Stargazy

The nights are drawing in so I get to study the stars before I go to bed. I'm not an astronomer; I don't know much about stars- and my mind refuses to retain most of what it learns about them- but I do like to look. Yesterday evening I went and stood on the lawn with a pair of binoculars. I'll be doing a lot more of that as the season progresses.

I love trees but they don't half get in the way. What I need is a viewing platform on the roof.

I couldn't find my book of star charts last night. I looked again this morning and found I'd put it away in the "wrong" drawer. So, what did you do that for, you annoying person?

It's always a great moment for me each year when I get my first good look at Orion and his entourage. The star charts tell me I could catch him rising in the east if I got up at two or three o'clock. I'm often awake at that time because of the muscular aches (they're unpredictable but they come calling most nights) and if the sky is clear why not go out and enjoy the starlight?

It's a long, long time since I last had an unbroken night's sleep. Well, one can make use of that.

I've always found the night sky scary- but enjoyably so. The rather old-fashioned word for that is "awe". Think of all the worlds out there, think of all the people. How crowded the universe is.

Bee Wars

The air was full of bees. At first I thought they were swarming, but the internet tells me bees don't swarm at this time of year- so I had to think again- and then I saw a couple on the ground- grappling- and one was a bee and one was a wasp- and I realized there was a war on.

The bees have a nest under the eaves and the wasps were raiding it. The battle lasted for the best part of the afternoon. I sat out on the swing seat- in the middle of the action- quite safe- like Pierre Bezukhov at Borodino- with the fighters whizzing about my ears.

Ailz tells me wasps raid hives to take bees captive and steal honey. I've no idea if this crew achieved their objective, but they're gone now- and the life of the hive has returned to normal.