Lightning on August 20, 2009

A different shot of the lightning that came with yesterday’s storm.

Lightning on August 20, 2009

A major storm system hit Ontario today, causing what were possibly tornados in a town called Durham, and killing one person. We braced ourselves for the worst tonight, but other than a spectacular light show and a brief downpour, it was over before it got to us.

19ish-day-old gerbil babies, cleaning their faces

A group shot of our litter of strange critters that shouldn’t be… washing their faces. Eyes should be open soon.

Baby gerbils, about 19 days old - the one in the foreground is grooming

How we came to have baby gerbils is one of the strangest of the strange stories – one of our MALE gerbils seemed to spontaneously change sexes after living with several other males for 2 years, and suddenly produced these offspring. Can’t explain it, other than to think perhaps the mother was a hermaphrodite and lost her boy bits when some of the older gerbils died off and their survival was apparently threatened. Weird, but a happy result.

Meteor trail during the 2009 Perseids

For the first time, I managed to capture a few meteors in photos tonight that were actually clear enough to be seen. This one conveniently passed nearly through the centre of the frame, and only needed a minor crop to make it presentable. Of course, image quality is always an issue but tonight the conditions were frustrating – VERY high humidity misting up the atmosphere, and the moon was very bright, causing light pollution.

Clouds gathering over a cornfield

More clouds from the storms yesterday.

Storms building up over eastern Ontario

A breathtaking sight from today.

Long exposure of vehicles moving through the traffic circle

You probably need to look full-screen to see the lights up high from a large panel van that passed through the circle, adding an extra set of lights to the typical trails created by vehicles passing through the circle.

Light trails at our new local traffic circle

I like the way the light trails in the background of this shot formed an arc as the cars entered and travelled around the circle.

Light trails at our new traffic circle

Another in a series of photos taken at our new traffic circle.