night sky

 

Star of the Hero, Nicholas Roerich

I may just have the best view out my bedroom window that I have ever had, or at least the most serene. Each day I can look out onto the pond and watch beautiful white swans resting on the still water, as a pair was tonight, with a golden sliver of the moon and Venus by its side in the sky above. There is little development on this end of the pond and being at the end of a long sandy road, it is completely void of traffic noise, except for a boat or two going by during the day. Tonight the air is very still and I hear only some evening insects. The night time sky fascinates me. In fact, it is the subject of my favorite painting, Night Flight of Dread and Delight, by Ethiopian artist Skunder Boghossian:

One of the most beautiful things I ever saw consists of a night I experienced in Tibet last year:

    I was walking up the hill after dark toward the house in which I was staying and I could see the full moon rising through the valley between two mountains. There were clouds, none covering the brightness, but simply intensifying the illumination throughout the sky. I came around the corner from my favorite restaurant and saw the moon reflecting off one side of the white stupa, lighting everything between it and moon. I had never seen a brighter night sky. The air was so calm and the stars so close, I felt as if I were in a dream. 
 

                                                             (That was the moment I realized why they call it the roof of the world!)