Skygazing

Courtesy of Caltech

Wednesday night I walked out of the cottage with Oscar,
one last time before bed,
and noticed how bright the stars were.
When we came back in, I told my New Orleans nephew,
and he said there is so much ambient light where they live it's hard to see the stars.
So we headed for the pier in the dark, my niece-in-law in tow,
with just the light of the stars to guide us.

The sky was glorious - thick with stars.
The air was still warm and humid, even after 11pm,
but the wind was blowing and the air felt great.

And then we saw the moon, just rising.
Not full, but big and orange and low in the eastern sky,
reflecting in the lake.

And a few minutes later in the western sky,
a huge shooting star.

We went to bed happy.