Beautiful Old Broads are star gazers

Hello Dear Ones,

 The poet  Mary Oliver reminds us  that in the rush of life what we are meant to do is “pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.”   As that prayer I posted a few weeks back proclaims…It’s a beautiful world. We tend I think to look around, look down, look ahead but this coming week we need to look up into that immense darkness above us and pay attention.  Be a star traveler.

A  treat awaits those willing to pay attention to the gifts of grace that do come to us unbidden.  The Perseid Meteor Shower will peak on Tuesday evening August 12^th.  Sorry, it won’t be a spectacular show due to the big old moon but perhaps you’ll see one swift streak of white hot plasma  hurl across the sky that will cause you to catch your breath and be awed. 

The best viewing time this year is late evening before the moon shines bright, but  I like to go out about 4 a.m. and I’ll  sit facing the Northwest where it’s darkest and that’s where the Perseus galaxy resides though you may spot a meteor anywhere across the heavens. Along with meteors look for Vega high in the east, the brightest star in the summer sky and the planets Venus and Jupiter will appear before dawn.

From my perch on this hilltop, I observe the increasing light pollution that interferes with star gazing. There are numerous blinking towers in our hill country that were not there when we first moved here.  And lights from the new bridge and the school and the gas stations litter the atmosphere as real as the plastic bags that clog our rivers. Such is progress.

Back to my meteor watching.  There is something mystical about sitting out in the stillness of night, a softness surrounds us, a feeling of infinity.  The darkness of our night sky reveals so much.  And whether you see a meteor or not, the experience of looking up into the vast heavens on a warm summer night is an act of soul searching wonder.  Know you are just a blink in the scheme of things but remember you are a blink of stardust.

There are more stars in the sky than there are grains of sand in every beach and desert on this Earth so look up and pay attention. It is what we are meant to do.