A Story of a Night

A priest told me I needed to do more things I enjoy, and try new things. I suppose I have more freedom than I think. Since my roommate is home in Italy for the week, I decided to try something new. I unplugged the cable modem and took it to work to leave there in my desk drawer. No internet, no TV, no smart phone. Just myself and my quiet apartment. What will it be like?

I stayed at work thirty minutes longer reading about bandpass filters and how I might attach one to my camera. Infrared and ultraviolet photography interest me, but what about intra-red or intra-green or intra-violet - the invisible visible light? As far as I know, nobody is capturing the invisible world of the visible. I couldn't find a single instance on the internet - not even information on how it could be done. I want to try it, with bandpass filters, filters that only pass narrow wavelengths of light. This is something I'm interested in, something I enjoy. I left work, saying goodbye to the internet.

When I got home, I took a bath (my favorite place to read) and began reading more of The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. I bought the novel because I read that the author writes without resorting to irony, which has plagued our cultures for decades. It's a coming of age book, which are my favorite novels. I was soaking in the hot water and enjoying the last of my mint-scented Epsom salts. I was transported back to my summers when I was 20 and 21, times when I fell in love and people fell in love with me, and I believed I had many happy years ahead. I did have happy years ahead, thank God.

I decided I'd also write out the Book of Psalms. I wanted My Daily Psalm Book in the Douay-Rheims version. So I bought a blank Moleskine notebook, cleaned my fountain pen and filled it with blue-black iron gall ink, traced a template sheet to keep things aligned, and started writing.

Sunday at Matins. I Nocturn. Psalm 1.

Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of pestilence. But his will is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he shall meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season. And his leaf shall not fall off: and all whatsoever he shall do shall prosper. Not so the wicked, not so: but like the dust, which the wind driveth from the face of the earth. Therefore the wicked shall not rise again in judgment: nor sinners in the council of the just.

After six pages, I had gone through Psalm 8, and a knock came at the door. It was Jack, a Bread & Beer comrade, recent graduate with a master's degree in black bears, who is leaving Auburn for Utah, and came to say goodbye and take his beer mug. The yellow sun beamed through the sidelights. His mug, with its gunmetal sheen, glimmered from its hook on the wall. 

Bread & Beer

Jack

it said, engraved in the finish. He said he really liked having Bread & Beer to keep him grounded during his years in Auburn, and that he hoped he would find something like it in Utah.

It was soon until sunset. I texted a friend to see if he wanted to go walking in Kiesel Park. He was in Georgia, though. I went alone, with my camera. I took some photos in one of the fields, staying out until it was nearly dark.

Kiesel Park at sunset

I stopped by Chipotle and got a burrito bowl. I went home and took another bath, reading three more chapters of the novel. I want to do something new. I want to do something different. Those were my wandering thoughts while reading. I dried off and put on the clothes I would wear to work the next day. I grabbed a towel, a razor, and a toothbrush. I packed my books and pens and camera equipment. It was 10pm and I had work in the morning, but I was going to the lake. I want to see the Milky Way. I wonder if I can see it there tonight. What if someone is staying there? I can always turn around and be back here by midnight.

My quiet empty apartment

The moon was bright above the water. The Milky Way was there, but not like it was when I was a child. Dad took me there in the winter when I was a boy, to look at the stars. We stopped by Krystal's and got some chili and crackers on the way. I had never seen so many stars as that moonless night. Millions and millions of them, and the bright river of white that spanned the sky above.

I shot some photos, but I forgot my tripod in the rush to leave and had to rest my camera on decks, walls, and chairs. I took a thirty minute exposure and laid on a blanket under the stars while the camera gathered light.

Lakehouse at moonset

O look at all the fire-folk sitting in the air! 

Moonset with a little Milky Way

See the Andromeda Galaxy a little above the roof on the right?

After midnight

30 minute star trail exposure with smeared Milky Way.

I didn't sleep in my bed there. I slept on the couch. It was 1am. I have to wake up at 6.

I woke at 5. The sun was rising. I took a few more photos, and read the Psalms of Matins and Lauds. This was the events of last night.

Sunrise. Now time for work.