meteors
there must be another term for an indian summer when it stretches well into november. i feel trapped in a seasonal purgatory, unable to wear either pastel springy clothes or wooly snuggly fall ware... unable to feel anticipation for the holidays... unable to shake the feeling that the 4th of july was only a few weeks ago... unable to fathom the freezing rain and snow storms but a few states away. this time last year, we drove miles and miles east and braved sub 30° F temperatures in the middle of the night to watch the "last spectacular leonid meteor shower we'll see until almost a century from now." surreal. beautiful. freezing. west-bound traffic jams, 5am, sunday morning. hour long wait at denny's.

yesterday: no wait! this year is going to be even better! bundle up! head to the mountains! peak is at 2:30am! perfectly clear skies! unobstructed view of the leonids! next showing this spectacular will be in 2099!

afraid of missing the this-time-we're-serious last spectactular meteor shower, we set an alarm and drove east, just in time for the peak. i saw two or three really beautiful, lingering tails. we had maybe 5 separate instances where we had more than one meteor in a minute. mostly, i was amazed at the moon. the full moon, in all of it's uncooperative glory. the perfect clear sky, the perfect meteor shower, but the moon so bright we could read.

i would like to do this more often, without the lure of some astronomical event. without the promise of something spectacular. without purpose. oh, to just park the car, follow some trails until the yellow rings around streetlights can no longer find me, until the red flashing lights on the radio towers are specks in the distance, in a different world, until it's so silent that i'm afraid.

next november, indian summer or not, i'll head out for the beginning of 96 years' worth of unspectacular leonid visits, and have this 2am silence to myself.