orionids

A clear night with the moonset a bit after two meant excellent conditions for watching this year's Orionids shower. Wrapped in a yellow sleeping bag, yr. correspondent lay on a slight rise by the bay at four thirty in the morning & confirmed the experts' assertion that meteors would shoot across the sky at a rate of twenty to fifty an hour. Anyone observering last night did not have to wait long in between appearances: once, two meteors headed in different directions burned up simultaneously; another time, three streaks of brief light in less than a minute. Sirius was so bright it seemed as though someone had left on a naked bulb in a bedroom, but there was no chance of asking for it to be turned off. The Big Dipper stood on its handle, the magician who commanded it to defy gravity hidden offstage. Only the rhythmic sounds of crickets & wavelets interrupted the calm until the night train in the distance sent out horn calls as it headed into town.

The gorgeous stars are, however, indifferent to our lives. It's up to us to care for each other.