starry_night epitome of incomprehensibility Van Gogh had stars in whirls and whorls, bigger and brighter than the usual specimens. I just had a tiny one I mistook for a circling aircraft. I was out around ten with Shiloh, who had done his business and was now sniffing at a hole in the snow. The clear night sky drew my eyes up. I found Orion, a staple of the northeastern American sky in most seasons, and a bit above it what I thought was an airplane. The house is close to Dorval Airport, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport to be fancy. I was familiar with small bright blinking dots. So I fastened my eyes on it, expecting a slow line of progress, but it seemed to be moving in circles. Helicopter, then? The dog tugged. All right, we'll move. He found another place to sniff and I looked up again. The supposed aircraft hadn't moved in its position relative to the other stars, though it did look like it had a white light and a slightly reddish one that was blinking. But was it red? I'm not good at seeing that Mars is red. I can imagine it red. Anyway, I realized what the blinking was: that's what "twinkle" meant in "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." Stars seem to get brighter and dimmer. Something in earth's atmosphere causes this. And the blinking, the twinkling, made it seem like the star was moving, circling - an optical illusion. I looked up again to confirm, but it was time to get back to earth to scoop poop and such. 240222 ... e_o_i (Compare dream_stars, only dream_stars was scary and this wasn't. Rather refreshing, being caught up in the concerns of the sky on a cold, clear night.) 240222 what's it to you? who go blather from