Betelgeuse -and how this little textile came to be.
Read in this morning's paper about the opportunity to view the Moon, Venus and Jupiter at Henley Square tonight.

Then the article went on in some depth about astronomical matters, expansion and contraction of stars, Betelgeuse expands or shrinks by tens of millions of kilometres over a period of about 5 years while our Sun mercifully stays pretty stable in this ongoing tug of war between gravity which pulls gas inwards, and radiation which pushes the gas outwards. The two sides are evenly matched in the sun, hence the stability, but Betelgeuse is about 15 times more massive than the sun, with constant pressures. Anyway, I found the article interesting...

...and hastily made my little textile, inspired by Betelgeuse and the night sky, which hopefully I'd be viewing in more depth this evening!

There was some dilemma however as husband wanted to watch the National Cycling Track titles at this exact time , and didn't want to drive down to the beach.

I don't know anyone else nerdish enough to share my enthusiasm for browsing the night skies in oppressive heat. The problem was solved. After a week of clear skies and dry weather, tonight, just before dinner, there were thundery rumblings. Husband, after looking outside, looked up the weather map for latest approaching rain patterns and yes, incoming rain and storms.

I ventured back outside to look at all the cloudy activity....not conducive to astronomy unfortunately.

...progressively darker. Problem solved I think. Stir-fry while watching the National Track events.

We desperately need some rain.

There has not been much philosophy or quotes lately on Textilosophy (have only just re-established the textile factor"- so, to go with the storm photos and general universe theme,

Psalm 104.3..

"You lay out the rafters of your home in the rain clouds. You make the clouds your chariots; you ride upon the wings of the wind."

...and Betelgeuse, Moon, Jupiter, here's a little card from my line of vision to you... that says "Wish you were here..."

I have another chance on Friday February 3rd however, weather permitting, but somehow the atmosphere at the Heights Observatory in the ground of the Heights school at Modbury won't be quite the same as the moon over the ocean at Henley Beach, where to scan the skies to the sound of crashing and retreating waves, and stars and the moon's twinkling reflections on the water would be quite something.