Metallic Sparkles #SundayStills

Our Silver Attic Worms

Yep that’s our mess of silver attic worms aka insulated HVAC ducting. Fortunately, I found a few more interesting images of sparkling things to share. They reflect our gold, silver, black metallic color theme. Our recent Thanksgiving week trip offered us stunning man-made and natural views. We also captured many picture worthy moments to share. Check them out and let me know what metallic or sparkling item is surrounding you this holiday season.

Stars

Stars have a metallic sheen for several reasons related to their composition interacting with the atmosphere. Light refraction, surface temperature and even our brains can make stars viewed in a clear dark sky have metallic qualities. Fitting since we recently spent an evening walking along a creative, celestial pathway.

Have you ever strolled through an immersive night walk and experience the wonder of stars in a magical setting? Looking up at the dark night sky and seeing those tiny, sparkling points of silver light is always enchanting. Having the stars represented in different ways using light and music provided a different experience.

Over Thanksgiving weekend we enjoyed the Astra Lumina event held at the Seattle Chinese Garden in Washington. We enjoyed a one-mile long garden walk where projections, lighting and music transform the garden into a celestial pathway. Such a unique way to spend with family and get more into the holiday spirit.

This very cool entrance greeted and dazzled us.

These full size luminaries greeted you as you entered the gardens. At the end of the walk, we had a group picture taken. Yes, I’m the short one; Steve’s family is tall.

There were numerous light effectives throughout the walk creatively depicting stars. This one was falling stars. The ever changing lights ran down making it feel like we were watching falling stars raining down in the sky.

Another display depicted stars changing colors, intensity and then dimming out. All of it was accompanied by music pulling you into the display.

It was an enchanting evening and I appreciated being able to visit and create a new family holiday memory.

Metals

While in Seattle, I decided it was time to visit the Seattle Space Needle. It is an iconic landmark that half of us had never visited. Here’s a few images from our visit to this iconic landmark.

After a long wait to get into the elevator, we were greeted with a grand view all around. Although Mount Rainier was in the clouds, I liked this skyline image showing all the high rises in the evening light.

While waiting to get to the top, there are numerous displays documenting the construction of this landmark. This structure was built for the 1962 World’s Fair. It was completed in only 400 days (note that’s much faster than our new shouse build). At the time it was the tallest structure west of the Mississippi River at 605 feet tall.

During a recent renovation phase they added a rotating glass floor. We enjoyed checking out the gears (bottom right image above) as it moved the floor and us around the building.

More Metal or is it ?

How about these metallic looking “flowers” as viewed from the space needle? They are actually made of glass and are part of a glass exhibit next to the Space Needle. There is an art exhibition called Chihuly Garden and Glass dedicated to the glass artist, Dale Chihuly.

It was fun picking out colorful and interesting items both in the park underneath us and on the rooftops nearby.

Frosty

I learned something new on this trip too. We traveled south from Seattle to Oregon. Then, we headed homeward through eastern Oregon. We were swimming in fog all the way until Boise, ID. The temperatures had dropped. Although there wasn’t snow, frost formed and settled on the trees and grass. This showcased a white, frosty scene.

What did I learn? There’s a name for this frost! It is called Rime Frost which forms in super cooled foggy conditions.

Speaking of frosty, the ice on our creek has been evolving and growing over the past week. It is quite lovely to see the icicles, especially with the evening light pushing through just before dark settles in.

We also have one hydrant that now leaks icicles overnight. No pipe breakage, just a fun picture.

Wishing You a Memorable Holiday Season

Memory making over the holidays is something I’ve missed doing this past decade. Too many big life events and moves to really settle into new memories and traditions over the holidays. Hopefully with our new home base done next year we can startup a new phase of traditions and memories.

My photography is a big part of my memories. It’s a great hobby for my retirement life providing new skills to learn and exercise that creative muscle. Shoot more to learn more!

Since there’s no decorating going on within our under construction home this year, I’ve been enjoying other’s decorations. The kids put up their tree (with a nice metallic collection) and lights early for our Thanksgiving weekend visit (above reflection photo). Below is our local, very tasty pizza joint’s festive tree boasting exploding metallic plumes.

About the Photo Challenge

A weekly themed photo challenge hosted by Terri. Check out her Blog and come back to visit for more SundayStills and traveling posts!

More Sunday Still Posts

Thanks for visiting our Retired Life & Travel blog and I hope you enjoyed finding the #SundayStills Challenge. You can join the weekly challenge by visiting our hosts blog Second Wind Leisure. and checking out Terri’s post for this week, Things that are Metallic.