Playing Stars

Last night Vera Valmore stepped outside around 10 o’clock to see if we couldn’t catch a glimpse of that meteor shower -- the Perseids that happens every year right around this time.

Living on the farm, we are especially fortunate to be clear of city lights and other visual noise, and in fact out behind the house we can see nearly 360 degrees’ worth of sky with only trees surrounding the property keeping us from seeing all of the way down to the horizon.

We stepped outside and immediately saw a vivid streak across the sky to the northeast, just above the treetops to our left. A few seconds after that I thought I might have seen another streak go over the pasture to the east, although I wasn’t sure.

We soon took a couple of chairs out into the back yard, expecting an ongoing to show to follow. Alas, we saw nothing more, or at least no more meteors zipping about. We decided that in fact the action probably was happening a little closer to the horizon, below the treeline, and that also there would be more to see later in the night after we hit the sack.

We did, though, still enjoy the almost half-hour of gazing upwards, marveling at the show that’s up there just about every single night as long as there aren’t too many clouds and we’re willing to enjoy it.

It was a little like picking up pocket aces on the first hand and getting action right away, then momentarily being fooled into thinking that was how the game would continue thereafter. Gradually, though, we gotover the feeling that such action was going to be the norm, recognizing it was going to be a quieter game -- though still one worth playing.