SHOOTING STARS

AUGUST 14, 2004

We remembered to walk outside to look for shooting stars last night. Although we weren't sure which part of the sky to watch, we didn't have long to wait. After about 5 minutes we saw the space shuttle racing across the sky.

We had both missed this during our previous evening of star gazing, but for whatever reason I happened to notice it last night, and Art was able to locate it too. Had we not known that it was possible to see the shuttle with the naked eye I guess we would have thought this was just a very high plane! Anyway, it was sort of cool, especially since we had just seen a greeting from the shuttle astronauts to the opening ceremonies at the Olympics.

As we were watching the shuttle disappear from view, we both caught sight of a shooting star! AT least we now knew which direction to look. We continued to watch the skies for another ten or fifteen minutes, and saw four or five more. Had we been able to lie down on a blanket and save our necks from straining, we might have stayed out a little longer. As it was, our necks were sore, and we were both a little cool in shorts and tee shirts.

A wonderful breeze had brought in much cooler temperatures, and of course once the sun went down it was even cooler! One of those nights when you know it will be great for sleeping with the window open! What a great summer we've had this year.