Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Starry, Starry Night...
09/21/2010
We have had an extremely dry summer here in Beautiful Downtown Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, population 711. I don’t believe it has rained more than three times since early June. Back in mid-April and May I was cutting the grass, all seven acres, about every six days. From mid-June to today I have mowed just three times. The leaves here are changing colors rapidly, though not as usual. Typically we see lots of golds and reds in the trees for about three weeks; this year because of the drought they are changing green to brown and falling already.
The skies have been devoid of clouds most of the summer, as have the nights. Lately the temperature at night has dropped below fifty degrees, in fact, this morning it was just forty-three. No clouds and low humidity allow for some tremendous star gazing. The Milky Way makes an appearance most nights. For a long time I thought it was a cloud that stretched from south to north in the night sky, but noticed it too many nights in the same spot and not moving. Brilliant boy here finally figured out what it is. I am a city boy, after all; we didn’t see the Milky Way in Baltimore, ever.
For whatever the reason, I wake up between 4:30 and 5 each morning, maybe it is an age related, I don’t know. While I am up I let the dog and cat out, and I have come not to mind it one bit, mainly because while I am up I also get to walk outside. On these clear, cool mornings of late, the sky is almost unbelievably beautiful. The stars are so very bright and appear to be close enough to touch, almost like a 3-D movie, and I tend to linger there fully awake in awe of what I am seeing. It is just that incredible. Most mornings it is the chill in the late summer air that brings me back into the house, and I go back to bed and have no problem falling into a deep sleep for another hour or so. We are expecting the same weather again tonight and I am already looking forward to letting the “stock” out in the morning.
I suppose I am just “star struck.”
And that is all I have to say about that…