“Whether we and our politicians know it or not, Nature is party to all our deals and decisions, and she has more votes, a longer memory, and a sterner sense of justice than we do” — Wendell Berry
photography
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It was another of those mornings when it just seemed more important to slow down and look around than it was to get to work on time. I was 15 minutes late. It's alright, though; I wound up needing to stay 75 minutes late due to a computer process that ran long.
Spring is here and the swelling buds and newly-opened leaves color the hillsides. I pulled off the road south of Hiram, Ohio to record the scene before the rains came today.
Unexpected business led me to visit the observatory Tuesday night. Since I was there and the sky was nicely clear, I decided to open the dome and do a little observing.
Orion is low in the west these nights and the great nebula (M42) was actually only visible through the bare limbs of the neighbor's trees. The view was splendid, however, and at low magnification the cloudy expanse took on a fan shape. The stars of the Trapezium were clearly displayed, nestled in the gauze.
Using star Sirius to set R.A. and my notebook computer's The Sky software to find the coordinates, I was able to use the telescope's ancient dials to locate the "twin" star clusters M46 and M47 — not visible to the unaided eye this night. Declination settings are not visible on the old scope so I had to do some fishing. Still, it was gratifying to be able to get in the right neighborhood using the telescope's century-old devices. The clusters were more attractive through binoculars –a fuzzy path glowing path across the view– than through the telescope though, at low magnification, M46 filled the eyepiece with diamond-dust stars.
Turning the telescope further east as the Moon was rising, I located Saturn. The ring system is still close to edge-on and opposition took place only a few days earlier (March 22). Through the fist-sized, low-magnification eyepiece the planet was crisp and bright. Faintly visible in the field of view were tiny glowing dots — some of the Ring World's family of moons. It was a lovely sight. I had my camera with me so tried a few afocal (hand-held, lens-to-eyepiece) shots. I got a fairly good image (seen here, cropped to imitate an eyepiece view) that depicts the ring plane's angle and even hints at the rings' shadow on the planetary body. Of course, the moons don't show at all being much too dim compared with Saturn.
I closed up at about 10 PM with the Full Worm Moon rising and drowning out the light-songs of everything nearby. It was a good night of unexpected astronomy.
I made a bit of a diversion in my route to work this morning. It made me about 10 minutes late; worth every second on such a good morning.
We weren't quite sure what to do on this chilly, damp, and dark Sunday. We talked about going to the art museum but She didn't feel like it. She came up with the idea of going to the The RainForest at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. So after a quick shop and a nice lunch at Chipotle, we headed to the park. The RainForest was an excellent choice with its hot, steamy, green surroundings. The warmth and, presumably high oxygen level, felt great. Exotic live animals displayed in large enclosures and walkways lined with thick growth of green plants and colorful blooms were wonderful to see.
It was another beautiful day of sunshine, blue skies, and tolerable temperature (about 45 degrees (F)) — we could not stay home. She Who Must Be Obeyed had a great idea. She recalled that the Malabar Farm State Park (Ohio) was staging their Maple Syrup Festival today. We quickly piled into the Insight and headed for the freeway and a quick trip to the Mansfield area. The rural area surrounding Malabar Farm is lovely, rolling terrain. The drive itself was a pleasure.
Arriving at Malabar, we were guided to one of the last two prime parking spots on the property. From the parking lot we boarded a trailer towed by a John Deere tractor and headed for the actual farm. It was a bit muddy and there was a long line (without a long wait) where we boarded another trailer, this one towed by a pair of draft horses. There were, as I recall, nine teams working transportation this day and they easily pulled their loads up wet, winding, earthen hillside lanes to the sugaring area. Draft horses are pretty impressive; the hind quarters of one of the pair pulling our trailer were well above my head as stood nearby –higher than six feet–and the animals weigh in at around 2,000 lbs. … each!
We were treated to a demonstration of how maple sap is collected, then boiled down to reduce it to syrup. An open-air demonstration delivered historical stories of how Native Americans and early settlers made sugar (not syrup) from the tree sap. Moving indoors, we saw how a more modern, though wood-fired, operation works. The park ranger delivering the talk did a did a fine job of it as we stood inside the sugar house and watched thick clouds of steam rise up through the rafters and out into the cool air. Ohio is one of the top producers of maple syrup in the country though, according to the ranger, Canada produces 95 percent of the world's supply.
Heading towards home we had a relaxing cross-country journey enjoying the sun's warmth, smooth roads, and picturesque surroundings. AND I was finally able to finish the big annual publishing project that's been weighing me down for weeks now! The account rep picks it up tomorrow for delivery to the printing plant.
A sweet day it was down at the sugar shack!
These could easily be scenes from the arctic, achingly bright, marked with long shadows colored blue by the shockingly clear skies. Front yard snowdrift moguls could be glacier-draped mountains. A passing dog's paw-prints become those of the mighty wolf. The late-day sun reveals the mysterious world that lies just outside our door.
The day dawned overcast but soon cleared to an amazing, dazzling intensely blue sky. We spent most of the day around the house: She, cooking, I finishing the publishing project. I ventured outdoors with camera in hand to enjoy the sunlight, shadows, textured snow, and fresh 45-degree (F) air.
Next to the door sits a planter, until recently covered in more than three feet of piled snow. The now-icy white stuff retreated gradually all day exposing a hopeful sign of spring… tiny green shoots poking out of the wet ground and out from under the miniature glacier.
We knew in our hearts those tough little plants would be waking up, even under the deep drifts; after all, they do it every spring. Still, it was good to see on this excellent, sunny day.
Auguries of Innocence*
by William Blake
To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.
*An excerpt.
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