An interest in the stars

The extent of my knowledge about astronomy begins - and ends - with the Big Dipper, Orion's Belt and Cassiopeia. But it seems lately that everyone in the family is fascinated by the night sky. L. is always pointing out the shape of the moon and G. has been trying very hard to identify constellations and stars. I often print the sky chart to help us out but sometimes things aren't always so clear.

G. has a favorite book, "Once Upon a Starry Night" published by National Geographic. It's a children's book about constellations. So it was no surprise to me that G. chose that title for her entry at the Portland Public Library's Edible Book Festival last week. (BTW, next year you should check out this indoor event - a lot of the entries were incredibly clever.)

She mapped out the Pegasus constellation herself with Tic Tacs, even though she has never been able to actually find it in the night sky.
After making the cake, G. decided it was time for her to take a class about astronomy so she can "find that Pegasus." I agreed and we put it on our list of things to do together this summer. Between the Southworth Planetarium at USM's Portland campus and the Astronomical Society of Northern New England, we have plenty of opportunities to learn more about the night sky in southern Maine.

And if you're wondering what L.'s edible book entry was, she decided on her book about hand shadows. She has been building up her repertoire lately.

She made hand shadows on the wall and had me trace them. She then traced each image onto a toasted egg roll wrapper with food coloring.