Last night I waited till the wee hours of the morning to watch meteor showers. Almost like a child waiting for Santa the anticipation mounted as the minutes slowly ticked off.
This was no simple meteor shower, the Perseids are an annual event in their own right. It’s early to start watching for them but the apex of the event hails a full moon. But there are also two smaller events going on, the Delta Aquarids and the Alpha Capricornids. Combined with the start of the Perseids and a nearly moonless night sounded like some promising star watching and I was ready!
Finally 2AM! I lowered the lights, turned off the outdoor floods, stepped out into the still night air. I selected my spot and lay on the deck gazing upward expectantly. Almost immediately I was rewarded. A brilliant white streak painted across the night sky, almost certainly a Perseid. Seconds later another meteor, this one very low and yellow streaked low on the sky. This one was the trophy of the night, from the Alpha Capricornids, stunning.
The action would pick up and then lull. I found my attention wandering and taking in the beauty of the evening. Immediately on stepping out the door I was on sensory overload. There were so many sounds that it took several minutes of listing to begin to sort out the riot of individual voices singing out with such zealous joy. First the frogs, there must be thousands of them, in the ponds, in the woods, hell at any moment I expected them to come pouring from the sky like that bizarre scene from the film Magnolia. Slowly I was able to pick out the voices, the rhythm section provided a creee-creee-creee pulsing beat, steady and repeating. Another lighter voice intermittently wove in and out of this beat but still playing within the framework of that steady rhythm, then way down deep I could make out the rumble of bull frogs, surely the base section. Delightful, a frog chorus!
In my stillness I began to make out other sounds, the splash of the waterfall on the fish pond beside me, the sound of water is always beautiful, cool, refreshing. The occasional comforting snuffle of horses grazing in the pasture nearby added another dimension to the sounds of the night. Further away a hoot owl talking in a one sided conversation, his voice carrying far thru the woods to another that I could not hear. The air was soft warm and fragrant, sweet smelling, like fresh grass.
I closed my eyes to more fully focus and sort out, appreciating all the elements of this evening. But wait… I’m here to look at stars! My eyes flew open and again I was rewarded. The starlit sky which is glorious in its own right with the bonus of a celestial light show making what seemed already perfect even more amazing.
And that was my starry starry night =)
