I got up early this morning to see the lights. Astronomers had promised that a meteor shower would provide the kind of celestial fireworks that we only get to see three times a century.
Sure enough, a little before 5:00 a.m., I saw a stream of lights the likes of which I'd never seen -- automobile headlights. Hundreds of people had hopped in their cars and headed for prime viewing spots along the Potomac River.
Unfortunately, a thick fog had risen from the waters making the great Leonid Shower of 2001 a bust like Kawhotech (ph), Halley's comet and other asteroid fizzles of recent memory.
I doubt that before September 11 thousands of Washingtonians would have risen early on a Sunday to watch ice and dust slice through the skies, shedding slivers of light. The world is more precious and wondrous to us. We cherish the blaze of autumn leaves, the sunrises and sunsets, the quality of each passing day.
So, just in time for Thanksgiving, we count our blessings. And even when we dearly want to see the gleaming Leonids, we still manage to marvel at the ghostly, gauzy beauty of the predawn fog.
That's it for today.
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