11.12.2022 Inverted glory light. [Sun pillar]

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 Sunday 11th -3C/26F. Overcast. No new snow. Yesterday we were promised wall to wall sunshine. Now we will be lucky to catch a glimpse. Up at 7.30 after a restless night. 

 The stove isn't drawing again. I clear the ashes every morning. To avoid blocking the vents in the base plate. 

 A late walk, as the sun on the horizon burst through the low cloud at 9.00. A strange, orange beam lit up the undersides of the clouds for over 20 minutes. Most glory lights shine downwards and are short lived. 

 This one looked vertical but was obviously shining upwards at an angle towards me. This phenomenon was mentioned on the Danish weather website. It is unusual and caused by the sun shining though ice crystals in the atmosphere. Not dissimilar to how a rainbow is formed.

 Hunters arrived out on the fields during my walk. Arranging themselves around a copse. Before a dog was sent in to flush out the pheasants. A single shot marked a lack of quarry.

 The sun pretended to come out but is hidden behind clouds. A patch of blue is approaching but very slow moving. I just slipped and fell over while collecting my oldest down jacket from the car. I was keeping it in there for emergencies. No injuries apart from the shock. I hope to spend some time in the observatory. If the sun clears the cloud.

13.00 Just finishing lunch.  The sun came out for a while but my optics were misted up by the cold. 0C. The sun has come out again. I can feel the sun's warmth on my back as I sit at the computer. 

14.00 It was a waste of time. Thin cloud spoilt my efforts.

 18.30 I have just had a free, 2 hour Skype video chat with a family member. They carried their laptop around to show me their flat. Getting enough light is always a problem with webcams.

 I am now using a short LED batten in front and slightly above me. To avoid reflections in my reading glasses. It has the advantage of not being glaringly bright. At the cost of not being very bright by video lighting standards. I have hung some translucent bubble wrap in front to act as as a diffuser. 

Dinner was fish fingers and frozen chips. With frozen organic peas. Baking both chips and fish fingers at the same time in the mini.oven was a successful experiment. I added another five minutes to the 20 minute recommended cooking time. For some reason the frozen foods lag behind in browning when combined. First, they had to be arranged, by hand, on the same baking tray with baking paper. 

 If you like photographic trivia: I use my Lumix TZ7 camera on flash, 4:3 format at about one meter above the tray. Then crop around the plate with PhotoFiltre 7 software. A touch of increased contrast usually helps. 

 I used to take the food pictures in the kitchen but steam is a problem in the cooler air out there. So now I tend to take these pictures upstairs. With the tray placed on the floor. 

 My reason for photographing my dinners is due to my poor memory. I cannot remember what I had yesterday, without a picture, let alone a few days ago. The images are rapidly viewable and confirm I ma not repeating specific meals too often. 

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