Sit spot day 17

Tues Mar 31 (Day 17). 8 PM. End of dusk. A star, low in the east, twinkling white and then orange, back and forth. 3 more stars, one above the other, in a curve that makes me think of a pick. After a while, some more above them and then I realize it's the Big Dipper, standing on its end. So there, in the maple, is the North Star. I try to fix it to remember in daylight, between two branches. High, over my right shoulder, the moon, a fat crescent. Stars. A steady gentle wind on my right cheek: from the south. This morning in the field it was strong from the North. Always changing around here. The pond is dark on the southern half, then rippled. A goose squawk or two. Steady peepers. It's in the low 40s, and the pure higher tones are mostly absent. Mostly a steady high patter, lots of them, different than last night. I only hear the wood frogs (Charlie was right; 'quackers' are wood frogs) a few times. A rustling like insect wings; then I identify as the sound one of the beech leaves makes in the wind. No sign of the ground moving, but then I have trouble sitting still long as I keep turning to see more stars. I have a moon shadow. I stand and face the moon and see how it's surrounded by 4 stars in a diamond, and to the right are 3 more in a right angle, and to the left 3 -- that's Orion's belt. It's a whole other world, and immense, and full of geometry, and I want to be a mage, not a scientist.