"New ideas come into this world somewhat like falling meteors, with a flash and an explosion."- Henry David Thoreau
The Perseid Meteor shower peaks around this time each year, as the Earth moves through the dust and debris that NASA describes as "about the size of Grape-Nuts cereal" left over from the Swift-Tuttle Comet, which comes around these parts every 133 years.
Funny that little clusters that size can put on such a show, but they do. As the leftover dust and rocks from the long ago comet burn up in our atmosphere, they make for the streaks of light in the sky. Those are shooting stars, and they're captivating.
NASA predicts this year's shooting star gallery is expected to be the best in several years since Jupiter's gravity will help tug the debris field closer to our orbit.
That being the case, we'll be stationed on the roofdeck tonight. I'm going to embrace my insomnia and see as many shooting stars as I can!
"Forecasters are predicting a Perseid outburst this year with double normal rates on the night of Aug. 11-12," said Bill Cooke with NASA's Meteoroid Environments Office in Huntsville, Alabama. NASA says a typical show has about 80 or so meteors per hour, but this year, "under perfect conditions, rates could soar to 200 meteors per hour."
Sign us up. The kids and I hauled cots and inflatable mattresses to the roofdeck earlier today. We'll be sleeping outside, hoping for a big show.
If you can't do likewise, NASA will be having an online Livestream here both Thursday night and Friday night starting at 7 p.m. PDT.
NASA's Cooke notes that the meteors we'll see this year are from comet flybys that occurred hundreds - perhaps thousands - of years ago. And these particles have "traveled billions of miles before their kamikaze run into Earth's atmosphere," says Cooke.
NASA's Cooke notes that the meteors we'll see this year are from comet flybys that occurred hundreds - perhaps thousands - of years ago. And these particles have "traveled billions of miles before their kamikaze run into Earth's atmosphere," says Cooke.
STORY TIME: I thought it time for the kids to flex some creative writing muscles today, so we went to the way back machine and revisited a website we used to use all the time - Scholastic's "Story Starters" machine.
Annabelle chose a fantasy story starter and after spinning she was tasked with writing an eerie story about a mystical spell caster who flies on a magic carpet.
Here's what she came up with ...
Once upon a time, a sorcerer was sitting in his tower. He had gone over every single spell in his books, trying to find something to do. Suddenly he heard a rumbling underneath him. He wondered what was happening, since no one was inside except him. As he slowly descended the stairs, he was greeted with a puff of smoke and fire as he realized his pet dragon had escaped from its cage. As it pursued him back up to the top of the tower, he scrambled to find anything to escape with. He recalled he had learned an animation spell and quickly used it on the nearest objects, trying to find anything that could help him. He hit many books, which promptly flew away by flapping their pages like wings. Than he had an idea. He used a levitation spell and an animation spell on his carpet. He jumped on and told his carpet to fly somewhere very, very far away from the rampaging dragon. The carpet bolted out the window just as he heard the dragon’s flame roasting the first bookshelf.
As he sighed in relief, his carpet landed in front of a castle with towering spires and a dragon-proof roof. He could see the dragon flying his way, and started banging on the door. “Please! Open up!” he screamed, “There is a dragon chasing me!” The door swung open as he was ushered inside by two knights. He told them about the dragon as they marched upstairs to look for it. Now he was alone in this dark castle. The only light was the various small torches that had swiftly gone out as the wind was let in by the trapdoors the knights exited through. He knew it was too dangerous to go up there, so he sat down and relaxed while he could.
Just as he had calmed down, he saw the shadow of something swiftly cross the wall. It seemed like it was much too fast and too small to be a person. He looked around until he saw it- a young dragon had made its way inside. This dragon was much smaller than the other, but they seemed to look alike.
He pondered what the baby dragon was doing there until he saw the chains- it, too, had escaped from somewhere. Suddenly, it struck him. The dragon that he had as a pet must have been looking for its child, which was now standing right in front of him. He knew what he had to do. As he gently removed the chains, he brought the young dragon up to the roof. The knights, attempting to deflect the elder dragon’s flames, yelled at him to stay down. But the sorcerer let the baby dragon go, and as soon as he did so it flew up to the large dragon, which had seized its attack.
The elder dragon took the baby upon its back and made grunting noises which sounded something like “I’m sorry” as it flew away. The sorcerer knew he had done the right thing and left the castle, now knowing you should never, ever try to separate an animal and its baby.
CJ's assignment was a little less, shall we say, taxing. He chose a 'scrambler' or mixed up story starter, and was subsequently instructed to 'write a birthday party invitation for a plaid lawyer who solves crimes. 
So that's what he did ...
You're invited to Jackson's 30th birthday party! Join us for a picnic and barbeque on Wednesday, April 20, from 3 P.M. to 6 P.M., at 4525 Ellabaily South. The theme of the party is detective stories and crime-fighting, so we thought you would make a great guest. If possible, wear plaid clothes to the party, as Jackson has always loved plaid clothes.
Not long, but he checked all the boxes ...
Good exercises. Saw a book one time made up of very very short stories. Some were just a couple of sentences. A lot of fun.
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