RUNNING DOWN THE STREET IN MY PAJAMAS

If you were out before sunrise on the west side of the United States this morning with a clear view of the horizon, you would have been able to see an occultation. This has nothing to do with black magic, but is an astronomical term for, “concealment of one celestial body by another.” In this case it was the planet Venus sliding behind a thin crescent moon. I often get up before sunrise to go for a walk or a bike ride. I have been watching the moon wandering between Jupiter, Mars and Venus in the early sky. Today was the day Venus and the moon crossed paths. I had my camera ready and went out to get a photo, only to discover the moon so near the horizon that I had to walk over a block for a clear view. I was in my pajamas and slippers and it was dark. It did not occur to me until later that I might have looked a little suspicious wandering around the pre-dawn neighborhood with a camera, dressed in my jammies. Fortunately, I did not meet up with the police like I did last time I was taking sunrise snapshots.

Venus was even brighter than the thin moon, and both were easily visible. The Steiner Castle, okay, ...really grain elevators, added a nice silhouette to the set off the event. In a matter of a few minutes Venus

touched

kissed

and disappeared behind the moon. I guess in California this happened enough before dawn that Venus could be seen coming out on the other side. It was certainly worth missing a little sleep to see!

DAFFODILS

I wrote this over ten years ago. It seems that the more things change the more they remain the same.

Yellow, yellow daffodils
Breaking through freezing mud
Stand shivering in the blue spring breeze.
Sunny bonnets announce
The ebbing of winter,
The returning of life to earth.

Half a world away
Still another mother
In ragged coat and head scarf
Bends to the freezing mud
Of a fresh grave
Where she places
Yellow, yellow daffodils.

We are all different and we are all alike.

HOW BAD COULD IT GET? part 5

(continued from the previous four posts)

Rather than leave our tree to die a long slow death, we decided to have it taken out. In less than a minute this friend that had shaded doll parties, Ninja Turtle battles and picnics; sheltered birds and cooled our house was down. Inside the tree we found dry wood. We saved a few pieces of the trunk. The rest was fed to the chipper. Not even the stump remained at the end.

We dug a hole nearby and planted a baby maple.

For months I have waited in fear that the new one would not survive the long, hard winter.

Now tiny leaves are emerging. The maple tree is wicking life from the thawing earth a short way from the location of the old birch.

LIFE amazes me.

The end