April 18, 2011

White Dog has been helping me clean out closets in a vague attempt to create more office capability and to "free" ourselves of too much, as Steve calls it, "preciousosity." Our 1000sq.ft. home maybe be prime real estate and a warm sanctuary but it IS only 1000 sq.ft. Today, we tackled the deep strangely shaped closet in the bedroom. It was amazing to discover just how much we had been able to pack and stack into the space; White Dog got a special thrill out of winnowing her way deep into the closet floor, disappearing from view for a moment, only to pop back out with a "find"--socks long ago given up for run aways; a shawl I knew I had not left in the restaurant so long ago; a bright green flip flop (we never found its mate in our cleanup). Carefully packed, way in the back, I discovered my old telescope.

Given as a gift so many years ago when we first moved to New Mexico, Steve and I (there were no White Dogs yet) spent many nights out on the mesa or on the mountain watching the meteors and the Milky Way. Sadly in a way, the area has grown and become built up so it is no longer an easy 5-minute trip we can make with hot mugs of coffee. Those dark incredible skies still fill our horizon but now we must travel to get away from the city's glow. White Dog and I agreed that we would try to remember to bring the telescope with us more often on our adventures.

In the spirit of our telescopic find and a reminder of how incredible our little corner of the Universe truly is, please enjoy this beautiful video time lapse of the Milky Way, filmed by Terje Sorgjerd between April 4-11 of this year. Sorgjerd was on El Teide.Spain´s highest mountain which is considered one of the best places in the world to photograph the stars (also the location of Teide Observatories, considered to be one of the world´s best observatories). Upon seeing this, White Dog insists that we go into the Wilderness soon so that she can see the Milky Way for herself.

The Mountain from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.