The Camelopardalids is a onetime shooting star show. (warning: the article does say not to set your expectations too high).
I was so excited when I saw this. Xavier is having a sleep-over tonight for his 12th birthday. Eight twelve year old boys sleeping at my house!!!! And a meteor shower at 2am!!!!
I will wake them up and drag them all outside I thought to myself.
That is what Arta would do.
I never knew this was maybe not "normal" until I was grown and a friend told me that one of her most vivid memories was of a time she was sleeping at our house and Arta woke us up in the night and made us go stand in the rains at the corner of Crowchild Trail and 24th Avenue to watch a lightening storm. Oh, I thought to myself. Doesn't everyone's mom do that?
Thank you Arta for defining "normal" for me.
Thank you Mary, for considering me as normal. I read the same article you did today about the possibility of seeing shooting stars tonight. I went to the link in the article as well, to find out how to take good photographs. The article said if I don't have a good tripod, I should fill a sock with sand to make a stable place for my camera. I began looking through my single sock drawer to find the perfect item to use as a tripod so I can photograph tonight when the comets streak through the heavens.
ReplyDeleteI set my alarm clock for 2:15 and got up to check out he show. I stood there for about 10 minutes looking at the sky, not being able to remember where in the sky the show was supposed to be. I saw nothing.
ReplyDeleteSo I decided not to wake up the 9 twelve year olds in my basement who had just barely fallen asleep. I could only think of the amount of noise they would make out in my front yard waiting to glimpse a falling star.
I am such a stick in the mud.
That made me laugh, Mary. When the yearly comet show happens in August, most of the fun is getting the bedding out to the lawn, having a flashlight by each bed and the eating the evening snacks that go on and on all night. I doubt many people have ever seen the predicted shooting stars, for they can't stay awake that long, even when the streaks of light are overhead.
ReplyDeleteThere are oohs and ahhs when one goes by in the sky, but I am not sure that even half of the people have their necks craned in that direction. So they reposition themselves, only to find out that the light in the sky is now in another place.
Yes to saving the neighbours all of the noise of having 12 year olds out in the backyard all night. Boys that age don't know how to fall asleep.