It’s past my bedtime, yet I’m sitting on my deck in the near dark bundled up in a blanket, and I’m involuntarily gasping every minute or so. This goes on for over an hour. In fact, it happens 44 times a second, the world over. No, it’s not the 4th of July, it’s the 11th. My dog refused to go outside for her bedtime relief session and is now cowering in the bathroom. I was awestruck by a mega-watt thunderstorm that actually went on for several hours. The lightning displays were way beyond anything I’ve ever seen. Since this region has the lowest incidence of lightning strikes in the country, this was especially notable.
Continue reading...28. April 2009
I am spoiled—on purpose. Though I live in western Washington state, which is the butt of every joke about rainy climates, it hardly ever rains where I live (on the Strait of Juan de Fuca). I am spoiled because I have chosen to live in a tiny rainshadow where the annual rainfall is about 10”—the same as Los Angeles. (Please don’t tell anyone else…during the housing boom we were overrun with outlanders hiking up land prices.)
Continue reading...8. March 2009
Visiting the Helix Nebula I love outer space. I’ve never been a sci-fi fan or a Trekkie or—gasp—even seen Star Wars! But since I was a little girl growing up in the Pacific Northwest I’ve loved sleeping outside during the summer under the stars. It’s one of the reasons I love camping, because it gets me [...]
Continue reading...1. March 2009
Blustery, stormy morning—the tallest firs are whipping around like saplings. Then for just a few moments, the dense shroud tears apart, revealing pieces of blue sky changing shape as fast as the wind can whisk the grayness by. And suddenly, falling from the clouds over the Strait, wide and curvy—my own rainbow…and then a faint twin appears, though its colors are reversed. It is a sign? Am I supposed to double some effort? Reverse a plan? Amplify some delight?
Continue reading...24. February 2009
A magical visitor is expected tonight, the Comet Lulin, making it’s last swing by us as it zooms out of our solar system. A green mass of ice and gas, it is due low in the late night sky. While I wait I will meditate on the vast expanse above me. Living as I do so far from cities, my nighttime sky show is dense and glorious. After a spate of cloudy/foggy nights, at midnight it is inky moonless dark and as clear as freshly Windexed windows. The San Juan Islands are dotted with lights, and Anacortes glows in the background. All the usual beacons and lighthouses are on duty—old friends I miss when weather keeps us apart.
Continue reading...17. February 2009
A pale green luminous band arcs overhead, silhouetting a fir tree with unearthly light. Bands of rose and orange light glow just above the horizon, but the sun and the half moon set together hours ago, so it is no playful trick on their part. Nor are there large city lights nearby to shine the sky. Even the geese on the lagoon are aroused.
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12. July 2009
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