Balance

Equilibrium

Very few things in life are constant. The everyday grind is a melting pot of tumultuous activity that seems to consistently lack any sense pf predictability. Certainty and life are so incongruous that on those rare occasions that they should cross paths, reality seems stand still. The ultimate highs are inevitably trumped by lows that strike with no rhyme or reason. If only the euphoria of those special moments were counterbalanced by equal and opposite forces, that elusive feeling of balance would be in striking distance. When this feeling of turbulent forces begins to drive me toward madness, I turn to the only sources of stability. These stable entities are essentially void of emotion and lack any sense of clarity that I can firmly latch onto. Time is perhaps the essence of stability. Time has no emotion completely void of any outside influences. Although time provides a benchmark of sorts, it lacks any components capable of providing a source of inner peace or balance.

The one Constant

Perhaps the most influential source of both physical and psychological balance is the constant perpetual celestial motion. The rising and setting sun, the constant tidal patterns and the phases of the planetary alignment press onward with precise tempo and indisputable predictability. As the Earth and its Moon press onward in that precise geosynchronous motion about the Sun, twice a year they settle into that Vernal position providing balance to all things.

The Vernal Equinox

For those of you who haven’t noticed, we are fast approaching the first day of fall. A time of year clearly filled with mixed emotions. On or about the 21st day of September the sun assumes a position directly over the Earth's Equator creating a balance of daylight and nightfall.
A significant celestial spectacle known as the Vernal Equinox. This Autumnal marvel will be enhanced when the lunar cycle will also culminate in a harvest moon at 6:47PM this evening. As is the case every 12 months, once we cross this astronomical equilibrium, the daylight hours begin to lose ground to the span of darkness.

The Spectacle That Is

With a forecast for a crisp clear evening, tonight will be ripe for a sequence of breathtaking solar and lunar events. As the sun recedes into the Western hemisphere taking a strikingly southern track, we will be greeted by a nearly simultaneous full moon rising.

The proper vantage point to observe this splendid event is critical. As the Moon rises out of the East at 6:57PM, the sun will recede into the Western horizon at 7:02PM.

I plan to view this marvel from the lookout atop the PSF. Although the view
to the west as the sun sets across the Hudson Valley fading through the Catskill Range will be perfect, the view to the East will be obscured for a time by the tree line canvassing the October Mountains. Once the moon breaks free from the highest tree tops and climbs high into the late summer sky, I will watch as the this bright beacon casts its reflection and sparkles
across Berry Pond.