empty rooms are one of my favorite things.
they answer yes to every new idea - baggage-free from their yesterdays.
they echo my footsteps like hearts beating through cosmic time.
they resonate a lonesome joy at the discovery of a new friend.
they speak to me in soft murmurings of longings unspoken.

empty rooms often hold treasures.
…an old John Deere tractor, one wheel munched on by some mischievous pooch
…a faded red roll of cap-pistol caps missing from the gun belt of some small desperado
…a tiny blue coat with two hand sewn snap buttons - closing up warm around her diminutive doll
…some dust bunnies shivering with each yellow straw broom swish
…one single thumbtack missing cork board and photo, testifies to our habits like a tiny time-capsule

and empty rooms let me believe it’s possible to begin all things again. possible for lost companions to walk casually back in. possible for time clocks to stop, letting silence breath rapture into all of my pores. possible for each of us to put aside masks and expectations - to truly see each other as we are.

…

inspired in part by the SES prompt ‘empty rooms’

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Hey - it’s 2009

And I want to say a heartfelt thanks to all my new blogging friends and send each and everyone of you my best for a joyous, peaceful, and prosperous new year.

Thanks for all the great conversations, writing, artwork, and most of all inspiration - I am honored to share this space with you!

I’m not one for resolutions, and I’ve long since gotten over staying up all night and then dozing over the toilet bowl on the first day of the new year, but there is something fresh feeling about putting up a new calendar and taking a moment to pause and think about new directions and adventures.

And on the topic of adventurous feeling things, I wanted to share this NASA image with you. The work these folks are doing is just so cool and new to me.

I pretty much thought antimatter was more or less a Star Trek fantasy, but apparently not.

This is an image of the Bullet Cluster.

And the image is made up of an image from the Chandra x-ray observatory, and optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope, and the Magellan telescope in Chile.

As a digital image person just all that is cool enough to totally wow me, but read the excerpt below the image to find out what these folks are studying. This kind of stuff makes me want to jump on a star and get out there in person.

Man, just beam me up…

In this latest research effort, the Bullet Cluster was used to search for the presence of antimatter leftover from the very early universe. Antimatter is made up of elementary particles that have the same masses as their corresponding matter counterparts — protons, neutrons and electrons — but the opposite charges and magnetic properties.

[via NASA - Image Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/CfA/M.Markevitch et al. Optical: NASA/STScI; Magellan/U.Arizona/D.Clowe et al. ]

May your new year be filled with wonder, delight, and new discoveries.

Looking forward to exchanging more data bits with you in ‘09

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