Stars

If I had to navigate by the stars I’d be lost . . . all the time.  I marvel at people who can look to the night time sky and see, name and recite the history of the constellations.  Sometimes I can find the big dipper.  Sometimes.

Stars in general are cool.  I learned that the only star in the good old Milk Way is the sun.  So all the sparkle in the night sky comes from (to quote George Lucas) “a galaxy far, far, away.” Wow.

Remember I love to use my imagination.  I wonder if planets around those stars have our sun in their constellations.

A bright star is closer to us than a star that doesn’t shine as bright.  I know, duh.  But a star shines uniformly in all directions so, imagination again, think of all the galaxies that can see Polaris (the North Star), and that use it for their navigation.  Now that sounds like a good story idea.

I read two great books while researching this blog.  I always put my sources at the end of the blog but I have to recommend one here.  Janice Van Cleave’s Constellations for Every Kid.  (John Wiley and Sons, ©1997, Janice Van Cleave).   It was very informative and it had all 88 recognized constellations, when and where in the sky they appear. 

Another fun thing I discovered, there is an observatory on top of the library in a town near mine.  The telescope takes pictures that are posted on their website.  (www.pewaukeeastro.com)  They also have public presentations once a month.  Maybe they can help me find the big dipper.

Pack out what you pack in.

Sources:

Janice Van Cleave’s Constellations for Every Kid, John Wiley and Sons, © 1997, Janice Van Cleave.

Explore the Solar System – Earth and Earth’s Moon © 2011 World Books, Inc., Chicago, IL 60601

Yes this is the moon.  It was too early for the stars to shine. 

Access

There’s talk of paving a popular bike trail near my home.  Right now the trail is lined with pea gravel.  It’s nice to ride on if you have a trail bike – one with wide knobby tires.  But not everybody does.  Paving the trail will make it easier for those with only road bikes – ones with skinny sleek tires.

It would also make the trail more accessible to those with limited mobility.  People who use wheelchairs and walkers need access to the great outdoors just like anyone else.

Bugline Trail
Just outside Menomonee Falls, WI.

Providing paved trails is important but I’m not advocating paving all trails.  The Seven Bridges trail is fastly becoming one of my favorites but I would not insist on putting in ramps and paving all the trails there.  Not only would it be expensive but it would also take away from the beauty of the trail.  Paving the trail near my house wouldn’t do that.

Folks who use wheelchairs and walkers do have choices, limited as they may be, to enjoy God’s creation.  It takes some research and planning but it can be done.  Look for beginner, level trails, call and ask a ranger if the state park you are visiting has paved trails.  Many of the bike trails in the area are paved.  Check with local bike shops to find a level trail.  Yes, I’m asking you to stay away from the web here.  Talking to people who use the trail gives you a more accurate assessment of that trail.  City parks are more apt to have paved trails.  Call your parks department to find out.

Everyone should have access to nature and all should enjoy its quiet simplicity. 

Pack out what you pack in.

The Innocent Spring

The Innocent Spring

Edith Sitwell
1887-1964

In the great gardens, after bright spring rain,

We find sweet innocence come once again,
White periwinkles, little pensionnaires,
With muslin gowns and shy and candid airs.

That under saint-blue skies, with gold stars sown,

Hide their sweet innocence by spring winds blown,
From zephyr libertines that like Richelieu
And d’Orsay their gold-spangled kisses blew;

And lilies of the valley whose buds blonde and tight

Seem curls of little school-children that light
The priests’ procession, when on some saint’s day
Along the country paths they make their way;

Forget-me-nots, whose eyes of childish blue,

Gold-starred like heaven, speak of love still true;
And all the flowers that we call “dear heart,”
Who say their prayers like children, then depart

Into the dark.  Amid the dew’s bright beams

The summer airs, like Weber waltzes, fall
Round the first rose who, flushed with her youth, seems
Like a young Princess dressed for her first ball.

Who knows what beauty ripens from dark mould

After the sad wind and the winter’s cold? –
But a small wind sighed, colder than the rose
Blooming in desolation, “No one knows.”

 

From:  The Gardener’s Book of Poems and Poesies, Compiled by Cary O. Yager, © 1996 by Contemporary Books, Inc.  Two Prudential Plaza, Chicago, IL 60601

Moon

When the moon is out I’m usually sleeping or without my camera on a morning walk, but I got these shots late in October.  The moon is just as fascinating as the sun.  More so in many ways.

