunset

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Red sky at night -- life's delight

This was driving home one night in Beaumont.  The sky just soaked itself in red.  I had to pull over, jump out and take a picture.  I was so afraid the light would fade befoe I could capture it. The beautiful moments in life often come upon us suddenly, with little warning. That is when our real metal is tested.  Do we have the peace of mind to stop and savor it.

--steve buser

Sunset

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Partners in shine

Setting, the sun seeks the help of a stray water puddle to keeps its light alive. They stared at each other for nearly 15 minutes before they both lost the strength to glow.
--steve buser

Sunset

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Heaven's gate

Does any song come to mind? Then sing it heartily. The heavens open a passageway for 200 or so souls flying temporarily through.
--steve buser

Sky, sunset, airplane

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Winds gird cloud

This strange cloud shape that somewhat resembles what you might expect over a moutain, appear one day in Southeast Texas. You can see the winds making a circular ring around the cloud. Maybe I don't pay enough attention to clouds, but this was strange to me.

--steve buser

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Crumpling closed

Looking more like some rumpled colored foil, than a sunset, the sky was filled spectacularly this night.

I wonder how many people missed this one?
--steve buser

Sunset, Beaumont, Texas

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Steamy prism

This is one of the outflows from the Prismatic Pool in Yellowstone National Park. The steam comes from water bubbling up from volcanic heat pumps deep in the earth's crust. The 640,00-year-old, 45-by-30 mile caldera formed from an eruption of the active volcano forms the center of the National Park. There are more than 10,000 hydrothermal features and 300 active geysers in the park.
--steve buser

Prismatic Pool, Yellowstone, Wyoming

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Nightfall's fancy fades in

Perfect colors for a Halloween. Perhaps this was a hallowed eve'ning. Magical burnt orange and sienna swathed aslant across the sky. A slow dissolve to black. Adjusting the mind's eye to the reverie of night.
--steve buser

nightfall, sunset, Beaumont, Texas

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Hand me down sky

Were it not for the fact that it is up and not down, you might think this is a creek bottom rather than a cloud-rippled sunset sky.

I think nature reuses her patterns.
--steve buser

sky, sunset, Texas, Beaumont

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Sun Slip

The sun held on as long as it could. The moon was starting to airbrush the waves in the foreground. The sun eventually lost its grip and fell behind the horizon. Lake Pontchartrain went dark, with just meager moonlight staining the surface.
--steve buser

sunset, New Orleans, Louisiana

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