METEORS!!!
For the second morning in a row...
...I woke up at 3:30 and then woke up an entire family to accompany me on a meteor viewing mission. Yesterday it was far too overcast to see any of Leonid's Beads but this morning the sky was as clear as it could be. So, it was with great confidence that I took a family out into the 30 something degree November air to watch the famous meteor shower.
We were all bundled up but as the meteors failed to appear, my party started giving up one at a time until I was left alone with a hearty 10 year old girl who had never seen a meteor in her life. She and I were lying flat on our backs on the frosty ground staring straight up into the constellation Leo, hoping for a glimpse of one little meteor.
After waiting for over an hour in the frigid Chicago air, I saw a fireball but it was such a fast flash that I didn't even mention it. Then I saw cloud cover moving in from the west and started to think about going back into the warm house that was right behind us. Just as I was considering giving up, a meteor flew right out of Leo to our left. This was one that the little girl and I BOTH saw so we both knew that we had, at last, seen a meteor. Then, within a few minutes, we saw another one to our right.
Our screams of delight brought the rest of the family running out to see what all the commotion was about. Unfortunately, the cloud cover was rolling over our heads at that same time and they didn't get to see anything but the clouds.
As the wee munchkin and I waited to see a meteor, we prayed to every dead person we could think of to send us "just one little meteor". Being the agnostic that I am, I felt a little silly but I do like to cover all of my bases so I went along with the prayer session. I'll never know for sure whether or not our prayers were answered or if serendipity was involved, but I do know that the little girl and I, most definitely, saw a couple of meteors today.
Then we came back into the house and I made some french toast for the family that waited patiently, if not outside, for the stars to fall around us. So, right now the house smells like french toast and coffee and I'm wide awake, along with a family who would normally be asleep at this time. There's not much left to do now except wait for school to start so that's what the kids are doing.
I have some errands to run myself so I guess I'll just enjoy the rest of the early morning hours and bask in the delight that belongs to me and the little girl that stayed outside with me long enough to see a couple of flashes in the sky. Now that's a kid I could hang with!
...I woke up at 3:30 and then woke up an entire family to accompany me on a meteor viewing mission. Yesterday it was far too overcast to see any of Leonid's Beads but this morning the sky was as clear as it could be. So, it was with great confidence that I took a family out into the 30 something degree November air to watch the famous meteor shower.
We were all bundled up but as the meteors failed to appear, my party started giving up one at a time until I was left alone with a hearty 10 year old girl who had never seen a meteor in her life. She and I were lying flat on our backs on the frosty ground staring straight up into the constellation Leo, hoping for a glimpse of one little meteor.
After waiting for over an hour in the frigid Chicago air, I saw a fireball but it was such a fast flash that I didn't even mention it. Then I saw cloud cover moving in from the west and started to think about going back into the warm house that was right behind us. Just as I was considering giving up, a meteor flew right out of Leo to our left. This was one that the little girl and I BOTH saw so we both knew that we had, at last, seen a meteor. Then, within a few minutes, we saw another one to our right.
Our screams of delight brought the rest of the family running out to see what all the commotion was about. Unfortunately, the cloud cover was rolling over our heads at that same time and they didn't get to see anything but the clouds.
As the wee munchkin and I waited to see a meteor, we prayed to every dead person we could think of to send us "just one little meteor". Being the agnostic that I am, I felt a little silly but I do like to cover all of my bases so I went along with the prayer session. I'll never know for sure whether or not our prayers were answered or if serendipity was involved, but I do know that the little girl and I, most definitely, saw a couple of meteors today.
Then we came back into the house and I made some french toast for the family that waited patiently, if not outside, for the stars to fall around us. So, right now the house smells like french toast and coffee and I'm wide awake, along with a family who would normally be asleep at this time. There's not much left to do now except wait for school to start so that's what the kids are doing.
I have some errands to run myself so I guess I'll just enjoy the rest of the early morning hours and bask in the delight that belongs to me and the little girl that stayed outside with me long enough to see a couple of flashes in the sky. Now that's a kid I could hang with!
posted by Meg Kelso | 3:53 AM
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