Jogging in September
Friday, September 5th, 2008
Tilting, as it is, back from the sun, the planet’s top half is gradually leaning closer to the colder constellations. As fall settles in, the nights are lengthening – the darkness comes on by 8 p.m. – and the temperatures feel as though the plain states have suddenly been elevated to mountain tops where the wind is strong and the mornings are brisk.
Theses nights are perfect for running and I’ve taken to jogging the neighborhood at an hour when the working families are turning the lights down to watch last few minutes of late night television. My usual pattern takes me around a small loop close to our house and then around again in a much broader circle past a public park, hiking trails, an ugly church, through new houses and an older section built in the 60s.
I rounded the corner by the yellow fire hydrant, the pavement lit orange by street lamps. With my head on the swivel I turned up the asphalt road that ends in a cul-de-sac and began looking for snakes. The block has been laid out before the houses are being built, which means a large amount of the land is black.
The big dipper came into view clearly and bright, and I found the whole thing without searching the sky, without feeling inferior for not knowing where to find the stars depending on the season.
