Midnight’s stars, woods
There’s a particular feeling to midnight. It’s different from sunset or after-sunset. I went out a little past 12 last night (this morning) to throw away our kitties’ litter-productions for the day &, after completing that duty, I took a minute to look & listen. It was deeply calm – a stillness that comes long after people have gone. The insects & peepers were singing in the woods that envelope the complex. Mist hung in the air. The yellow streetlamps lit up the mist & the dark-green leaves of the trees. Despite the streetlights, I could see some tracts of night-sky & stars. I wanted to stay out all night – to wander through the woods & look at the stars.
It’s been really hard to spend time outside this summer – I miss the Mary-land fields & forests. I’ve had a desire for a long time now to go with my closest friends & family into the countryside, to some rolling field marked out by lines of woods, & to stargaze. To lie on blankets watching the stars, learning the constellations (Latin: con [with] + stella [star] = stars that are together or with other stars), eating berries & cheese, drinking hot chocolate, talking & singing. Sheer bliss, basically. What is your favorite thing to do in the countryside? What is a dream of yours?
Some of my favorite college memories are stargazing with friends. Summer nights are glorious…not to be wasted!
Huzzah! Fav countryside things: canoeing in a cypress swamp (that was long ago), walking through fields and woods, maybe even lost for awhile; flying kites; hunting (in the old days tho’ I don’t like to kill things anymore); birdwatching and fishing (haven’t done those to any extent in mucho yrs); stargazing (as a teener I would walk in pitch black a half mile to reach the highest field which gave the best view. Sometimes it would be after watching a scary show on TV). A dream of mine: To be at the perfect outdoor secluded country setting with the greenest grass, the best trees, bluest sky, whitest clouds. There is a picnic going on with a lot of the bestest, friendliest people, and there is a band playing the greatest songs and music of all time. And I am there, slightly fuzzy-headed walking around among it all.