Southern Cross

September 9, 2009 / Missing the Southern Cross in the clear night sky.

Crux, photographed by Sid Leach in 2005, Lake Titicaca, Bolivia

Took The Genie for a longer-than-usual walk this evening. That’s not to say a long walk (we’re still working on that), but we were out for about 30 minutes. The sky above Mattabeseck, Quinnehtukqut is beautiful tonight, the weather is mellowing out, and somehow related to all of this, I’m missing the Southern Cross. I’m not sure that I’ve ever tried to define “home” before, but tonight I’m going to say that it’s the place under the Southern Cross. I’ve lived in the U.S. for seven years plus a few days now, and one thing that I haven’t quite grown used to is looking up on a clear night and not seeing that constellation. And there’s also knowing that, no matter how carefully you look, or how long you stay up, you’re not going to see it. Not without some serious rocket power, anyway.