I was so excited. I was going to be at Grayton Beach during the Perse ersi ersi ids. (Check out the Lou and Peter Berryman song; it's great). Every night was beautiful; Venus was bright, and Scorpio was outstanding on the beach side of the house; Ursa Major and Casseopeia on the lake side. I had told all the other folks staying with us that I would wake them up to see the meteor shower. So I planned on doing that for the folks that actually were interested. Unfortunately, the sky was cloudy. We were at the beach for seven days and nights. The sky was clear for six of those seven nights. The only night it wasn't clear was August 12. I woke up at 3 am, 4 am, 5 am and 6 am, and saw NOTHING. NADA.
Next night, nothing. Next night, four shooting stars. Which was great because one kid who was with us at the beach, and is usually the kid who is hardest to take, was all over my knowledge of the stars and loved my laser pointer. This kid, just 8 years old, kept asking me to go outside with her to show her the stars. She had never seen a shooting star, until one night when we saw four. She is not the kid I would have ever thought would be interested in this stuff, but she was. I am so taking her to the planetarium this Thursday.
She is my new favorite kid. She was so happy to see her first shooting star, even though it was not a Perseid, given where it occurred in the sky.
But her parents, and the parents of other kids with us at the beach, all said that I was their new natural history guide. Because I know a lot about birds and stars. I figure that's a good way to be known.
But still, I am really disappointed that I was in a spot where the Perseids would be clear and I freaking couldn't see them.
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