Another walk outside, the fresh air did me good. More to see. Lots more than I was expecting to find. Here are my unedited pics. No time to crop and edit, but they are ok on their own, mostly.
Shapes. Shades of brown. Leathery.
Texture. Creeper vine on Cherry bark. I love the symmetry of the embrace.
A dead cherry branch against a living tree. A reminder.
Hints of green. Ice crystals hidden from the wind.
Oh and these. Dancing leaves, the only two left on the branches of this little tree. So lovely.
Gooseberry thorns growing through the dormant ferns. Defiant and fierce.
Blossom bones. Reaching.
Burning bush bark with deep ridges, a volunteer at home in the woods.
Lone berry on contorted twigs. It looks like it has arms outstretched, or fell askew.
And then tonight, this. My night sky, lit up like a carnival all the time now, thanks to the train station and terminal at the end of the Metra line, a mile or so from where I live. I guess you can't have everything, not if you want progress, and I sure do like the train, just not the night lights.
No milky way star views for us, just the appearance of a UFO visit on cloudy nights. Lovely, sometimes, but it's no northern lights. Just man made glow low in the sky. I remember when the nights were dark here among the fields and little neighborhoods with no street lamps. Days past. I did see a bit of the milky way in the mountains of North Carolina, it was overwhelming, and there were so many stars I had to hunt for the obvious constellations, like the big dipper. It was lovely, and I'm glad there's still somewhere I can see them. According to this video at the Atlantic that came up on my facebook feed, that would be about 1% of the USA. Apparently we are afraid of the dark and need to be all lit up every night, at great expense. I lived in in the edges of the light pollution from Chicago before the new train terminal lights. Sigh.
It's crazy, isn't it? Can you see where you live? Can you see the stars at night? The Milky Way?
Just imagine what there really is to see at night without all that man made light.
Hope you saw something interesting, something lovely to contemplate too, near or far, up or down. Hope you can see the stars.
xo
Lovely! Oh, so lovely! All of it.
ReplyDeleteI saw the silver slice of a moon-smile last night, hanging above the pecans. I caught my breath.
no milky way out here in the country because some of the neighbors are afraid of the dark and run those arc lamps all night. but way more stars than I could see in the city. the Big Bend area of Texas is still one of the darkest places in the country and I saw the milky way there. I can remember being able to see it at night on the edge of the city when I was growing up.
ReplyDeleteA wonderful start to my day - so glad that I stopped here to see what you had to say and what you saw.
ReplyDeleteLoved the captions. The dancing leafs will keep me going all day !
I can see the Milky Way some nights, but it's feeble compared to when I was child, even growing up in a big city. There was a piece on NPR recently about the three best places to see the night sky. One of them is a little town in Ireland, where a local innkeeper says the tourists who come to look
ReplyDeleteare so besotted with the sight of all those stars that they can't tear themselves away and stay out until five in the morning.
When the rain stops, I can sometimes see the Milky Way over the bay. But it's rare. I love your pictures, all of them, the dancing leaves, the beauty of the everyday. Thank you for these. :-)
ReplyDeleteThose are such beautiful pictures. I especially liked the leaves. I saw the most incredible sunset tonight from the beach in Malibu. Honestly, it was the most spectacular that I've ever seen.
ReplyDeleteYou got some lovely images!!! I love the macros of the dancing branches best!!!
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