| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Rosemary |
Posted - Jan 15 2007 : 10:55:54 AM
Melanie suggested we have a stargazing forum to tell about things like the comet sighting Marybeth had up in Washington State. (See the "Did anybody see the comet?" thread in Across the Fence.) So here I am, stirring up trouble!
I always look forward to seeing Orion rise in the sky in autumn. I'm a November1st birthday girl, so way back when, I pretended Orion was my special protector. I could see that part of the sky from my bedroom window. To this day, when I come home at night, I look up to check for him, and give myself a little smile when I see all's right. Do you have a "pet constellation" that you look for, maybe to make you feel a little more...well...like yourself?
And don't you love full moons that hang low in the sky early in the night, super-huge and amber?
Do you have a telescope? My husband used to have a really powerful one but it got so we hardly ever used it, so it got sold. Sometimes I wish we had it, but then, you lose that naked-eye connection.
Do you spend time outside after the sun goes down, to see what pops up in the night sky first? Do you know who they are, by name?
Do you plant by the moon and stars?
Ever try "scrying" in a bowl of water (a wide black bowl is best, even more than a for-real cauldron) under the moon? Let the moon reflect in the water and mediatate on the image. Touch the water and note the soft ripples. Maybe not a dead-of-winter project, but something nice to think about for the warm weather ahead. Might even build something like that into a small "meditation garden" one of these days. What would you plant in a mediation garden? |
| 25 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Celticheart |
Posted - Feb 04 2007 : 1:18:27 PM
quote:
Originally posted by yellojewl
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I've also been looking out over my unplanted yard (clean slate) trying to decide what seeds and bulbs to order this year. I kept seeing "good for moon garden" in my Select Seeds catalog. I am definitely incorporating that into my plans as well as all your suggestions for plants. I'm meditating/praying already
Oh me too! Amber. I spent a few hours with the seed catalogues today doing just that. My list is huge. I don't think I can quite do all of that this year but I'll get a good start. My problem is I love flowers and herbs and I left a beautiful garden at our old house.
"I suppose the pleasure of country life lies really in the eternally renewed evidence of the determination to live." Vita Sackville-West
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| yellojewl |
Posted - Feb 04 2007 : 08:02:46 AM
You farmgirls are so inspirational. I am inspired to walk out my back door and look up. As a girl one of the lessons I can remember most is the study of the moon. I was in 8th grade. We were to go out each night for a month and record via drawings the moon's shape. I can still remember how much I enjoyed doing that project. They still do that lesson today.
I've also been looking out over my unplanted yard (clean slate) trying to decide what seeds and bulbs to order this year. I kept seeing "good for moon garden" in my Select Seeds catalog. I am definitely incorporating that into my plans as well as all your suggestions for plants. I'm meditating/praying already |
| ByHzGrace |
Posted - Feb 03 2007 : 12:35:22 PM
Now anybody been out moon watching this week?
Venus is bright and easy to find to the southwest after sunset. As the sky becomes darker, there is a good chance that Mercury can be seen this week, just below Venus and a bit to its right.
Friday night we caught Saturn's rings above and to the right of the mr. moon.
Tomorrow I will be up fishing early and hope to to see our Space Station streaming from the west and to the southwest ~ for sunrise ~quarter to seven. |
| ByHzGrace |
Posted - Jan 27 2007 : 9:29:46 PM
Aren't days with Grannies, the best! 
Marcia, that is a cutie. Thanks for sharing your Grandma. I love grandma stories. My great granny was 97 and everyone thought she wasn't always listening either, so here comes my neighbor ( who is introducing us to his new girlfriend) and she can't stop talking about wedding plans( would be his 6th marriage ) and Granny just turns to him and says "Dwight how much more obvious does it need to be; you are unweddable." Granny knew what was going on! Just like yours not missing a beat!
Do any ya with telescopes watch the satellite flares? We've had one going through Taurus, near the eye. The red eye is Aldebaran. So a flash by this red eye of the bull (high to my southeast) reminds me of clowning around with my Pop-Pop's bull...my lil sister's eyes were red with rage, for me, holding her down as I jumped the fence first. You can find Aldebaran by locating Rosemary's Orion and his belt has 3 stars, look from belt west and bingo = bullseye.
Venus has been bright low to the west of southwest at sunset. You can catch Mercury coming below Venus this next week. I saw Saturn. About and hour ago...9 my time mid east sky. With Venus and Jupiter opening and ending our nights what do you feel the full moon on Feb1 is going to be like? Anybody planning on doing something creative this night? Fire up somemores? Anybody going to burn new year resolutions?
