About this time every summer, the Perseid meteors streak across our night sky. This yearly spectacle requires clear skies of course, but every year it seems, there is at least one night in August when the stars are visible and the brief streaks of light captivate their viewers.
When our daughter, Claire, was young, we had a piece of land by Grand Lake, behind Howley, Newfoundland. My in-laws owned a piece of land there as well and we always visited when they did. The nights were lit by the campfire, a lamp, flashlight or a full moon. Sat around the fire, in the enveloping blackness, we were in an ideal location to watch the Perseids. Those nights around the campfire were some of the best experiences of our lives.
Over the next few nights, when the Perseids are at their peak, people all over the world will watch the spectacle, like they did millennia ago, as they will for eons to come. For this moment that is our place in time, we have the privilege of observing the Perseids, and without a full moon to lighten the sky this year.
I wish you clear skies the next few nights. Look up!
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