Time Stands Still...

Time passes more slowly, almost seeming to stand still, when one is surrounded dark skies, bright stars, and the near deafening racket of frogs, crickets, and other creepy crawlies.

I was up late last night; in fact, I was up much later than I had expected. I was working on presentation I will give today in the Earth Science and Biology Department at UCM. Our topic is Successful Teaching (aka Classroom Management) and my presentation is for graduate teaching assistants.

I finished getting my thoughts, ideas, and activities organized at roughly 1:00 a.m. this morning. Nola and I stepped outside for a quick walk through our darkened back yard. In a matter of few minutes we saw two very bright meteors zipping across the sky. I wasn't sure but I thought that I several more, but faint in the hazy sky. Joy!

Nola and I decided that since we were already up, we would go a head and wait another hour for the moon to set. And at 2:00 a.m. I turned off all the lights in the house and we stumbled into the back yard.

It was a near perfect 65 degrees last night and the skies had cleared up considerably. I was unable to see the eastern horizon (for my house and the large trees in my back yard) but I had a good view of the rest of the sky. It was dark, but the faint haze seemed to reflect some of the 'Burg's light back to us.

Nola and I sat. And we sat some more. Quietly waiting for our eyes to adjust to the darkness. Allowing our eyes to relax. Opening our eyes to the night sky.

Quietly yet brightly, several meteors flashed across the dark sky. Most of them headed southwest. Several more, dim and stealthily meteors marked their paths through the stars. Even more appeared as faint tracers, perhaps they were nothing more than some shadow of a youthful indiscretion.

Still we sat. My back was beginning to complain from sitting too much during the day and from now being scrunched down in an unforgiving, metal patio chair. The grass was wet on our feet. The mosquitoes were oddly underrepresented. Or perhaps it was all that garlic I have been consuming?

After each flash of light I would wait. My hand on Nola's back. Just one more. I'll go inside after one more. But another would reveal itself, and then another. I stifled a yawn and considered pulling an "all-nighter." I reminded myself that I had work in only a few hours.

Slowly I got up. Stretching my back. Thinking, next time I'll put a tarp out and lay on the sleeping bag. Nola and I made our way back to the house. Carefully I shined the flashlight at the kitchen clock. It was only 2:30. I had seen over 30 meteors in about 30 minutes! And I wasn't counting the 'tracers' that I was uncertain about. How many could I have seen if I had driven 10 minutes to the south of town? Would the camera have cooperated with the hazy night? How lucky I am that it cleared up and that I was able to catch a few 'shooting stars'?

I was so excited and enthralled that I forgot to make a wish. If it's not too late for that wish: I wish for great viewing of the Leonids in November.