Out of the Blue. Common Reed Grass, Phragmites australis, Frankendael, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
On March 19, 1847 pharmacist and naturalist Josephus Joannes Bruinsma (1805-1885) of Leeuwarden, to his great enthusiasm, observed a so-called Fog Bow. Acccording to him such a natural phenomenon was extremely rare for his province of Friesland and he wrote about his experience several times. A Fog Bow, like a colorful rainbow, is caused by the reflection of the Sun on water droplets. But in Fog these are very small, and the startling effect is a Milky White Bow.
Today the manor Frankendael in the south of Amsterdam lay beneath a sparkling Blue Winter Sky and not a rainbow much less a Fog Bow in sight. But in honor of almost forgotten Bruinsma allow me to mention that he was also a botanist. In his Flora Frisica (1840), he fascinatingly writes about plants and their uses in his native Friesland. Here he also describes our Common Reed - seen here in Winter -, adding that it is used to thatch roofs by the roofmen of Feanwâldsterwâl. No need today in Rain- and Fog-Bowless weather for shelter against the Wet. But we were driven indoors anyway by the fiercely Cold Wind.
Out of the Blue. Common Reed Grass, Phragmites australis, Frankendael, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
On March 19, 1847 pharmacist and naturalist Josephus Joannes Bruinsma (1805-1885) of Leeuwarden, to his great enthusiasm, observed a so-called Fog Bow. Acccording to him such a natural phenomenon was extremely rare for his province of Friesland and he wrote about his experience several times. A Fog Bow, like a colorful rainbow, is caused by the reflection of the Sun on water droplets. But in Fog these are very small, and the startling effect is a Milky White Bow.
Today the manor Frankendael in the south of Amsterdam lay beneath a sparkling Blue Winter Sky and not a rainbow much less a Fog Bow in sight. But in honor of almost forgotten Bruinsma allow me to mention that he was also a botanist. In his Flora Frisica (1840), he fascinatingly writes about plants and their uses in his native Friesland. Here he also describes our Common Reed - seen here in Winter -, adding that it is used to thatch roofs by the roofmen of Feanwâldsterwâl. No need today in Rain- and Fog-Bowless weather for shelter against the Wet. But we were driven indoors anyway by the fiercely Cold Wind.