I’m such a fan of the stars and planets, learning more each day. So, this was the perfect gift! I’ve enjoyed seeing moon craters and Saturn’s rings and the redness of Mars. It’s always been pointed skyward, until this past weekend, when the floods came. Then, it occurred to me that I could aim it toward the river, which is to the east, and pretty far away, nestled below the Bluffs.

I can now see the old iron railroad bridge very clearly, and the water lapping it, and birds zooming by, as well as traffic along the freeway, toward the airport. I was startled during one viewing session when a Southwest jet crossed into the picture.

But I was REALLY SURPRISED and ENCHANTED when I looked through the telescope around sunset on March 17, 2019 and saw what looked like moving, multiple strings of lights in the darkening eastern sky. As I looked closer, (through the telescope, because I saw nothing with the naked eye), I saw that it was flocks of geese flying in formation with the sun reflecting off each one, as if a lit candle was somehow tucked into each bird’s wing!!

How to describe this further? I couldn’t photograph it—too far away, too transitory. So, I held the unbelievable image in my mind, and tried to project it onto this drawing, so maybe you can see it too, and imagine the wonder.

Here’s to always looking, and to sometimes being surprised!

Shirley