Volcano!

Did everyone except me know that Mt. Etna in Sicily is erupting in a pretty spectacular way right now? Apparently today's eruption is the third in the last 22 days. I saw a piece about it on the news this morning so, of course, my first instinct was to hit the Web and see what more I could find out, and also to find pictures! Here are the results of my search:

MSNBC has some spectacular footage, featured in a module on the right side of the page here. Functionality may be wonky; this is a tool in beta.

Heartland News posts an article called "Volcano Eruption Caught on Tape" with some spectacular photographs and, for Windows users, a link to a video made in early April.

Volcano Etna: Includes sporadic reports on volcano activity (latest one was posted yesterday) plus links to a number of webcams. Plus a page of highlights of the 2007 eruption (which are not great but not bad). This is the weakest link in my results, but they may be the most regularly updated over time.

Cheerful things

It's a lovely day in Seattle, mild and sunny, just a touch of chill in the air. The kitties are snoozing, Merlin on the couch, Spanky stretched out on the carpet. And I'm trying to declutter the kitchen table (an ongoing challenge).

Seems like there's been so much tough stuff going on lately, death, illness, political stupidity. What's good that's going on with you right now? What's making you happy, or making you say, "Look! Pretty!" I'm not depressed, I'm just in need of hearing good news and seeing cool or pretty pictures. Send me news and pointers, people.

And I'll start the ball rolling with my own cheerful things:

1) The Steller's Jays that live in the big tree outside my living room window are getting active again. Every day for the last three or four, one of them has landed on my balcony railing and peered through the sliding door at me. They're such a rich blue; it's like being visited by tropical birds.

2) The owlets at the Owl Nest Box Cam are slowly beginning to look like tiny little owls rather than little puffs of fuzz. Every now and the, one of them will look directly at the camera and show off his distinctive eye ruffs. ( In fact, sometimes they watch you when you're watching them... )

3) At least one of my eBay auctions is heating up (thank goodness). They're all being watched. Here's hoping that on Wednesday around dinner time, there are great big honkin' bidding wars. :-)