2024.08.12

A Captured Moment?

Yesterday, I returned from two weeks of hitchhiking in time zones five and six hours ahead of my normal. I sat and relaxed with “J” for a while, but eventually succumbed to sleepiness at 7:30 p.m. (1:30 a.m. Munich time).

Of course, I was wide awake by 2 a.m.!

After devotions, shortly before 3 a.m., I remembered that the Perseid meteor shower was in full swing. So I grabbed my phone and stepped outside.

Even with the lights of the bank, I could see many stars to the east. I glimpsed two particularly bright lights just above the tree-line; I suspect they were Jupiter and Mars. I lifted my phone and held still for the long exposure.

Then I turned around and again tried to hold still for another. When I examined it, I was disappointed because I must have moved. There was a single streak near the middle of the picture. “Darn!” So I quickly tried again. “Success!”

Then I compared those two pics of the same location in the sky. Oddly, there was only one streak in the first; all the other stars seemed okay. I looked at the second and realized there was no bright star in the same spot!?

I’ll let you decide if I screwed up or captured a moment when the Author of LIFE, the UNIVERSE, and EVERYTHING was simply showing off!