We always see the same side when we see the moon in the sky.  The moon’s shine comes from the sun reflecting its light off it.  

The phases we see the moon go through occur when the moon is orbiting around the earth.  The earth is what blocks the sun’s light from reflecting off the moon.  So as the earth and moon rotate around the sun and each other we see different phases of the moon. 

From a photographers point of view the full moon is the best and maybe the easiest to photograph but every different phase has its own beauty.  The brightness of a full moon to the darkness of a new moon.  Each makes the nighttime sky different every night.  I would not have thought of that.

Pack out what you pack in.

Sources:

Explore the Solar System, Earth and Earth’s Moon, © 2011 World Book, Inc.  Chicago, Il 60601, www.worldbookonline.com

World Book’s Solar System and Space Exploration Library, Earth and Earth’s Moon, Second edition, ©2007, World Book, Inc. A Scott Fetzer Company, Chicago, IL

Rangers

I always stop at the ranger station when I hike in a state park.  Sadly, budget cuts don’t allow for enough rangers to man all stations all the time.  There are four reasons why it’s important for me to talk to a ranger before I go for a hike.

Reason number four – I need to buy a parking pass.  I don’t visit the state parks enough to make an annual pass pay for itself and I never have the correct change to purchase a parking pass at the self-pay station.

Reason number three – The rangers know the trail conditions on that day.  I do a lot of hiking in the winter.  Trail conditions change daily sometimes hourly.

taken on Butler Lake trail

One sunny, warm February day I drove up to the Kettle Moraine State Park – Northern Unit.  I wanted to hike the Parnell trail.  The ranger told me that trail was icy.  I didn’t bring my cleats so the ranger recommended the Butler Lake trail.  It was a wonderful hike.  I made a point to thank her for that suggestion.

Reason number two – It’s good to let somebody know where you’re hiking.  I often make last minute decisions to go hiking and my cell stays in the car.  The point of the hike is to get away.  Luckily, I’ve never had anything bad happen on a hike but it’s good to know that somebody knows where I am in case anything does.

Reason number one for stopping in at a ranger’s station when I visit a state park -  Heated Bathrooms.

Pack out what you pack in.

To Meadows

To Meadows

Robert Herrick
1591-1674

Ye have been fresh and green,

            Ye have been filled with flowers;
And ye the walks have been
            Where maids have spent their hours.

 You have beheld how they

With wicker arks did come,

To kiss and bear away

The richer cowslips home.

 Ye’ve heard them sweetly sing,

And seen them in a round;

Each virgin, like a spring,

With honeysuckles crowned.

But now, we see none here

Whose silvery feet did tread,

And with disheveled hair

Adorned this smoother mead.

Like unthrifts, having spent

Your stock, and needy grown,

Ye’re left here to lament

Your poor estates, alone.

Wind Creation

Wind is a constant.  Wind moves all the time.  Sometimes it moves fast and sometimes slow.  It depends on the atmosphere and the sun above.

The sun warms the air.  That warm air rises, the cold air sinks – creating wind.  The weather guys call this feud between warm and cold air fronts.  High pressure comes in on a warm front that moves about 15 miles per hour.   Low pressure follows a cold front.  They move at 30 miles an hour or so.  Wind always moves from high pressure to low.

 
The earth’s surface creates friction with wind and the friction slows the wind down.  Prairies, deserts, and parking lots don’t create as much friction as forests, mountains, and buildings.  Mountains and high rise buildings cause wind to move up but otherwise wind moves horizontally across the earth.

Cities do funny things to wind.  The buildings and asphalt collects heat from the sun during the day.  The city releases that heat slowly at night or on a cloudy day, creating thermals or updrafts of wind.  Birds love soaring on thermals.  Watch them.

Wind can also carry things.  Dust from Africa can be the basis for a snowflake in Wisconsin.  Wind can be damaging, too.  Straight line or tornado or hurricane-force all wreaking havoc on the things humans build.  It’s important to know what’s coming so you can get out of its way.

Pack out what you pack in.

 

Sources:
            Catch the Wind Harness the Sun by Micheal J. Laduto, Storey Publishing, © 2011
            Weather! By Deborah Burns, Storey Publishing, © 2003
            The Kids book of Clouds and Sky by Frank Staub, Sterling Publishing, New York, NY, © 2003