Saturday, we looked forward to taking photos of the full moon when it was cloudy on Friday night, the 13th.  The full moon would not reappear on another Friday the 13th until the year 2049. We put our hopes into taking photos on Saturday night’s photos when the moon would still be in its almost full glory.

As we stepped outside onto the veranda, we were amazed by this view. We’d seen fog roll in during the day, but not to this degree in the evening.

With our camera charged and ready, we busied ourselves after dinner, comfortably ensconced on the sofa in the living room with a clear shot of the sky through the glass doors to the veranda.

This area was soon hidden by the fog.

Mindlessly lost in searching for vacation rentals in Australia and New Zealand, I jumped when Tom suddenly spoke, “Hurry, let’s go outside!”

It all happened so quickly that we were glad Tom spotted it when he did.

Startled, I looked outside to see a massive wave of bright white fog wafting toward us. No moon photos tonight, I thought. But, I was hardly disappointed as we stepped outside to the veranda for more awe-inspiring views on the island of Madeira.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, in our old lives, Tom spent hours each weekend fussing over his homemade lake water pumping system used for watering our huge lawn. After he’d rigged his creation, he enjoyed watching it at work and repositioning the sprinklers as he tinkered in the yard on his days off work

The fog rolled up the mountain as well.

With no such household tasks, while we live in vacation homes around the world, a conscientious person such as Tom has managed to find other ways to pique his interest in our day to day lives.

To the higher far right of us, we saw the pink sky of the sun setting behind the mountain.

Here in Madeira, he’s adopted a number of new passionate observatory habits: watching the changing weather, the clouds, the sky, and the ocean from the veranda. Several times each day he asks me to join him to see his latest “find” and I happily oblige as I grab the camera.

On the hairpin turn road below our house, a cat looked lost in the approaching fog.

At times, his sightings are astounding. At other times, they’re as simple as a passing freighter or a puffy cloud resembling an animal. In any case, I always stop whatever I’m doing to check out his most recent point of interest.

To the left, we watched as the house below us became shrouded in the fog.

On Saturday night around 9:00 pm, he suddenly blurted out that we’d better hurry and go outside. I took his suggestion with my usual enthusiasm, jumping up from my seat to follow him outside to the veranda.

The street lights illuminated as we watched.

As shown in these photos and video, we had the opportunity to watch the low hanging fog and clouds, so typical for Madeira, as they rolled in from the ocean. The longer we watched the foggier it became. In no time at all, we were in a full “fog out.” We were glad we’d dined in rather than driving through the fog on our return.

Soon, we could hardly see a thing.

Over the remainder of the evening, up until midnight when Tom came to bed, the sky never cleared. The moon never made another appearance that night or on Sunday night when there was a normal cloud cover, not more fog.

Tom on the veranda during the “white-out.”

With limited knowledge of meteorology we assumed that the high heat and humidity, unusual for Madeira, when it reached 88F, 31C attributed to the fog rolling in from the sea. 

Again, to the left, this area became fog covered.

As we stood on the veranda watching the fog approach us I heard a strange crackling sound. With Tom’s hearing loss due to years of working on the railroad, he wasn’t able to hear the peculiar sounds. If any of our readers have especially good hearing, they may also be able to hear these unusual sounds in the video. 

Wow!

When playing the video, it’s easy to hear the sounds of the goats next door “baaing.” For whatever reason, they continued to “baa” more frequently than usual as the fog rolled in. 

During this occurrence, the temperature dropped dramatically, more than it usually drops at night. In this case, it dropped to a considerably lower temperature and higher humidity than we’ve previously observed.

Sunday, at noon, the sky had cleared and I ventured out for my usual walk up the steep hill discovering this gorgeous lily begging for a photo.

On Sunday morning, when I awoke a 6:00 am I peered outside wondering if the fog remained overnight. In part, it had when the hills were shrouded in fog, later clearing for a perfectly sunny and cooler day at 75F, 23C, the average temperature for this time of year.

In a funny way, this reminded us of those snowy days in Minnesota, with a total “white out” when we were safely at home reveling in the beauty of the falling snow as it covered everything in its path.

Mother Nature, what a gal!  She never fails to offer us opportunities to become enthralled with her ways. The question is…will we take the time and effort to stop whatever we may be doing to notice the treasures she so proudly bestows upon us?
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Photo from one year ago today, June 16, 2013:

For hours we walked the streets of Venice crossing over the canals on many occasions. It was actually more beautiful than we’d expected. With the outrageous cost of riding on the gondolas, most of which were “stuck in traffic” we opted to walk instead. For details of the day in Venice, please click here.