July 19, 2014

Flickr Favourites: July 19, 2014




{Girls night out (on the moon) ~ ~BostonBill~}



{Pegasus ~ Calsidyrose}



{Moon in Vintage ~ cadeswelkin}



{Untitled ~ KYVLLI ₪ maeva}


 photo 6074553841_1b5b576966_z_zps08d0bc55.jpg

{The moon ~ katinthecupboard}



{Stars visible for every hour in the year ~ penwren}



{I saw an old woman ride up in the sky one night ~ katinthecupboard}



{Old 2 Room School House in Looney at Night - Craig County, VA ~ curtisWarwick}



{A fairy photographed by Jerome in the 1930s ~ lovedaylemon}



{The New Moon illustration by Shirley Kite ~ katinthecupboard}



{All images above are from Flickr. To learn more about a specific image, please click on its title to be taken to its respective Flickr page.}




★ ★ ★ 
 


Amongst the tall hills that tower like gentle giants around Penticton one will find Apex Mountain, the town's well known and much beloved ski hill. Popular, gorgeous, and inviting as it is the icy cold winter months, it is actually during the opposite half of the year that I adore this wilderness location most of all. The reason has nothing to do with skiing or even snow at all, it is because, when one ventures up its twirling, narrow roads at night during the summer and reaches certain spots, you can pull off the road, get out of your vehicle and suddenly find yourself draped in a majestic blanket of flickering stars.

On a clear night, you can see the stars from elsewhere around town. Thankfully, we're not a polluted or heavily artificial light filled community, so there's little to block out nature's fairy bulbs, but as with most places on earth, the higher you go and the further you venture from civilization, the more sublime the night's sky becomes, and the view from Apex is no exception there.

These treks aren't an every day occurrence, in fact, they can be years apart, but when they do happen, I find the experience to have an almost meditative quality to it. Swaddled in long sleeved, comfortable clothing, perhaps a fleece blanket in tow (keep in mind, you're up a ski hill after all and even in the off-season, it still gets a bit chilly when the sun goes down), and a heavy dousing of bug spray applied before embarking, one parks the car and settles in for the evening.

You don't stay inside though. Not at all. The aim here is to connect with nature. To gaze your irises upon the same stars, the same inky blue-black July sky, same mother-of-pearl moon that countless other fellow human beings, and animals for that matter, have done since the dawn of time.

One does not want to be encased in anything as modern as a vehicle, nor to listen to the radio when there are crickets serenading us, owls hooting in the far distance, and the haunting call of coyotes transmitting woodland secrets to each other across the almost electric air. These jaunts, these midnight rendezvous are about tranquilly, connecting with some far greater than the sum of any one person. A force and a beauty deeper and truer than anything we could ever conjure up here down on our mortal planet.

They outings are one of my favourite things to do in the whole world and it is the memory of each and every one of these summertime stargazing sessions that inspired the images and colour palette in today's edition of Flickr Favourites.

Before the summer is over, which thankfully is still a good ways off, I hope to get in another evening spent up Apex, laying on the hood of the car or on my back nestled into the tall, wild grass that smells vaguely of flax, and let each of those sublimely beautiful stars carry off another of life’s daily worries, if only for a few brief, enchantingly illuminated hours.

25 comments:

  1. How tranquil your description is. You are lucky that you get to see the sky so clearly where you are. That poem about the moon is lovely as well. I love the idea of little children and flowers being 'daytime things'.

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  2. Que linda postagem, me fez lembrar minha filha que é apaixonada pela lua, As frases estão maravilhosas adorei <3
    Beijos

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  3. Oh! I love this set of Flickr Favourites! As Cancers, you know we're ruled by the Moon, this was my first thought as I scrolled through this set of images. I'm definitely a night owl and there's nothing I love more than spending time outside on a hot summer night with a clear sky. It's magical...

    Lisa.

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    1. It truly is! I'm the massive night owl, too. Always have, forever will be, I'm certain. One of these days I should write a post devoted to just that topic (or at least incorporating it heavily).

      Thank you for your lovely comment, sweet dear,
      ♥ Jessica

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  4. Ok I think this is my favorite Flickr Favorites yet! I love celestial things. They just put me in a happy, magical mood :)

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    1. How splendidly lovely - thank you! I always truly adore hearing when one of my posts resonates so deeply with someone. It is, hands down, one of my favourites in this series ever, too (quite possibly my very fave, just as it is yours).

