The Evening Star

Star light, star bright,

First star I see tonight,

I wish I may,

I wish I might,

Have the wish I wish tonight.

This past week, because the sky at twilight has been so clear, I've been drawn to the Evening Star. It's the first and brightest object in the heavens at this time of year. Look for it just around dusk in the southwest sky moving up towards the west. It stays low along the horizon, so you need to stand out away from high trees and buildings. But, the Evening Star is not a star at all, but Venus, the second planet from the sun.I love the Evening Star. It reminds me of my grandfather. He would take every opportunity to point out to us the beauty of Earth and her sky - trees, birds, clouds, colours, the feel of the wind. An orphan at a very young age, beauty was so important to him. John O'Donohue, philosopher and poet, writes, "Beauty dwells at the heart of life. If we can free ourselves from our robot-like habits of predictability, repetition and function, we begin to walk differently on the earth. Ontologically, beauty is the secret sound of the deepest thereness of things. To recognize and celebrate beauty is to recognize the ultimate sacredness of experience, to glimpse the subtle embrace of belonging..." We, as human beings, are the one creature that can appreciate and rejoice in Earth's beauty around us.

This Week's Suggestion:

Each night, just before you settle down to sleep, ask yourself these following questions.
1. What did I notice today? (see, hear, touch, smell, taste)
2. What three things am I most grateful for today?
3. How did i move closer to reconnecting with Earth today?
You may want to keep a small journal by your bed to jot your answers down to these questions each night.

Getting To Know Our Neighbours:
Have you been noticing that sweet smell of a night visitor when walking the dog at night or opening your window for some fresh air, just before bedtime? Yes, it's the season of the skunk.
In Canada, we have two types of skunk - the spotted and the striped, the latter being the most seen. They are very adaptable, quiet and peaceful animals with their black and white fur warning any creature to stay clear. If this isn't enough to deter, they will stamp their feet and then, turn their back on the creature they wish to avoid. When a skunk raises his tail and looks back over his shoulder, it's too late. The spray from an anal organ above the tail will travel 12 to 15 feet with incredible accuracy and can be repeated 5 to 6 times in succession. The skunk's natural enemy is the Great Horned Owl. Did you know that skunks can withstand 5 times the amount of snake venom that would kill a rabbit?

A Fact Or Two:
There are five oceans on Earth and each has a massive flotsam of garbage. The largest is known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, twice the size of Texas. It weighs about 3.5 million tons and 80% of it is plastic. According to marine biologists worldwide, plastic bags and containers, caught in the wind, fly away, float down sewers and end up in rivers leading to the oceans. Water currents and winds churn the garbage into circular islands. These islands have been growing 10 fold every decade since the 1950's. Nothing can be done about them, at present, except to stop adding to them. The long term solution is to stop producing plastic products and change consumer habits. These oceanic "garbage patches" are a great danger to over 267 species of birds, fish, whales, turtles and other marine life as the patches look like feeding grounds and the wildlife ingest, but can't digest the plastics, or they become intangled in the plastic trash.

What Can We Do?
We can stop using plastic bags and start using reuseable bags for shopping, groceries, and carryalls. If we have dogs, we can purchase one of several brands of biodegradable bags (found in local pet stores) for stooping and scooping. They are great even for large breeds. And, we can make it a daily habit to bring along our own stainless steal water bottles and coffee mugs.

Media:

On the Internet: I hope you have logged onto One Million Acts of Green this week. It's something we can do regularly and instantly see how each of us individually and together, as a community, can make a difference. Here's the site again. Once the initial logging on is done, the rest is informative and fun. http://green.cbc.ca/
Books: The Peterson Field Guide Series - The Birds East Of The Rockies

I hope you take time this week to consider the 3 questions before you drift off to sleep. It's a wonderful way to review the day and your emerging relationship with our Mother, Earth. Also, check out the Evening Star. Its minimum distance from Earth is only 26 million miles, about 100 times the moon's distance. Isn't that amazing!
"See" you next week.
Enjoy your days.
maureen