The harvest moon and other spectacles

For the last month I’ve been reminded by my father that Jupiter, the Moon, and Uranus were going to be in the sky ‘near’ [from our perspective] each other, and that this was the closest that Jupiter was going to be to the Moon until 2038.

There is something remarkably disquieting about getting that kind of news given to you with enthusiasm.  I might see this thing.  My father might likely not, or at least not from this side of veil.

There’s been Eid, and Yom Kippur, and an Equinox, and men joking with one another that if someone really wanted to see Uranus, they could just get a mirror and bend over [oh, my mother did NOT approve]…. Grading proceeds, tax bills come due, bringing other kinds of astronomic reckonings.

I can’t show you the Moon backlighting the stone cross across the alley.  I think I saw Jupiter; my eyes strained, but couldn’t catch the other promised object. The new data I have, I may not want.  But I can show you my shadow on the rocks as the tide comes in.

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Additional signs of blogging life

My brain first suggested I titled the previous post “Still Alive”, but that just summoned up the Aperture Science theme song from Portal, and now I’m going to have to eradicate that fine little earworm for the rest of the day.

(There have been suggestions that my brain might have taken lessons at some point from Laurie Anderson’s brain, although I’ve never quite understood the fascination with Lou Reed.  That’s okay. They seem splendid together.)

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Not residing in Tennesee, either

Although I haven’t died, and none of my exes live in Texas [in fact, I’m more likely to stumble upon them via Facebook].

It’s September, start of the academic [and Jewish] year, and I’m trying to be back here.  The cats are on a diet. The lawn has been impressively cowed by asters:

…and I might even get a manuscript started today.

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