Cassiopeia

As I was walking home in the wee hours this morning, I noticed quite a few stars out. Turned around, trying to pinpoint a location, and managed to make out Cassiopeia. Yeah, yeah, big whoop, Cassiopeia. Only, I haven't seen this particular constellation since Oregon, from my window or the balcony, and it just made me smile to see it. Oh, some planet too. Probably Jupiter. You can always bloody see Jupiter. Although apparently Venus, Neptune, and Mars are visible now as well. Whatever the planet, it was directly across from Cassiopeia, and looked slightly doubled, which would make sense since Jupiter's basically on top of Neptune right now. Not that I consult astronomy charts or anything.

Thunderstorms!

I thoroughly enjoyed that sudden thunderstorm: two seconds tops between the thunder and lightning, sun still shining, trees a-whirling furiously. Not to mention the CONSTANT lightning. I'm pretty sure I was in the eye of it. The sky is gorgeous right now. All pink and pillowy. Wish I could get onto the roof somehow for a better photo.

It is a little bit much though, this incessant rain for the last two-three weeks, with about 10 thunderstorms in between. My neighbor commented that I must have taken Oregon with me. Only, we get maybe 5 thunderstorms a year out there (though they are fantastical, especially with the wide open skies), and never really a downpour. It's all baby rain out there.

never said this before

Not to be redundant or anything, but I'm still craving those Oregon skies. Looking at the small sliver of sky I can see through my window in Brooklyn shortens my breath and tightens my chest. I close my eyes and imagine I'm looking out over our balcony in Oregon and I just relax and loosen up as the image dances across my eyelids. I need an expanse of sky. I know! The beach. Perfect. Nothing beats the smell of salt and sand and the sight of unending distance.

Claustrophobia

I never realized how obstructed the sky is in Brooklyn until now. It's perfectly sunny outside, the sky is a clear blue, but now that all the trees have blossomed and popped out with greenery there's hardly any sunshine coming in the windows. Obviously leafy trees are not a problem, and maybe it was always this dark, but I did not notice until now after having spent the last few days in wide open spaces with unobstructed skies. I feel almost claustrophobic here now, and I LOVE cramped spaces, but now I yearn for wide open fields and miles of sky, which you just can't get here. Yearn! Pine! But shall not mope. This just means I need to spend more time in the middle of a field in Prospect Park is all. 

I get high from the sky

Kitten highs and sky highs. That's what it's all about. And other highs, and butterflies.



I start to rhyme when I have a good time.

Do you know the way to Santa Fe?

The sky! The sky! Oh my word, the sky! The clouds parted for a brief spell today, brief spells, rather, and in the evening the sky was just absolutely breath-taking. Stars and stars, as far as the eye could see, and full constellations, not this bit of that and smidge of this, but full ones. All of Ophiuchus, all of Scorpius and Sagittarius, Cassiopeia, Cygnus, Eagle, Ursa Major, Pegasus, Andromeda, and so on, and on and on. Lightning in the distance, lightning to the left and to the right, and now the rains are back on top of us again and the sky is hidden once more beneath a thick atmospheric blanket.

The sky is the cherry of this trip. It is wonderful to see Josine and Cees again, and I look forward to seeing John as well. I really love Josine and Cees, I just wish I spoke Dutch. But that's my guilt-complex talking, and that I feel guilty that they have to speak English around me. Of course learning Dutch is something I greatly want to do, and have wanted to do, and will want to do until it is done, but for now I shall converse with my Dutch family in English.

ps. Santa Fe's as cute as a button.

Skywatching II

I went out last night again, but instead of darting amongst the sprinklers in the parks, hoping that assholish L.O. cops wouldn't yell at me for being there past closing time, I drove the opposite way and just parked the car off of Bergis. What better area than the patch of farmland we've got in town? I'm sure I looked like a crazy stalker, with my foot long telephoto lens and tripod, crouching in the grass on my hands and knees on the side of the road. Well, unfortunately the telephoto didn't work out, too heavy for my crappy tripod, but I fiddled around with my little digital and I think I might have gotten the quality a smidge better and steadier.

Jupiter in Sagittarius:

If you enlarge the second one, you'll see two little dots on the sides of Jupiter, which I believe to be two of Jupiter's moons, Io and Europa:


Scorpius, Ophiuchus, and Libra at 15-second exposure:

" at 60-second exposure:

Skywatching

Recently a bright star has been seen in the southeastern part of the sky, but in my opinion too bright to be a star. After checking my star chart or whatever it is, and attempting to draw the constellation so I might figure out what I was looking at, and failing by these simple means, I decided to grab my camera and a tripod, and head down to the park. I took photos of Ursa Major, Draconus, Cassiopeia, Cygnus, and of course, the bright dot in the sky that had to be a planet. The tripod sucked. It's small, and wobbly, and only one photo of those that I shot of the planet worked out. But the last one did, and once I did some research it became pretty clear that it was Jupiter in Sagittarius.

Turkey Vultures II

There were six or so, I swear there must be a nest of them above and behind my house, either that or nests of other birds they like to frequent. One of them flew right over me this time.

La Lune

I slept outside Friday night (as noted below), and was surprised at 1 AM to look up from my reading material and see a rising moon, huge and bright orangish yellow.

Sleeping outside

Holy shit the moon is beautiful right now.

*update 6/29*

Turkey Vultures

For years big birds have been flying over my house and over the park below. I had heard from students at the high school which I went to back then that eagles nested in Freepons Park (a likely story...). Excited at the idea of eagles in my own backyard, myself being a city girl and all, I always scoured the skies for a sign of these majestic birds. Oftentimes I would see a bird much larger than a crow or a goose, soaring thousands of feet in the sky. About twelve days ago I finally identified them as turkey vultures, which are quite common in Oregon, and about ten days ago I caught them on film.

It was pretty spectacular though, as three turkey vultures attempted to either land in a tree or invade a crow's nest, and resulted in a flying fight of turkey vultures versus crow. I am still not certain which was attacking which, but I wouldn't put it past the crow to be the attacker.












And a video.