Tonight, tonight, won't be just any night...

...because this is the peak night of the annual Perseids meteor shower.

From NASA's website:

"Earth passes through the densest part of the debris stream sometime on August 12th. Then, you could see dozens of meteors per hour."

For sky watchers in North America, the watch begins after nightfall on August 11th and continues until sunrise on the 12th. Veteran observers suggest the following strategy: Unfold a blanket on a flat patch of ground. (Note: The middle of your street is not a good choice.) Lie down and look up. Perseids can appear in any part of the sky, their tails all pointing back to the shower's radiant in the constellation Perseus. Get away from city lights if you can.

Above: Looking northeast around midnight on August 11th-12th. The red dot is the Perseid radiant. Although Perseid meteors can appear in any part of the sky, all of their tails will point back to the radiant. Image copyright: Spaceweather.com, used with permission.

There is one light you cannot escape on August 12th. The 55% gibbous Moon will glare down from the constellation Aries just next door to the shower's radiant in Perseus. The Moon is beautiful, but don't stare at it. Bright moonlight ruins night vision and it will wipe out any faint Perseids in that part of the sky."

They advise that the time of evening that best reduces glare and increases the chance of seeing "earthgrazers", those with long, extra bright streaks, is between 9 and 11 PM in your local time zone, and there will be a "double peak" for quantity, between 11PM and 1AM, and again around 5AM tomorrow. Yes, I know it's prime posting time here, but everybody will be here tomorrow night; the meteors won't!

Last year, it rained or was cloudy here in the Northeast, but tonight the weather is looking very promising, so get outside, enjoy the show, and don't forget the bug spray!

For my cousin Greg

I checked my email this morning to learn that my cousin, Greg Wilder, died a few days ago. He wasn't a first cousin, but my mother's first cousin, and I didn't know him well, but I still had great affection for him.

I actually have barely any memory at all of him from when I was a child, but I do remember that my mother would speak of him fondly, very proud of his minor celebrity status. She always had to add that he had changed his name because his real one seemed too ethnic in the 1950's entertainment world. I never had a chance to ask him about it myself, but I always wondered why he even changed his first name from Robert. Now, I suppose, I will never learn.

My mother's extended family never stayed close, so the only time I ever saw him as an adult was when he came to her wake. He was probably about 70 then, but he was spry and personable, and we exchanged email addresses. We would exchange pleasantries once in a great while, and he would call me "cuz" like we were teenagers. It was very cute.

I visited the website link he sent me, and learned that he was still out there, crooning Sinatra and other standards at weddings and swing dances, at an age when most of us expect to be retired. He loved it, and was pretty good, too. There are sound bites you can reach from the link if you're interested.

I hadn't heard from him in quite a long while, over a year, when I made a post about my mother, both here and on another blog site. I forwarded the link to a few family members, fully expecting that he'd be someone who I would hear from. When I didn't, I wondered about his health, and realized that I had no way of contacting him except through email, and I don't even know any of his intimates to contact them.

I learned today that he suffered from lung cancer, and that he passed away on Monday. I find myself sad that my life had moved in a direction and pace that didn't allow me to know him better, my "luvincuz" Greg.

Mmmmm... I love pie!

At a gathering of friends last week, we had lots of food left over, including about three pounds (yes, pounds, not pints) of blueberries, compliments of one of our assembled group. He insisted that I take them home, and I told him I just might have to make a pie with them. He said that if I did, I had to promise to post pics.

I ate blueberries all week long - on cereal for breakfast, on sorbet for dessert, and snacking all by itself. By today, I still had at well over a pint left, and I could tell they wouldn't be good for eating right out of the container much longer. What's more, it's been a lonely, emotionally stressful week for me, and I have learned that little does more to banish blues for me than to lose myself in some cooking.



Yes, it was probably a little insane of me to have my oven turned on in this heat and humidity, so I decided to at least wait until the daytime heat was gone, and then was forced to wait a bit longer, until the rain had abated enough for me to open the doors to let some cooler air inside.

Right before it went into the oven, I brushed the crust with a little egg and sprinkled it with sugar. I do admit, I cheated a bit, using a store-bought crust instead of from scratch, but that would have been far too much work tonight.

So, this is how I spent my Friday night - exciting, huh? And here is the result of my labors, thanks to my friend.



Here's the finished pie, all hot and juicy from the oven.

I couldn't bring myself to wait until morning, and so indulged myself in a slice as a bedtime snack, accompanied by some vanilla soymilk (no dairy for me):



The first slice is always a little messy, but it was as good as it looks!

I'm licking spoon, plate and fingers as I type this. (Can we say sublimation, boys and girls?)