Number 39 'Gaze at the Night Sky'

'Gaze At The Night Sky'
This was easy - as I was camping at Llansor Mill, all alone in a field in a tent with my books, music and the Ignatian Daily Meditation (pray-as-you-go.com).  The first amazement was at the light level.  Far away from town or city I had expected it to be quite dark.  On the contrary, moonlight and starlight enabled me to move easily across the meadow without fear of falling.

Cassiopeia was my first 'sky mark' A lazy 'DoubleYou' that once, very many years ago, drew a line between the chimney pots in Capel Rd, Matson, where I grew up.  As the clouds parted further I found The Plough, though search as I might, I could not find Orion, whom I remember from another time and place.  Wrong time of year for this patch of sky, I surmised. 

I reached for binoculars and after swinging them from side to side in an attempt to focus I eventually lit on Jupiter, or Venus, or Saturn (Who cares? It was only relatively recently that my astro-phycisist daughter pointed out to me how easy it is to differentiate stars from planets, 'They twinkle, Mum!').  I focused for too long and then really couldn't tell whether it was a shooting star I spotted or the effect of the pressure of the binoculars on my eyeballs!

A truly magic half-hour when heaven came down to earth and I discovered anew how small I am, and how, as a sentient observer, how utterly, bewilderingly unique.