I had one of those rare moments tonite. Me – my dog Lady-Q – a pile of left-over construction wood – and a drop-dead-gorgeous night at our Iowa cabin in the woods.
It’s really hard to describe how deafening several thousands geese and as many ducks can be as they descend in circling squadrons – skidding onto the surface of our Mars-like watershed – about 100 yards from my roaring fire. For a couple of weeks in the Spring and then again in the Fall – if the conditions are right – it is quite a show!
I have been viewing one of the “Great Courses” examining prominent images of the Hubble telescope. The Cosmos has become so much more accessible to us in just the last 100 years. As the professor talks about quasars, light years, millions of galaxies (the Milky Way is our HOME galaxy) – I try to wrap my head around something so huge. Someone has referred to the “exquisite fine tuning” necessary for life to exist on earth. The harder we try to find other places with these “just right” conditions the more they mathematically elude us. This makes me feel small AND important at the same time.
Tonight it is good to breathe it in – a solitary experience – as the almost full moon chases Orion the Hunter across the night sky. I am humbled by a Power so great – and at the same time, so intimate.
Dave Nadler