As I got out of the car into the muggy darkness last night after working 8 hours at the library I heard the unmistakable sound of generators humming.  At all the neighbors homes.  DRAT!  We had a couple day power outage last week, and last Wednesday I threw out several bags of food from our fridge and freezer as a result.  Yesterday the power went out around 2 while I was at work, and didn’t come on till about 8 this morning.  Today I have bagged up a couple bags of food from the fridge and freezer.  Again.  The good news was that I had been too busy to really stock up on stuff, so there was less stuff to throw away.  And the really good news is that now my fridge and freezer are clean!

So Katie and I slept in the tent last night.  The 3/4 moon was high and there was lots of light in the backyard.  The house was dark and she doesn’t like the moving light of flashlights or lanterns, so the tent was a good choice.  We fell asleep to the hum of generators.  Very early this morning I had to use the bathroom, so we trooped back inside.  But on our walk back to the house I was looking at the stars, so many, so bright, focusing on a planet in the southern sky when I saw the most beautiful shooting star!  What luck I thought!  To happen to be sleeping in the tent and happen to have to go inside to use the bathroom, and happen to be looking in the right direction!

Then I remembered that it was August 11, my mother’s birthday, and a date when the Perseid metero shower usually is at it’s brightest!  News reports today say the best viewing for people in North America will be “between midnight to 5 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 12, (that’s tonight!) but late Tuesday night and also Wednesday night could prove fruitful, weather permitting.”

Katie and I will be in our back yard studying the sky tonight.  Hope you can watch too!