No stars in my eyes...

I miss being able to see the sky properly here in Vancouver. It's sort of sad that I can remember clearly the occasions when I could see the sky without the interference of millions of urban lights.

Outside Sooke in 1993, I was shocked by the depth I could see in the starry night. When I was in Hawaii in 1995 & 1998, I saw the dense band of stars that makes up the Milky Way. I almost couldn't believe that I was looking at something I'd only seen on TV & in books with my own eyes.

When I was little, I didn't think about how well I could see the stars. Now I think I'll never take it for granted again.

The stars paled in comparison to what we saw through the car windows on the Okanagan connector just out of Kelowna last Friday night. I was treated to my first sighting of the aurora borealis. It was amazing to see the bands of white flickering across the horizon: almost like searchlights.

Later that weekend, while we sat outside on the Kuehns' porch swing on Saturday night, we saw a handful of meteors tracing streaks in the sky. I've seen shooting stars before, but they're still a little awe-inspiring. I can't remember seeing a shooting star since the summer of 1996, laying on the public wharf in Horseshoe Bay.

Despite the brown glow that I usually see when I look out my window at night, I still don't want to live anywhere else. I talked to a lot of people in Winfield who were exclaiming their joy at having escaped "the big city" to retire in Kelowna & Salmon Arm & Enderby & Winfield & Oyama. Maybe when I'm old, I'll feel that way, but for now I love the Skytrain & the Co-operative Auto Network that allow me to avoid owning a car, the galleries, the pubs, the shopping, diversity of people, the late-night restaurants, all the continuing ed opportunities provided by the colleges & universities, the festivals to go to &/or perform at...