Floating in a Moon-Green Pool -- Elizabeth Bishop

Today's garden update is again introduced by a relevant poem ... this time by a relatively contemporary Canadian poet, Elizabeth Bishop.

I Am in Need of Music

I am in need of music that would flow
Over my fretful, feeling fingertips,
Over my bitter-tainted, trembling lips,
With melody, deep, clear, and liquid-slow.
Oh, for the healing swaying, old and low,
Of some song sung to rest the tired dead,
A song to fall like water on my head,
And over quivering limbs, dream flushed to glow!

There is a magic made by melody:
A spell of rest, and quiet breath, and cool
Heart, that sinks through fading colors deep
To the subaqueous stillness of the sea,
And floats forever in a moon-green pool,
Held in the arms of rhythm and of sleep.

–Elizabeth Bishop

So why is this poem relevant? Because today, I decided to bring my alkalinity and pH back up from the dead, and the instant I added the pH chemical (obviously a strong base pH buffer, probably very similar or even identical to Borax) a cloud of green formed in the pool and began circling the pool very slowly.

I gave it a few hours to clear (it did not) and then decided to try adding the Alkalinity chemical (basically baking soda) and this cemented the green color into a uniform and very dark tinge in the water.

Ok, I kid you not. That really is the color of my pool now .... yuck. And the kicker is that neither the pH nor the alkalinity are registering yet. I.e. the pool is still pure acid.

Anyway ... I also decided to shoot the daisies yet again, and today's combo was the D70s and the 28mm f3.5 AI ... this lens does not meter on the D70s, not does it auto focus, which means that I need to do all of the work. Focusing is pretty easy, but metering takes a few minutes to get right.

After the initial guesstimate, I chimp each shot and check the histograms to make sure that things are working well. Once I have established a decent exposure, I can leave it there, since the light was uniform and stable at the time (late evening.)

Chimping ... this is the sound photographers make when looking at their shots on the back LCD .... oooohhh, aaaahhh ... :-)

Anyway ... I got a few nice images of the daisies.