Did any of you watch the mid-August meteor shower this year? My mom mentioned that she and my dad and brother had sat out in the backyard watching them for a while, but I doubted I'd see anything of it, living here in the well-lit city of Milan.

However, Tammy called that Sunday afternoon: they were planning to drive out of town just after dark, and look for a place to look for falling stars. I went along, and we left Milan around ten. We drove for well over an hour, stopping at a park near the river to check the view (okay, but still too close to a town) and then to see downtown Novara lit up (the picture to the left is of the cathedral there). Finally, we found the perfect spot--a small road between fields a little off of the interstate. The only things around were what seemed to be a small monastery and the now-distant Novara cathedral on the horizon. Tammy, Michela, and I laid down in the middle of the road (we never saw a car on this little road) and watched the sky. Lewis, Tammy, and I each saw various shooting stars, but we never managed to see the same ones. We stayed until after midnight, until Michela finally saw one, too. It's a little difficult for a four-year-old to just sit still and look. :) The one she saw was the best of the evening--bright, right across the milky way, leaving a streak across the sky.

We headed back home to the city on the interstate. Tammy started singing, hoping Michela would fall asleep in the car, and Lewis and I soon joined in. We sang most of the way home. Michela never did fall asleep, even though we tried not to sing anything upbeat. We sang in English, and many of those songs I don't think I've sung since I was in college. I hadn't realized just how much I miss singing in English, and the familiar songs. That's the thing I most loved about Freed-Hardeman, the fact that we sang every day. The Shorts enjoyed singing, too, and we decided to get together every week for a time to plan our weeks and to sing together. That was the point that I knew that I was going to enjoy working with them this year; I have found people who like to sing!