I’ve been thinking about the stars. I’d not paid much attention to these sparkly night time lights until recently. Sure I found them astounding, perhaps even overwhelming, but I’d never really pondered them. And then I went on a night walk with friends whilst away earlier this month and the stars were so brilliant in the inky night sky. And there were lots of them. It’s only when you get away from the artificial lights that you can really get a true picture of the massive span of these natural luminosities. A bit like life.
So my friend informed me that each star, everyone one of these brilliant little lights, is actually a similar body to our sun. A big ball of hot hot heat. That’s probably old time news for the most of you, but I’d never realised this. That the sun that warms us, the sun that allows us to eat, that provides us with a healthy balance, that also allows us to make earthly rotations and upholds our very planet is a star. Wow.
The same night my friend revealed to me another little bit of astronomical trivia. We were watching for shooting stars when what I initially thought was a shooting star caught my eye. This was in fact not a piece of meteor entering our atmosphere, leaving a burning trail in its wake, but a satellite on its course of orbit. In the time we sat there I noticed lots of these lit up machines on their geometrical course. Apparently there are a hell of a lot of them put up by governments and phone companies, etc. Again, this is probably nothing new to you. But it surprised me that the clear night sky is actually littered with our technological rubbish (be it currently in use or not). Anyway, I’m not sure of the long term affects of our galactic spacefill, but I am sure that someone will find out sooner or later and we’ll be sad because the damage will be irreparable.
This summer has been good to me. Good for me. It’s been a time of resting, a time for clearing out the cobwebs and a time of preparation. I’m feeling rejuvenated, more myself. I’ve enjoyed the company of many beautiful individuals and seen some very moving things.
One of the small pleasures I have in life is to journal my innermost thoughts, my sketches and my songs. Things that move me get written down in some form or another. It’s messy at times (I have many an active book lying around) and doesn’t always make perfect sense, but it can also be quite surprising and productive… particularly in hindsight.
I captured my friend Von, also a wild journalist, in the midst of one of her entries here:
Sometimes it’s good to just sit and take in one’s surrounds. I’ve done a lot of this over the last few weeks. Drawing this is also good because it tunes me in to the details I might not otherwise pay much attention to. My time in the Grampians involved soaking in the surrounds of two places in particular.
The first was the natural rock pools, the Venus Baths, which provided a well-needed retreat from the soaring mercury levels. Here we sat, sometimes moving from one pool to the next, gazing at the darting dragonflies, the overhead formations of cloud and the brilliant reflections. We even found a beautiful blue freshwater yabby in our favourite sitting spot on one day.
The other place that beckoned us to sit and just be was the back porch of the old house we use whilst visiting. It was also a place to chat and to eat but we often found ourselves quietly sitting and taking it in. After resting there so many times a day I began to see new things – such as the random flight paths of the passing butterflies and the changing colour of the overhanging eucalypts. Apart from the obvious visits of emus and deer, the smaller, more humble, but equally beautiful occurrences slowly came to the light.
I’ve just spent a week in a favourite place of mine, the Gariwerd. This is the Aboriginal name for the mountain ranges also named the Grampians National Park in Western Victoria. I’ve been fortunate enough to call this place my second home ever since I can remember and have experienced multiple treasures of the Australian bushland throughout my visits. In the last week alone I have seen countless Kangaroos, Lizards and Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos whilst also spotting a rare Powerful Owl and its mate on a hike up the Chautauqua Peak. These owls are AMAZING. They grow to about 60cm and can catch and eat up an adult possum (not a trivial task). The one I found was sitting at head level and wasn’t phased in the slightest with our staring and pointing. After searching for the partner we found it high up in a nearby tree feasting on one of the big cockatoos I mentioned previously. Uggh. But amazing.
So I’m feeling quite refreshed and ready to take on this new year. I’m excited about 2008 and how it will pan out. Hope is a good thing.
I also had the time and headspace to do a little sketching in my brand-spanking-new sketchbook (a well thought out Chrissy present) in this holiday time and will probably post a couple of them over the next few days. This one is a view I saw a lot of as I rested on the porch of the house we stay at when visiting.
A happy and hopeful new year to you blogger friends.
