the one thing that i've noticed now that i'm living on the east coast is how much land there is around here. having lived in california for almost a decade, i guess i got used to the tiny little lots that people call "property" but seeing what people consider "property" around here, i'm surprised i didn't suffocate in california.
lots of land also yield lots of outdoor activities that hadn't been readily accessible to me in california. for example, this weekend paul and i went apple picking. we went to an orchard only 10 miles away from here... grabbed a sack... picked apples right from trees... ate as much as we can fill in our bellies... and picked a bagful to bring home for only $6!
apple picking in california usually meant driving for an hour or two.
on friday night, paul and i went up to the observatory for viewing. the astronomy people had set up the large telescope and high powered binoculars, showing star systems and the moon. they were really excited to tell us all about binary stars and such. i was very impressed with their enthusiasm. one of the guys promised to show me the constellations with his neat green laser pointer on the next clear night.
the viewing was especially special for us because we found a hobby that we can both participate in together. with all of my friends gone from ithaca now, i'm pretty eager to find activities that both paul and i enjoy. it's good to build a growing list of common-things-to-do.
anyway... going back to the land thing...
a viewing like the one we had on friday night would have been IMPOSSIBLE in l.a. due to all the light pollution. the astronomy people were complaining about the light pollution from campus, but i was so excited to see the stars. period! we even got to see the planet uranus on the telescope. i was so used to seeing the purplish skies of l.a. (from all the pollution and the light), when i saw a black sky for the first time in ithaca, i was completely blown away.
okay... now i'm just rambling.
i love land.
i love that there's grass between houses.
i love that there's enough grass between houses for me to get married on.
ahh... so it comes full circle. i love land because i'm selfish. =)
1 comment:
Sara,
You hit on my two biggest loves -- great big expanses of sprawling green land and the soft twinkle of galaxies spread against a velvet drape of night. For as much as I loved Paris, I don't think I could ever live there because, for one thing, there were never any stars (the whole 'city of lights' thing) and, for another, Paris (and Europe in general) is so darned crowded that you're always elbow to elbow with other people -- it's hard to breath there sometimes.
Ithaca, like Kentucky, fortunately has both...
Sounds like you're turning into a country girl ;)
All this talk reminds me of a poem:
The Two-Headed Calf
Laura Gilpin
Tomorrow when the farm boys find this
freak of nature, they will wrap his body
in newspaper and carry him to the museum.
But tonight he is alive and in the north
field with his mother. It is a perfect
summer evening: the moon rising over
the orchard, the wind in the grass. And
as he stares into the sky, there are
twice as many stars as usual.
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