Melanie
I am a morning riser! Many of y'all would call me a night crawler. I don't sleep much, either side of the sun. I love my predawn, to fish. I caught Jupiter in the southeast before sunrise...no bait needed. Last two mornings I actually put morning breaking on my blog.
(And Jo ok? )I love you too!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqwzJJVODTc    lol |
| Rosemary |
Posted - Jan 25 2007 : 12:02:04 PM
Melanie, I thought about your post last night when I saw the bright crescent moon from my bedroom window, just after climbing into bed. It was huge and gorgeous.
My husband studied with a wise man once who said we should watch the sun come up every day. Who among us takes the time (or gets up early enough) to do this? |
| jo Thompson |
Posted - Jan 21 2007 : 5:57:48 PM
Capella is my favorite - -meaning she goat, one of the three bright stars spread around the northern sky. It's a spiritual star for me........ everytime I've really noticed it, it was a changing time....... lovely, changes colors, clear night skies are awesome here, come outside with me!!!
And ellen, just read your blog you crazy woman!!! You are AMAZING........ jo
"life is drab without a lab"
http://homepage.mac.com/thomja/Anchorage/PhotoAlbum15.html |
| lamamama |
Posted - Jan 21 2007 : 5:33:16 PM
Hey there dear Farmgirls!
Have you seen the absolutely breathtakingly beautiful crescent moon the last couple of days? And Venus is sooooo close to moon.
Go outside and see it!
Melanie |
| Celticheart |
Posted - Jan 21 2007 : 11:39:28 AM
What a great topic! The night sky is fascinating and beautiful and easy for us to appreciate here in such a rural setting in the Inland Northwest. I want to tell you a funny story about my grandma who will be 92 in April and is in great health and possesion of all of her faculties which is what makes this funny.
About three years ago we were at some family function in the late summer...I don't remember what exactly...when my grandma came up to me and said, "Honey, have you seen Mars?" Now, what would you say? I wasn't sure what she was talking about but I said no I hadn't, thinking all the while 'Oh no! Grandma's losing it.' She then told me where to find Mars in the night sky right before sunset. I'd forgotten that she was a lover of the night sky and constellations all of her life. My mom said she would take them outside on summer nights with blankets to lay under the stars and would show them the constellations and planets. A few days later we were visiting friends and sitting out on their deck in the late evening when my friend said, "What is that in the sky? I've seen it several nights now." It was Mars, of course, right where grandma said it would be.
Marcia--also a lover of white gardens
"I suppose the pleasure of country life lies really in the eternally renewed evidence of the determination to live." Vita Sackville-West
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| ByHzGrace |
Posted - Jan 19 2007 : 12:12:55 PM
I opened a dove chocolate valentine heart to find the message sleep under the stars. Which is easier for me then most of y'all this time of year.
We do have a telescope... doesn't get as much use as when we had little ones at home... I think I like the vastness and wow did I get a dose of that out in the desert. We also have the benefit of the local free observatory. Pays to be close to NASA.
To Rosemary's question on planting:I plant when I have time and sometimes that is in the dark
I do have a meditation garden, tho I call it my Mary's garden...where I go to talk=pray every morning and night,some of what I planted are symbolic to me.I have grape as symbol of miracles, mustard for faith, goldenrods for glory, some come with names to direct my devotions like iris as the flag of sorrow, coleus for Joseph's coat, glads as ladder to heaven, gallardia as Virgins face, and sweet pea as Our Lady's Flower.
Looking back to the heavens last night and tonight a little after sunset ya can catch the sun flashing on satellites.Ever seen bright flashes = irdium flares.
Last night they flashed through Cassiopeia, a M in the northwest.
Tonight is lower left of Capella, bright star high in the northeast.
Saturday catch the crescent moon over Venus!
