Midnight Ramble Series - May 21, 2020

May 21, 2020

2:00 AM

These midnight rambles have evolved from a substitute for exercise at my health club into a walking form of contemplation, meditation, and sheer wonder at the contrasts all around me, light and shadow, emptiness and density, deep silence spliced with the rustling of the wind through tree branches overhead.

I can feel it. Every night, like coming upon an old friend, it wraps around me in the first moments I pull the front door closed and walk into the zen like territory of sound/no sound. 

The smell of budding trees, lilacs and primrose, the earth coming to life in the spring unmitigated by pollution of any sort, awaits me. I have been sucked into this eddy of silence and fragrance, addicted to and embraced by the sum of all of it.

In the nine weeks since I began rambling in the middle of March, the earthly shutdown has acted like a massive physic for the cosmos. Reminded me of a science experiment my sixth grade teacher demonstrated. She poured dirt into a large beaker of water and stirred it up. You know what happened in the next hour. 

The canopy overhead looks like a blue/purple blanket onto which a mighty force has arranged the cosmos. Like me, it takes a ramble every night. Each of us has  our own neighborhood. Mine varies according to my whim. The constellations plot their well worn paths every night.

"Look for Venus tonight!" a friend texted me. What I saw blew me away.

I downloaded a couple of apps. Rambling at about 2 AM last night (this morning) I see a brilliant star, high overhead. Open the "Sky Guide app", point my iPhone overhead. JUPITER!  I first spotted the planet low in the southern sky around midnight two weeks ago, outwattaging every other body around it. Tonight two hours later, it looks like a beacon in a sea of lesser stars and planets.

https://history.nasa.gov/SP-349/ch1.htm

Ursa Major and Ursa Minor are a celestial halo, giggling and pointing fingers at grain-of-sand-me staring at them through my phone as I slow march past Victory Field along the yellow traffic lane in the middle of Orchard Street.

The Greeks,Romans, Hindus have told Ursa Major, Ursa  Minor creation stories for eons. Runaway slaves used the Little Dipper's handle, aka the North Star, to guide them to freedom. Little did their owners realize "Follow The Drinking Gourd" was a celestial road map from sun down to sunset.

 

 

 

Below...Jupiter rising in the southwestern sky

The smaller 'star' to the left of Jupiter...SATURN! It turns out that May is the best month to get this view of the  duo.

 

The smaller 'star' to the left of Jupiter...Saturn!

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.... 2 AM...rambling

 

 

Comments

[Ann Baker]

Paul these are great.

Have you checked in with the police, telling them of your walking ,so that some good cop doing his duty doesn’t put you in the squad car thinking you are some kind of nut ???

Ann

[Paul A. Tamburello, Jr. aka pt at large]

Thanks, Ann. I was amazed and thrilled to see the constellations and planets so clearly, making their nightly passage from one horizon to the next.

Your comment got me thinking. I might not have thought to add this recollection otherwise!

Last week, an officer lowers the window of his cruiser and rolls to a halt by me around 1 AM. “Everything OK?”

I identify myself. “I’m on my nightly midnight ramble to clear my head from the day’s news.”

“I limit my intake of news, too,” says he, “too much bad news.” He’s in no hurry.

“I marvel at the silence, sometimes the only thing I can hear is the wind whispering through the trees,” says I.

He says he’s noticed the same silence on his shift.

“Whatever happens next isn’t going to be anything that resembles what we called normal,” says I.

And surprise myself by waxing philosophic. “Unlike you, my years left are in the single digits so this is going to be with us and me for rest of my life. I love to dance (he grins) so flying to Lafayette, LA to visit friends and dance … I have no idea when I’ll be able to fly there again, heck, even go to my favorite dive bars around here to dance. It weighs on me.”

He looks at me quietly, pauses to register what I've said.

“I was born in Ireland,” says he. “I’d be worried about transmitting the virus to my parents if I visited them now.”

It occurs to me that I’m not wearing a mask, required in Watertown. “I have a few N-95 masks left from my days when I volunteered to muck out homes that were ruined by the Louisiana Flood of 2016. One of ‘em is hanging on my doorknob and not on my head!” says I.

“I’m not worried about that,” says he, gets out of his SUV and hands me two masks from its back seat.

“What’s your name?” “

"Frank Forde, Forde with an e,” says he.

“Your parents raised you right,” says I, as he drives away.

So, Ann, I haven’t checked in with the police but Officer Forde and Officer Kerry Ann and a few others whose names I didn’t get, have checked in with me during the past weeks. By now, I’ll bet many of them on the night shift have heard about The Midnight Rambler!

[Joan Tieman]

Hi Paul,
I have been thinking of writing to you to tell you how much I enjoy receiving your emails. They are always interesting and informative. I hope you are well. We are living in a difficult time.
Take care.
Joan Tieman

[Paul A Tamburello, Jr. aka pt at large]

Given we’re all anchored to our homes, writing, reading, and listening to music are my main outlets.
I’d bet you have your own routines to give some sense of regularity to our very circumscribed worlds, difficult for sure and scary to boot.

Thank goodness for texting and Zoom that has become one of the ways I keep in touch with dear friends.

[Myke Farricker]

Great writing! And great pic of Jupiter and Saturn!

[Paul A. Tamburello, Jr. aka pt at large]

Thanks, Myke, funny story about that. “What’s that star to the left of Jupiter,” asks Susaan.
I hadn't even thought about it, did some research, was gobsmacked to learn it was Saturn and rewrote the story to reflect what I learned!

I took all the photos with my iPhone 11 Pro, really surprised me how well they came out.

[Susan M Bennett]

Beautiful! Thanks for bringing this to those of us who are sleeping at 2am!

[Carole Blossom]

Nostalgic memories of days gone by are comforting as we grow older and life is not the same.....simpler times gone but not forgotten. You have such a special way of making words come alive and creating a story I can feel and see in my imagination. What a gift you have, Paul🌠 Hope you are well and surviving these uncertain times, My best, Carole Blossom