Sunday, September 22, 2013

Music for the First Day of Autumn 2013


First day of autumn
22 September 2013

The MP3 below expired on 10-31-2013.
Click here to play the current selection.


Percy Faith and His Orchestra (1967)
- Maybe September
(Livingston, Evans and Faith)

First Day of Autumn, 2013

22 September 2013
1730 Hours PDT Log
Current Temperature and Condition:
74° F | 23° C
Clear

Astronomy:

22 September 2013      Rise:        Set:
Actual Time            6:52 AM PDT  7:00 PM PDT
Civil Twilight         6:25 AM PDT  7:26 PM PDT
Nautical Twilight      5:55 AM PDT  7:57 PM PDT
Astronomical Twilight  5:24 AM PDT  8:27 PM PDT
Moon                   8:58 PM PDT 10:12 AM PDT

Length of Visible Light 13h 0m
Length of Day 12h 08m
Tomorrow will be 2m 24s shorter.

Waning Gibbous, 85% of the Moon is Illuminated.


Autumn
Mrs. J. I. McKinney (1887)

Who is it that paints the woodlands
Like a gorgeous gown of gold;
Dropping, here and there, a ripple
Of vermilion in each fold?
Who is it that calls the robins
And the blackbirds into bands;
Pointing them with flaming fingers,
To the sunny, Southern lands?

What has scorched the tender blossoms?
In our yards they’re dying now.
Do you know who kissed the apple
Till it reddened on the bough?
Why so mute the little streamlet?
Down the hill it used to leap;
Now I faintly hear it sobbing—
Sobbing out like one in sleep.

Leaden clouds lay on the heavens,
Like a burden on the heart;
And the winds together whisper,
Sad as loved ones ere they part.
Then anon a dreamy dullness
Hovers over sky and earth;
Ah! my soul reflects the sadness,
And I seek my friendly hearth.

You who love the Indian summer,
So renowned by pen and art,
Go, and revel in the gloaming,
While so sadly pants my heart.
But I can not watch the leaflets,
On the whirlwind as they ride,
For just so a hectic river
Bore my darling from my side.

Thursday, September 19, 2013

The Elegant iOS 7

One iOS7 iPad App Screen to Rule Them All (for me anyway)


I updated all of my iOS devices to iOS 7. I love its simple elegance in design and function. All of my iOS mobile apps are contained and displayed in one screen only. I thought iOS 6 was cool. But now accessing and opening the apps are blazing fast even on my 32-bit iPhone 4S and the iPad 3. iOS 7 is much better than iOS 6 when all things considered. See above picture of my iOS 7 iPad 3 screen.

Shine On, Harvest Moon

Harvest Moon
19 September 2013

The MP3 below expired on 09-22-2013.
Click here to play the current selection.


Carmen Cavallaro, piano (1956)
- Shine on, Harvest Moon
(Bayes and Norworth, 1908)

Saturday, September 07, 2013

September Garden Flowers



September
Helen Hunt Jackson

The golden-rod is yellow;
The corn is turning brown;
The trees in apple orchards
With fruit are bending down.

The gentian's bluest fringes
Are curling in the sun;
In dusty pods the milkweed
Its hidden silk has spun.

The sedges flaunt their harvest
In every meadow nook;
And asters by the brookside
Make asters in the brook.

From dewy lanes at morning
The grapes' sweet odors rise;
At noon the roads all flutter
With yellow butterflies.

By all these lovely tokens
September days are here,
With summer's best of weather,
And autumn's best of cheer.