My favorite, is near yours Rosemary, I am a dog star lover. Anyone ever read Sirius to their children? |
| Nance in France |
Posted - Jan 19 2007 : 02:32:09 AM
Oh la la! Votre francais est tres bien, Rosemary, et bonne chance dans votre jardin! Avec amitie, Nance |
| Rosemary |
Posted - Jan 18 2007 : 12:50:43 PM
Vous me donnez l'espoir! |
| Nance in France |
Posted - Jan 18 2007 : 09:44:03 AM
Rosemary, dry your tears, my dear. My clematis IS in Norfolk, VA, not here in southern France. Although I bet it would do ok here too. I just always think "Hmmm, this is called autumn clematis so why is mine full blown when it is still really hot"? Yep, usually mid to late August or early September at the latest is when it blooms and I do nothing to it at all. But the spot it is in gets great afternoon sun and even a bit of morning sun before the sun veers around the house. It truly is spectacular, with hardly a green leaf visible through the lush lacy flower display. It is about five or six years old too, so it's nice and established. Could that be the difference also? Good luck from one green thumb to another. And over here, it's called having a "green hand"! Nance |
| Rosemary |
Posted - Jan 18 2007 : 07:58:59 AM
Nancy, your clematis arbor sounbds heavenly. Does it bloom in September there, as it does here in Virginia? What have you done to make it grow so prolifically? We have a wonderful organic gardener who makes a few fairly mature Sweet Autumn plants available at our farmer's market every year. I might get another one from him this June and try a better location than I gave the first one -- I think it was too shady, and the soil just mostly clay plus whatever humus was in the pot. It was also a dry season, and I didn't water reliably. I'm afraid I lost a few things that year, and I feel just awful about it. Plants trust us to do the right thing by them when we purchase or adopt them. I believe they suffer in their own plantish way when we neglect our responsibillty to them, and I don't mean by simply dying.
Gosh! I'm starting to depress myself! I'd better take a walk in the sunshine (cold 'though it be) and think about that pretty arbor in France :-) |
| Rosemary |
Posted - Jan 18 2007 : 07:51:53 AM
Melanie, how sweet that your boys enjoyed hearing about Orion. I hope it will inspire them to behave heroically toward all people as they continue to grow to manhood under your wise guidance.
I wasn't such a little girl when the Orion idea hit me, though. I was about 14 and starting to babysit. Walking home at the end of my shifts was one of the few occasions I had to spend much contemplative time outside after dark -- as opposed to stretching summer playtime past sunset, as children will do -- and since I knew the route so well, I could afford to look up with some assurance that I wouldn't trip over a tree root and poke my eye out (!). The fact that Orion is only visible in this region during the cold months adds to his protective aura for me. (I'm the type who spends winter waiting forit to end. Fireside hot cocoas aside, I HATE cold weather!)
I don't have children, but I love having some small influence on the children of others; in fact, I have a small but impressive following of "fake nieces" who often come to me for advice that they don't want to hear from their parents. What they don't know is that their parents and I are in cahoots, and all my advice has already been thoroughly hashed out over tea and crumpets (or beer and skittles, in a few cases) long before the kiddies decide to drop in on their old fake auntie. See, it's true! You can't trust anyone over 30! ;-)
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| Nance in France |
Posted - Jan 18 2007 : 03:58:48 AM
I TOTALLY agree that Columbine tragedies would never or at least seldom happen again if part of the curriculum was nature related with hands on projects. I remember doing a winter project with my little sunday school girls I used to teach. Every now and then I would have the parents drop them at my house and we would have a whole day of "Sunday School". First a lesson, then lunch, then we made cookies, and then took a nature walk around the neighborhood gathering cones and pods for a craft project. After the walk the cookies were cool enough and we had a "formal" high tea on tiny teaset dishes and cups and we all had to talk in hoity toity british accents! One time we potted up narcissus, and they got such a kick out of seeing something THEY had started actually begin to grow. One of the moms later told me that she actually used the pot of narcissus as a tool to get her daughter to do something. If she didn't comply, the pot would be taken away for awhile, and boy she scrambled to finish whatever it was! So much stress for children and adults could be alleviated by the aromatherapy that happens when you weed a fragrant garden, the happy exhaustion and satisfaction seeing a deed well done. When you spend your energy in profitable good activities, it seems to me that you would not have energy or the inclination to then go and do something bad.
And I DO grow the autumn clematis; have it climbing over a garden bench with a trellis side and top. In late August it is COVERED with the tiny white flowers, so much so that it looks like a big lace coverlet has been thrown over the structure! Entrancing, but too brief....maybe that is why it is entrancing! Nance |
| lamamama |
Posted - Jan 17 2007 : 6:16:32 PM
Have you all heard about Vita Sackville's white garden? It was quite famous in it's day.
For those in a temporate climate, white Chilean jasmine has the most intoxicating scent. (It can be grown here in the SF Bay area.) Another lovely, & easy to grow white flower is nicotiana. You can start it from seed. Gets pretty big, too. I also have some white hydrageas that look lovely under the full moon.
