Paulina - 1-5-2012 at 07:41 PM
This is being re-posted at the request of Baja Bernie, something I wrote in 2007. Thank you Bernie for reminding me of the simple things, they mean
the most.
And what of the sounds of.... the stars, and the moon.
When my son was three years old, he and I spent our first of many summers in Bahia, just the two of us. Our evening tradition was to sit together on
one lounge chair, his head resting on my chest as he sat in my lap.
The chores had been done, dinner long over, questions and short discussions of our day concluded, leaving the campfire to be the only light and sound
to occupy the evening before going to bed.
One night as we sat there watching the fire, the bugs flying in attracted to the light, occasionally looking up at the stars we both noticed one star
in particular that seemed a bit bigger than the rest. It was directly over the top of Horsehead Island and the oddest thing about it was that it kept
getting bigger and seemed to be advancing like a train's headlight through a tunnel.
I could feel his body start to tense, his shoulders and head shrink lower and lower, shrinking into my body as he and I watched this shooting star as
it seemed to be coming straight at us.
What should have been a quiet awe inspiring moment beneath the moon, turned into the loudest shriek to startle the desert awake as my boy threw up his
arms and yelled, "MOM! DUCK!!!!"
The shooting star soared above our heads, I'm sure millions of miles away from singeing our hair, but not to the eyes and imagination of my son.
As it passed I turned to watch it burn out of sight behind the mountains to the west as Connor hid his eyes behind his hands, sure that the falling
star was going to land right in our lounge chair and ruin our evening.
I started to laugh. He didn't understand my reaction to what was an almost life and death experience in his young mind.
The sounds of the stars and the moon that night were something that I shall hear in my memory for a long time.
P<*)))><
Pompano - 1-5-2012 at 07:46 PM
Excellent! Brava, Paulina! Reading that, I was ducking, too.
24baja - 1-5-2012 at 07:59 PM
Paulina that is an awesome memory. The sounds for me, well it is the whoosh of the whale hunting in LA Bay, the call of the osprey, the song of the
coyotes and the stillness at night. How I long for BOLA!
Islandbuilder - 1-6-2012 at 10:35 PM
Beautifully written!
Have you ever HEARD a shooting star? A soft sizzling sound, followed by the "boom" as it explodes from the heat and strain of gravity.
Natalie Ann - 1-7-2012 at 08:32 AM
Thanks for sharing this sweet and funny memory, Paulina.
Kids and Baja - two of the best things to happen in life.
nena
Skipjack Joe - 1-7-2012 at 10:09 AM
Kids and baja go together.
I see he's inherited your sense of imagination, Paulina.
Pompano - 1-7-2012 at 10:39 AM
Paulina..
You brought back a great childhood memory. When I was about 5 or 6, I was sleeping under the moon and stars on a camping trip with my two older
brothers. Too nice to sleep in the tent, we laid our bedrolls outside to stare up at the heavens.
It was a very bright night and we could see some fluffy clouds drifting by.
Brother Dave said to me, "See those clouds up there? They're one thousand miles away.. and going about a thousand miles an hour, too."
Wow!...I never knew THAT before. Big brothers are always good for solid camping info.
vgabndo - 1-7-2012 at 02:08 PM
I think that the frequency of visible meteorites is the same in Baja as in Bakersdiego. It is the lack of 24/7 noise and light here in the mountains
and there in the desert that allows us to be part of that constant light show which is lost to those in the megalopolis.
I remember distinctly to this moment the way the goose bumps rose when one night in the desert the canyon wall was suddenly illuminated as if by an
arc welder followed in a few seconds by the long and trailing sound of thunder.
For a naked ape, that was a visceral connection to an explained element of a mysterious cosmos.
Lots of folks circle-up, season permitting, to bundle in the parking lot of the old Ski Shasta at 8,000 ft. to watch the various meteor showers as we
have some light pollution even in a town of 3500.
Skipjack Joe - 1-7-2012 at 02:28 PM
The best star gazing I ever had in baja was at 5 years ago at Calamajue.
It was August and the temperatures were unbearable. There was no way to sleep in the camper. So we took the sheets and laid them on the beach.
The stars were overwhelming. Extended from one side of your head to the other. There was no avoiding them. Everywhere you looked they reached into the
dark unknown. I just remember laying there transfixed, unable to do anything other than surrender to it all. It was beyond comprehension. There was no
way to understand it and attempts at doing so just diminished it all. I just let myself go.
Even now I'm having a hard time explaining how it was. It was a spiritual experience.
Pauline
Baja Bernie - 1-7-2012 at 02:59 PM
Thank you so much! It was even better the second time...
Ken Bondy - 1-7-2012 at 03:31 PM
Beautiful story Paulina, reminded me of lying on the sand watching the stars with my kids at San Francisquito. Thanks!!!
Just another bump bcause I enjoy reading it so much
Baja Bernie - 1-8-2012 at 07:52 PM
805gregg - 1-8-2012 at 08:03 PM
The silence is the best part.
[Edited on 1-9-2012 by 805gregg]