Orion.
"The Hunter."
Here in the Northern Hemisphere, a winter constellation.
(Taken in January, 2003, south of Phoenix.)
Shows up every year -- just before my birthday.
The "Orionoid Meteor Shower" peaks every year -- on my birthday -- sprinkling the sky with up to 20 meteors per hour.
On the belt slung around his waist -- a mark I wear in three different places -- he wears his sword.
The red dot mid-sword isn't a star at all, but a stellar nursery, known as the Great Nebula of Orion.
I guess everyone has something special that makes them feel linked to something beyond this world...something bigger than themselves.
Sometimes it's easy to forget that there's something bigger going on. A Grander Plan. Something to look for beyond the momentary collective downpour beneath the clouds that gather, exactly over our heads, whenever they feel like it.
For me, I see a little pattern, repeated on myself, in the heavens above, every year, around the time when God thought I should give this crazy-train we call mortality a try. A pretty self-absorbed way of thinking about it, I guess.
But maybe I see it backward. Maybe it's a pattern of Heaven He stamped me with. Just to remind me. Because sometimes we forget.
Not bad for my first time and at 100 yards.
Guess the camerapunk was feeling lucky.
Hmmm. Actually, no. It wasn't cold outside. At all. Try again.
