Nights here, in the country, are dark. During those times of the month when the moon
isn’t shining, it is incredibly dark. With no ambient light from nearby streetlights or even distant cities to
brighten it, the sky fills with stars; more stars than you can possibly
imagine. The Milky Way becomes a bright
river crossing the heavens. The pond fills with stars. It’s hard to find the place where the sky
ends and illusion begins. So here’s my
question: in the south, with the power outage covering such a large geographic
area and therefore very little ambient light, and so many people sleeping
outside, without roofs over their heads, many for the first time in their lives;
are they seeing the sky, are they seeing the stars, for the first time? Can they see the magic through the misery?
laundry had been accumulating, I packed everything up, including ‘Bess’ and
headed to the nearest Laundromat (25 min.). That’s when I discovered two things. First, I had made a mistake on the second row and second that I wanted
to use a different yarn. Tonight, I have
wound another ball of yarn and as soon as I clean up, I’ll frog it.
With gas prices where they are tonight, I have decided to
hang real close to home this holiday weekend. Probably as
close as the front yard. I’m working on
the hill garden. It’s looking more under control and I’m down to several iris
and two lilies that still need homes. There
are loads of things to be blanched and frozen. Lastly, spinning on the deck is sounding mighty fine.
Count your blessings, I’m counting mine. If you can’t see a way to help the victims of Katrina now, don’t despair. This is the proverbial tip of the iceberg. Winter is coming. With the rising cost of oil, everything else will skyrocket. There will be many, many more people falling victim to this disaster. Many of our neighbors will have to choose between heat and food. There will be more opportunities to help than we care to think about now. In the north, the opperative word here is ‘winter’.
Comments
7 responses to “opportunities”
I completely agree with staying close to home. I have eliminated recreational shopping trips. It has to matter for me to leave the house, now.
It IS scarey. Living in the mountains, the last 2 winters have given us long stretches of -25 degree temps at night. We are very very nervous of what is going to happen this winter with heating oil prices going thru the roof. I surely hope that our administration is preparing for the next round of victims from this storm….this winter.
I also am very thoughtful about when I leave the house now at 3.19 a gallon. It means alot of changes but they are doable. yes, indeed, winter is on the way…
Bess? What project is this???
I’ve never been so glad to heat with wood. And I was thinking the EXACT SAME THING about the stars last night.
When I count my blessings, you are among them as are all of our knit,spin,dye friends. Wishing you a good holiday weekend. su
Ditto what Su said, and add our weaving and crocheting friends, too! Miss you, Judy, hope to see you soon, and please let me know when, so I will be sure to have a check in hand for you. The hostas flourish — thanks so much! Love, P.