Thursday, August 20, 2009

Perseids Passing

So, are we the only ones who learn about special days only because the Google homepage has some new art up?

A week back we learned it was time for the Perseid meteor shower again! We loved it that year that we were driving to the Ranch after dark. One meteor actually came down so close I saw the last glowing ember burn out just a dozen feet above our car. And when we got to the Ranch we just plunked down on our backs on the grass with our cousins and goggled for an hour instead of unpacking.
This year we went out to the trampoline that is in the field between my parents' house and ours. The two youngest were in their beds but the rest of us snuggled up under a blanket and stared toward the northeastern sky. And talked. And wondered if we would ever see any--OOOH!
And argued about whether the shooting--Look at that one!--stars were mostly moving perpendicular or parallel to the milky way. And--Wow!--speculated that the little sharp prickles on our bums were not static, as Dad thought, but actually mosquitoes biting us through the mesh of the trampoline. And got sat on by the cat, who--I see one!--didn't want to be left out. And got cold. And--You keep seeing them when nobody else does. I think you're imagining it--colder. (And what's up with the super cold August nights this year?)
And didn't wan't to go--look!--back inside because it felt so good, all of us scrunched up under one blanket (and one cat), looking for lights in the sky.

6 comments:

Jenny said...

Don't look now, but I think Edith just blogged! And it was a good one.

kate said...

oh how fun! your sky may be the most beautiful sky on earth. glad you're taking advantage of it.

Ludovic said...

Lucky you are to be able to see the milky way where you live !

Luckily enough, I was by my parents in the countryside. Wanted to catch one on the camera, no luck, but I did catch some weird stuff ;)

victoria said...

What a nice thing to do. I think we talked about watching and then just went inside and watched TV instead.

Rebekah said...

We were camping with no knowledge of the event. Some loud redneck drove a muffler-less truck past and woke me up. I was peeved-off but at least I caught some of the action. There were some brilliant streamers burning past that I thought could impact but never did. (I kept sitting up to check) Our kids loved the 911 story too. Maybe they will learn something useful from Lissa's experience. -Jake

Clint C. said...

I dont' know how I missed this blog! It's a good one. We spaced the shower this summer. It was probably raining anyway, sa it did 28 of the last 30 days.