Category: night sky

night sky

a pocketful of starlight

etikser

Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket.
Never let it fade away.
Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket.
Save it for a rainy day.
— Perry Como (1957), written by Paul Vance/Lee Pockriss.

[My thoughts from a December evening, a few months ago, during the Geminid Meteor Shower.]

I debated whether I wanted to go outside in the cold again, but I felt moved. Unlike last night, I’d wear a scarf this time, and zip my jacket, and I’d sit, make myself comfortable, in my summer deck chair.

Just what I did.

Clearly, it was starry. The sky was beautiful and the night around me felt wonderful. I was glad I was there.

Less than a minute, and I saw the moving flash to my right…behind the tree branches in my next door neighbor’s yard. Enough to make me gasp. It wasn’t the kind of meteor where you’re not sure you saw it. This was bright and clear, and it arced, fading along the way, to the right. Shooting stars are what they are. A second’s worth of something magical about the universe. Not the kind of magic we see with our imaginations. But the real deal.

I sat and looked to see if there would be more. And the dark sky, with shimmering stars loosely scattered among the tall branches, was more exquisite, I believe, than the meteor itself. The very reason we go outside late, on a cold December night. A pocketful of starlight. I was glad I was there.

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© Etikser. All Rights Reserved.
All photos and images here are my own.
They may not be used elsewhere or reblogged.
Please visit my other blog, Clover & Ivy, https://cloverandivy.wordpress.com.
I post mostly nature photos there.

moon, night sky

strange times

etikser

Such strange, strange times.

It was cloudy for weeks on end, it seems, and I couldn’t remember the last time I saw stars in the sky. And the moon? I think I saw a pretty crescent around twilight a week or so back.

Thursday night, I shut down my computer and switched off the lights, and the patterns on my desk took me by surprise. The old familiar lines and squares angled across the wood. So bright it lit up the dark room. My response was something like, what’s that? oh, the moon. Then one of those feelings that come with a smile, like … oh, the moon.

My eyes followed the trail of light out the window and upwards to the almost-full moon high in the sky, shining bright behind the leaves at the top of the trees.

It’s high up there, over 100 feet, and you wouldn’t think I could see the silhouette of individual leaves from so far. But I could see them, the ones at the top, the highest ones, reaching upward, and with the aid of a bit of a breeze, swaying and dancing around in the night sky. For a minute or two, the bright beautiful almost-full moon was right there with them, surrounded, framed, almost decorated.

Me? Well, I should not be surprised, should I, to see moonlight coming through a window. It’s a rather regular event. My days are full. I’ve got projects, plenty to do, exercise, walks. Life. And there are weightier issues, for sure. But this sameness, day after day, after a while, it dulls some kind of sensors in us. Well, in me, anyhow. Some strange malaise of the brain.

I looked out the next night. I guess I hoped to see the moon again. It was cloudy and I couldn’t see the moon. But … I saw a single star out a side window. Yes!

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This is an old photo of mine from last year.

life, night sky, thoughts

the end of may

etikser

Sometimes I sit out back in the dark
at the end of a depressing day,
and it’s quiet,
just quiet,
nothing but me and the quiet.

Sometimes I see stars shining up there, far past the trees.
But tonight,
I don’t see stars.
Just the tops of tall trees and past them nothing.
Nothing but gray skies.

Sometimes I look up and see a flicker.
Or I imagine a flicker.
Like a firefly?
It’s too soon, isn’t it?
I remember the 4th of july when fireflies lit up those trees
like some kind of magic.
Like the magic that’s only real in memories.

Sometimes sitting in the dark listening to the quiet makes me think.

photograph from may 23, 2020