startrails

Writing Retreat 2021, day 4

Posted on by Patrick
Close-up: meteor burning up in the sky

On Wednes­day, I:

  • Rewrote a scene in “The Slow Apocalypse”
  • Got lunch to go from the local cof­feeshop with my friend Tim, who’s on his way home from camp­ing at Wasagaming
  • Con­tin­ued out­lin­ing for “Praise the Torch”
  • Went for a bike ride (it was pret­ty windy, but at least it was at my back on the way back to the cabin)
  • Drove to a side road off Moun­tain Road and watched for Perseids

I saw about six or eight mete­ors with the naked eye, and caught a few small ones and one longer one with my cam­era. I was on the side road in the dark for about an hour. Maybe I was too ear­ly for the 40–60/hour that the web­sites claimed you’d see on the peak night of the mete­or shower.

  • Long shot of a meteor burning up in the sky
  • Star Trails
Long shot of a meteor burning up in the skyStar Trails

Series: Writing Retreat 2021

The entire series: Writ­ing Retreat 2021, Day Zero; Writ­ing Retreat, Day One; Writ­ing Retreat, day 2; Writ­ing Retreat 2021, day 3; Writ­ing Retreat 2021, day 4; Writ­ing Retreat 2021, day 5; Writ­ing Retreat 2021, day 6.

Writing Retreat 2021, day 3

Posted on by Patrick
The Milky Way at Spruces in Riding Mountain National Park

Tues­day, I:

  • Wrote more in the out­line for “Praise the Torch”
  • Went for a bike ride (it was cool when I start­ed, but warmed up as the sun came out)
  • Read about a dozen chap­ters in William Gib­son’s Zero His­to­ry—it’s been a long time since I read it, so it’s pret­ty much like read­ing it again for the first time
  • Reworked a chap­ter in “The Slow Apoc­a­lypse” and made minor changes in a few oth­er places
  • Watched some Fire­fly
  • Met up with my friend Tim (who was camp­ing at Wasagam­ing) at Spruces for some very dark sky pho­tos (it’s been a long time since I saw the Milky Way so promi­nent to the naked eye)

I saw a cou­ple of mete­ors at Spruces, includ­ing one large, slow one that unfor­tu­nate­ly was­n’t where my cam­era was aimed.

  • Star trails at Spruces in Riding Mountain National Park
  • The Milky Way at Spruces in Riding Mountain National Park
  • The Milky Way at Spruces in Riding Mountain National Park
  • The Milky Way at Spruces in Riding Mountain National Park

Series: Writing Retreat 2021

The entire series: Writ­ing Retreat 2021, Day Zero; Writ­ing Retreat, Day One; Writ­ing Retreat, day 2; Writ­ing Retreat 2021, day 3; Writ­ing Retreat 2021, day 4; Writ­ing Retreat 2021, day 5; Writ­ing Retreat 2021, day 6.

Star Trails

Posted on by Patrick
Star Trails

Warmer than it’s been, but still cold enough to kill two cam­era bat­ter­ies inside the space of ½ an hour. I gave up on see­ing any auro­ra and head­ed home to process what I got.

Update: As it turned out, I got some auro­ra after all.

About 170 pho­tos, 5 sec­onds each (for a total of about 15 min­utes of rota­tion), ISO 1600, 11mm, f/2.8.