Last Night's Supermoon -- Animation and a Word About Cats

The Scene at 6:34 PM

 

 

Conveniently located three flights of stairs above my office is the roof of the building.

Moonrise was supposed to happen at 6:18 PM and, I was ready.

About 5:30, I grabbed a tripod and the Pentax, to set them up early.

Looking out to the east, I was disappointed when seeing the thick cloud layer out at sea.

Not used to this location, I wasn't sure, where the moon would appear if, it did at all.

They say, an idle mind is the devil's workshop. That's kind of spooky.

So, when I started thinking about spitting on cats, walking down the street, I had to get busy.

I'm not real fond of stray cats but, don't want cat people getting mad at me.

So, I started shooting buildings, bugs and birds, through 700MM of lens.

Once, I even ran back down the stairs and grabbed some coffee out of my fridge.

When the cats, see me coming, they run, too. I like cat people better than cats.

They are responsible for the design of tuna fish cans, I believe.

Whenever I eat canned tuna, I like to lick the can clean, with my tongue.

If those cans had sharp edges, you could wind-up bleeding all over the place.

The tuna people know, the cat people, would take them to court over bleeding cats.

So, that's why, I think cat people are alright. Still, I'm not crazy about cats.

Back to the Moon

As the sun set behind me, fast moving black clouds, started showing up.

The moon, would appear and disappear several times, during the hour, I was up there.

Nobody wants photos of the full moon, with clouds covering half of it, I'm sure.

Having the camera, locked in position, made creation of this GIF, easy.

Seven images, shot between 6:43 and 6:51, were used to make it.

Then, I saved the supermoon images, I liked best and, threw the other 50 away.

Out in the garden, I placed some leftovers, for the stray cats to eat.

And, called it a day !

2016 Worldwide Uchinanchu Festival

 

 

Only 86 Days Away !

 

 

In case you've never heard of this event, I'll tell you why it's so important.

Once every five years, Okinawans from around the globe converge on this island.

People from the Ryukyu Islands have emigrated to 170 countries around the world.

This gives them a chance, to reunite with family and friends throughout the prefecture.

And, some of their descendants, get to see where their families, originally came from.

If you haven't already guessed, Uchinanchu, means Okinawan, in local dialect.

Thousands of Uchinanchu get together for a few days and share their culture.

I figured, it was time to dig up some links so, everyone knows the schedule of events.

First, a YouTube video to show what took place 5 years ago in case, you're afraid of crowds.

Tom Corraro, posted this one. He came all the way from Chicago for the festival.

It's a bit long; 41:34 minutes but, covers almost everything.

 

 

 

October 27-30 2016

 

 

Those are the dates for the festival activities but, check the entire program for extras.

 Sometimes, there are rehearsals before and, parties after, these sort of things.

Besides the events in big cities, villages welcome the visitors and, have special activities planned. 

It's really hard work if, you're a cameraman, I can tell you from experience.

So, the wife knows, a 3 day festival may, take me a week.

One year, a bunch of Brazilian/Okinawan dancers came parading down the street.

Their outfits were so skimpy, I forgot to look through the viewfinder and, take pictures !

Outline 6th Worldwide Uchinanchu Festival

 

Follow these links for, whichever language you prefer:

ENGLISH

JAPANESE  日本語

SPANISH  Español

PORTUGESE  Português

Make Reservations Before It's Too Late

 

It's always best, to do travel arrangements a few months in advance.

With the volume of travelers on island, rooms may become scarce and, that would be a shame.

Maybe, I could squeeze a few of those Brazilian girls into my office for overnights.

But, they'd have to promise, to keep those hooters concealed !