Earlier tonight, I was in my car heading home after Dinner Book Club (yes, I'm in a book club and we eat dinner as we discuss the monthly read). I had moody acoustic guitar music in the car cd player; a dusky light was falling on the pines, oaks, hills and ravine. Idyllic. With few cars on the road - it was a pleasant drive indeed.
The sun had just set and night was movin' in.
I happened to look up from the curvy mountain road just for a moment to see a shooting star zip through the blank slate of the early evening sky.
Its descent was not so much shooting as falling. Dribbling down rather clumsily in a slowish arc describes it best, actually. Nevertheless, it was charming.
Take the time to do a bit of star-gazing, and you can witness meteors dropping from the night sky with some frequency. The idea of witnessing careening meteors isn't terribly dreamy or wistful; hence the more romantic notion of 'falling' or 'shooting' stars. Each time I see one I'm taken aback, usually with a mini, yet audible, gasp. To see a shooting star really is such a special treat, isn't it? For me, sighting one always feels like I'm sharing a one-on-one secret with the heavens...
Finding a great online image of a single shooting star isn't easy, so I opted for something even better: the most delightful star song of all time.
Bonus: A shooting star story (if you have an extra 22 minutes 24 seconds to sit idly at the computer, enjoy Hergé's TinTin and don't mind that he isn't speaking French...).
2 comments:
I'm actually terrified of meteors (although when I think of them as falling stars, you're right, it is qutie idyllic). What's to stop them from HITTING THE EARTH?!
I'm a worrywart.
Actually, dear sweetworrywart, meteors do hit the earth quite frequently = meteorites.
Typically, they're little and don't do much damage at all.
It's the asteroids and comets that you have to worry about!
If/when one of those ever comes thisaway, skywatchers will give a shout and we can all make like Chicken Little.
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