      Big hugs,
      ♥ Jessica

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  5. ROMANTIC!!!!!

    with our house in the middle of nowhere - except some tiny villages in a few kilometers - we can enjoy the pleasure of a wonderful star dotted sky every clear night......
    hugs&kisses

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  6. Apex Mountain sounds absolutely enchanting. It's so wonderful to get away from the all the lights and noise of the city some nights. And what fantastic photos to accompany the post, as well!

    Cheers,
    Jenny

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  7. You had me right there with you under those stars Jessica! Your post had me hearing those crickets and gazing in wonder at the night heavens above. You are such a beautiful and evocative writer. XXX

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    1. Thank you very much, lovely Brooke. In the wake of all the stress you've been having at work lately in particular, I'm sure you would especially enjoy a few tremendously serene hours of gazing up at the heavens. I wish you lived nearby so we could hightail up there together and do just that one of these luxuriously warm summer evenings.

      ♥ Jessica

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  8. I just adore this. I feel like i don't go outside and look at the stars enough.

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  9. And your writing is fabulous as always!

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    1. You're fabulously sweet, dear Natalie, thank you deeply. Sometimes my inner poet really comes out (interesting side fact...did you know my one and only tattoo is of the word poet in a funky font all in black ink on my right inner forearm that I got when I was 17? It was sort of shoddy from the get go, though it was done in a real tattoo parlour, and one day I would like to have work done on it, but for now it's fine and is a great reminder of important writing poetry has always been to me, especially when I was a teenager) and I feel like such was the case with this post. How can it not when presented with the breathtaking sight of a starry summer night?

      ♥ Jessica

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  10. Wow that sounds like such a lovely place!

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    1. Thank you, sweet dear, it truly is. One day, though likely during the daylight hours, we'll have to do a shoot up that way. Likely well before winter sets in, as we just a sedan and it isn't the world's best vehicle to take up a curvy, bumpy mountain road when it's buried in ice and snow as far as the eye can see.

      ♥ Jessica

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  11. "Oh those summer niiiiiiiiiights!" (insert Grease melody here) ;) I'm back for four days, before we head to Austria for our last summer holiday week, so I'm trying to catch up on your blog. Thank goodness for Bloglovin'. I also enjoyed your mail and will reply very soon. Wishing you a fabulous summer, dear. :)

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    1. Love it - Grease is my favourite musical ever (or at least it shares the top spot with Sound of Music).

      Welcome back for a few days. I hope you've been having a stellar time on your summer holidays, my sweet friend.

      Big hugs & happy second half of July wishes,
      ♥ Jessica

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  12. Hi Jessica! You should try to go do your stargazing in August during the Perseid meteor shower. With a vantage point like you describe, it would be truly awe inspiring!

    The Perseids are never much fun this far south. Not only is it sticky hot on August nights, but swarms of mosquitoes WILL find a way to torment you if you stay in one spot for over 10 minutes. One time I attempted to watch the Peseids armed with bug spray, long sleeves, covered legs, etc. At which point they started dive-bombing my eyeballs. :)

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    1. Thank you for the wonderful suggestion, dear Jennifer. It's been a few years since I last properly watched the Perseids (my folks used to live on a hill that overlooked Okanagan Lake and was stellar for watching meteorite showers from) and I think that if at all possible, we'll try to catch them again (with scads of bug spray in tow) this year. Thank you for reminding me about this sublime spectacle of the heavens.

      ♥ Jessica

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  13. What a beautiful description! It sounds like a wonderful place and experience. We also get a good clear view of the stars from my house, but still, the further out into the country you go, the better it is. These moments of connecting with nature replenish our souls, and we need to make sure we get enough of them!

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  14. A big thing I miss living I new York is the beauty of the nigh sky! A star filled sky such as in your school house room picture is one my favorite things, sigh!

    retro rover

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  15. i happened to catch the moon this morning and what a pretty sight. unfortunately i didn't let myself enjoy it due to the foul mood i've been in as of late.

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    1. Oh dear, I'm really sorry to hear that life has been putting you in a less-than-stellar mood as of late, honey. I'm always here if you need someone to talk to about anything.

      ♥ Jessica

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  16. It sounds like a beautiful place, such a lovely description. The photo of the girls with the moon is great.

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