Rosemary, I just have to tell you that my 2 boys (11 & 13) really were taken with the story of a little girl & Orion. I told it to them last night. It is so delightful! Have you passed it on to your kids? And glad you joined the Dark Sky Society. :)
And I THANK YOU for sharing that tale with us. |
| Rosemary |
Posted - Jan 17 2007 : 3:32:52 PM
I've tried Sweet Autumn Clematis without success, unfortunately. I may have chosen the wrong spot, or didn't amend the soil properly. They like it very loamy, don't they? And cold feet, warm buds, like other clematises? (Roots in the shade, aerial parts in full sun, that means.) I haven't heard of the Gold Flame Honeysuckle. As long as it isn't related to that horrible invasive Japanese Honeysuckle, I'm intrigued. Sounds pretty. Thanks for the suggestions! |
| bramble |
Posted - Jan 17 2007 : 3:19:26 PM
Girls, don't forget Sweet Autumn Clematis and Gold Flame Honeysuckle.
Both smell heavenly at night and make stargazing all the better. I think zone wise you both could grow them too!
with a happy heart |
| Rosemary |
Posted - Jan 17 2007 : 12:16:23 PM
Ah, the self-same famous Melanie! Glad you saw this. Well, you started it!
I want to know more about this Dark Sky Society. I''m all for what it sounds like they're all for. They have a Web site:
http://www.darkskysociety.org/
Membership is free and probably safe enough, so I went ahead and joined. Thanks for the referral! |
| Rosemary |
Posted - Jan 17 2007 : 12:14:09 PM
Oh, Nancy, you're a girl after my own heart! Yes, plants that release a strong scent would be perfect, as would be moonflower and datura. This spring, I might incorporate them into a spot I have in mind that already has plenty of rosemary, sage, thyme, and lavender. (You'd have to walk on a carpet of creeping thyme to get there, if I ever remembered to scratch in the thyme seeds on time.)
I adore lamb's ears for "contemplative leaf-rubbing." Now, if ever there was a subject that should be taught in school, that's it! In one bold stroke (pun intended), voila! no more Columbines. |
| lamamama |
Posted - Jan 16 2007 : 10:45:41 AM
Hey, Rosemary!
Thanks for getting this up & running! And I LOVED your story about Orion. What a great story - you could turn that into a wonderful children's book! Have you ever thought of doing that? I'm going to tell my children about it tonight. I know they'll really enjoy it.
I just don't have time for TV, but on my way to work in the AM, I listen to NPR. They have a segment on weekends on stargazing. Very much like the "Keep looking up!" guy. :) A couple of times, listening while driving to work in the before sunrise dark, I have practically driven off the road trying to look out the car window & see what the program was discussing. Here in the San Francisco Bay area, there is so much light pollution - difficult to see much. But I try my best with my kids, & we occasionally get out into the country to do some viewing. And boy, do I wish I had a telescope. Someday, someday.
I have been learning about the Dark Sky Society. I very much like their ideas. It would be great for everyone. Even in rural areas, many people put up such huge flood lights around their buildings/property.
Thanks, too, for the moon in the bowl mediatation. Just beautiful.......
I hope we can keep up this catagory. It connects us to nature & mystery, & is good for the soul. Also a great family pasttime! Personally, for me it would be easier to get my stargazing info here - rather than having to remember to check out other websites. Guess it is just a matter of time, among other things.
Looking forward to more here!
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| Nance in France |
Posted - Jan 16 2007 : 10:24:30 AM
Ooooh, meditation garden, what a good idea. I'd definitely plant your namesake plant, Rosemary, and other herbs that release scent. Also a meditation/moon garden would be dreamy with just white and/or pale flowers; definitely moonflower vine and datura which open up at dusk and close again in the morning. Also lambs ears for contemplative leaf-rubbing. A meditation garden for full sun/daytime meditating would have more hot and vibrant colored flowers, and especially those that attract flitting butterflies and hummers. Hurry spring! Nance |
| bramble |
Posted - Jan 15 2007 : 8:06:39 PM
We get Jack here too! Strange little man, but more times than I can count he has gotten us to go outside and look at the night sky for whatever he was commenting on! Since we are in the fringes of suburbia, it has to be a really good night. When we are up at camp and there are no ground lights, it truly is a celestial and heavenly sky and we can watch for hours. August is a favorite time for all the meteor showers. Just wonderful, good topic !
with a happy heart |
| ddmashayekhi |
Posted - Jan 15 2007 : 7:55:06 PM
My husband and I really enjoy catching on PBS, "Jack Horkheimer, Star Gazer". Jack gives a 5 minute, daily report of what to watch for in the sky, with or without a telescope. Here is the url for his show: http://www.jackstargazer.com/
Dawn in IL
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| westernhorse51 |
Posted - Jan 15 2007 : 1:19:52 PM
I don't have a telescope but I've been stargazing forever. When we lived on the Barneget Bay years ago, our deck was on the roof & my husband & I used to sit & watch the stars till we fell asleep. They were wonderful nights!!
she selects wool and flax and works with eager hands Prov.31:13 |
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