My god it's full of stars - Cassiopeia rising

My god it's full of stars - Cassiopeia rising
Originally uploaded by Alan Norsworthy

Another year over.

In a few days the wheel will have turned and we will welcome a new year, one with the promise of better times, well we can all hope.

Until then let me catch up with the old year...

Once again the Christmas period afforded the time to ‘get away’ or should I say the time to get back, back to the land. This time Algonquin Park was our destination although it never really matters where as long as it is devoid of people and traffic noise!

Algonquin,
one of Canada’s jewels in a land of jewels.

Algonquin;
in the winter, freezing temperatures, snow, dark mornings and early nights.

Algonquin:
thousands of acres of wilderness, wildness, clear skies and silence….
Only the wind in the tree’s, the crunch of snow under foot, the twittering of hardy birds, how do they survive a Canadian winter? I digress..

So this week a story from my journal, a story of the Opeongo Road and a cold winters night...

"As darkness threatened we made our way back down to the car and dinner in Whitney.
After stuffing ourselves with pan fried pickerel and tea it was time for stargazing and Opeongo Road beckoned. The temperature had, once again, plummeted to –18c as we made our way to the chosen area, by the bridge.

As my eyes became accustomed to the night my first thought, apart from ‘damn its cold’ was ‘my god it’s full of stars’ a line from 2001 a Space Odyssey. Despite the full moon, Jupiter and several constellations were easily visible. We spent about an hour freezing our butts off and photographing the heavens.

Then it was back to the Inn and a warm bed"..


And the night shall be filled with music,
And the cares that infest the day
Shall fold their tents like the Arabs
And as silently steal away.

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Day Is Done