I love this time of year when each day the daylight gets a little bit longer than the day before. And now we have two more books to read —Witch Trial by Cate Conte and the wide release of Jane Darrowfield and the Mad Woman Next Door by Barbara Ross. What fun things have you done in the dark? Star gaze? Night time walks? TP a house back in the day? Explored a cave?
Jessie: Super congratulations, Liz and Barb! Last winter I went with one of my sons to a spot he had found on a dark skies map and looked at the stars and some planets through his high-powered binoculars. It was simply magical! Cold, but magical!
Edith/Maddie: I can’t wait to dive into both these new books. Congratulations, Liz and Barb! I grew up stargazing in the Sierras with my mom during our annual camping trips, and it was amazing – magical, as Jessie says. I didn’t manage to get myself up at three AM earlier this month to watch the Geminid meteors, though. I’ve been wanting to go spelunking in southern Indiana so I can set a Country Store mystery in that mileu, but between COVID and my claustrophobic tendencies, I doubt that will happen.
Sherry: Congratulations, Barb and Liz! I love watching meteor showers and have seen some fabulous ones including one at my husband’s family home in a small town in Idaho where it’s very dark. I also have been to the cave from Tom Sawyer in Hannibal several times along with Luray Caverns in Virginia.
Barb: All of those things. I stargaze, sadly with a spotty sense of what I’m looking at. I love walks at night. I’ve explored caverns in Virginia and in Colombia. I love sitting around a campfire, telling ghost stories in the dark. You name it!
Liz: Thanks, all! I love doing things like that. One of my favorite nights was a full moon circle I did outside with a bunch of ladies, some crystals, incense, herbs, and flowers. I also like to walk through cemeteries at night. My best friend in high school lived right across the street from one and we spent a lot of time there after dark…
Readers: How about you?
When I was a kid I used to hide in the dark and then jump out when someone came around to try to scare them. It was fun to see them get startled. You couldn’t do it too often or they would expect it.
I used to do that in our house to my sister. I’d forgotten that until you mentioned it.
Congratulations on the releases!
When dark comes, especially on a clear night and the stars are shining bright, it feels like might thoughts and prayers go right up into heaven to loved ones that have gone on before me. Plus living in the country gives us a chance to see all the nightly critter visitors that don’t make an appearance during the daytime. Weather permitting, I love to sit out on our porch and just take it all in. One exceptional experience in the dark was a few years back during a lunar eclipse. We were vacationing in Maine and were staying a few days at the eastern most point in the United States at an old coast guard station right on the coastline located away from towns and lights. We stayed up all night watching it shine, fade and then shine again. Amazing sight for sure!
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Both sound amazing!
Stargazing from my driveway when we lived in Flagstaff—it was like living in a planetarium. Exploring caves too—Mammoth and Carlsbad and the caves in the California gold country. Also from my California days: walking in the fog on my college campus. The tule fog in the Central Valley is amazingly dense, so much so that you can get lost somewhere familiar, because you can’t see more than a few feet in front of you. There’s something magical (and, yes, dangerous) about walking in those conditions.
I loved walking in the fog to school when I was young. We played this game that the world ended a few feet ahead and that we would just drop off this huge ledge. It’s kind of morbid thinking about it!
I remember taking a boat tour through the Laurel Caverns. At one point they turned off the lights. Now that was dark.
Oh, that sounds interesting.
Congratulations on the latest releases!
Night is my time. When we first moved to Maine the night skies impressed me. It was as if you could reach up and grab a star. My most impressive evening experience took place on a dive boat near Bimini watching the Hale-Bopp Comet streak overhead. The bulk of the comet was surrounded by shooting stars. It looked like the comet was pushing them out of the way. Magnificent.
Oh! Yes! We lived in Dayton, Ohio and saw it. But there was too much light to see it like you did!
We walk in our neighborhood in the early dark mornings and then carry our coffee outside to watch the sunrise when we get home. Cave dark is really dark and we have been in caves on vacations from Carlsbad to the Hannibal one Sherry mentioned, but I was much younger then. I hit 50 and all of a sudden had trouble with small spaces and big crowds claustrophobia. I found out that there were studies that said older women could develop claustrophobia as part of aging. So, no more caves for me! Best wishes for your new books, Barb and Liz!
I love that you watch the sunrise! That is interesting about the claustrophobia!
I like looking at a dark sky and seeing the twinkles of stars. Have no idea the designs they make but it brings a bit of calmness.
It does make one calm!
Congratulations my friends! Star gazing is a much as I do in the dark, but I do love it when I’m away from the city.
I once watched a meteor shower from the mountains in Peru while listening to “Celestial Soda Pop” by Ray Lynch. Talk about other worldly. I also went on an owl walk in the Blue Hills in Boston. I love the nighttime and just being outside then.
I think I may have done all the above except explore a cave in the dark back in the day. These days, I love to be covered in a blanket being on the internet or reading a good book. God bless you. Happy New Year.
I love star gazing. Sadly, it seems to be harder to do these days, but I need to get out and see some real stars again.