By Bob Ede

Started off for the creek well past bedtime. It was nearly dark. The sky still held some blue. I was hoping to rise above the clouds. The road is less familiar at night. A large owl flew in front of the headlights, disappearing into the sideline spruce. A lynx sped across the road. Rabbits crossed here and there, willy-nilly.

Up the road, I spotted the smallest and slowest rabbit. It was hopping across the ruts. I just about ran it over. I stopped and backed up to spot it in my headlights. It wasn’t a rabbit, but a big toad. I thought about that owl and how easy things must be.

I thought taking pictures of the Perseid meteor shower would be easy. The annual event boasts 100 meteors an hour. They originate from Perseus, but they are all over the night sky. I’d point the camera northeast and see a streak overhead. Missed again. It is about chance. Luck.

So, I forgot about the shower and focused on the Milky Way, Cassiopeia and Andromeda. Old friends. I listened for the sound trees make even when there is no wind. It could have been the falling stars rustling through their limbs.

A shooting star is like nothing else.  It is easy to think it only exists in your imagination. It is easy to think you thought you saw it, but it was so perfect it couldn’t be real.

Bob Ede gets up too early to stay up late driving the back roads in search of galaxies far, far away. He can be reached at [email protected].

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