Puppy love

 

No, they’re not ours.  

No, we’re not getting one.

But aren’t they so 😍😍😍??

When the stars align

We’re studying astronomy, which necessitates periodic stargazing adventures.

Our only stargazing event that hadn’t yet been rained out was a mixed success, so it was with no great confidence that I woke the kids at 3:30 in the morning to seek out the Lyrid meteor shower.

We brought every blanket and warm article of clothing we could pack in the car the night before, as well as thermoses of hot chocolate (my best attempt to make my children lifelong lovers, not haters, of science).  

We drove out to the country and set out our blankets on the snowy (!) ground, and I set up the telescope and camera tripod, and then we lay down and waited. 

In the meantime, we observed the Big Dipper:

and searched long and without success for Leo.  While I was scouring the glow-in-the-dark constellation book and puzzling over the southern sky, the kids started seeing shooting stars directly overhead.

In all, Caleb saw five (although this number is disputed) but other, reputable, sources saw three, and even I saw one, the biggest one of all that finally streaked across the part of the sky where I was looking.

No one got frostbite, everyone saw a shooting star, kids got hot chocolate, and everyone got a little bit more sleep when we got home.  So if my kids hate science their whole life, it’s not my fault.

Uranus is elusive at best, shooting stars are fleeting, but a supermoon is, by definition, big.  Even my resident sceptic, Ada, hypothesized that we would be able to see the April supermoon.  And we did! 

And although the supermoon was technically most full at 11:32pm, when I made my kids get up and see it, it’s actually more impressive at moonrise against the horizon.  Point noted for next month’s supermoon.

And speaking of rare, elusive, exciting events: I got my second covid shot!

I got shot at 8:30 in the morning and felt great all day until evening, when I was drooped all over the couch and gave up and went to bed at 7:30pm.  Although I was in bed a full twelve hours, I tossed and turned, head aching, sore all over (calves, back, elbows) and in downright pain in my arm.  Then I woke up freezing in the middle of the night, so I dragged another blanket over myself, and then I woke up hours later drenched in sweat.  The next morning I dragged myself up, made pancakes that I hoped would fill me with fresh life.... but then went back to bed for another several hours.  By evening I finally felt less sore, and the next morning I woke up feeling great again.  

So I’m pretty sure they gave me something more than saline this time at least. 

And thus, we’ve lived through history and hopefully come out at the beginning of the other side.  I hope the light of gladness only grows as we reunite with friends and family, and that we receive all the good things of God as the gifts they are, never again taking for granted freedom of movement, family dinners, or the fellowship of the saints.