...Sun Salutation...

I'm not a morning person, but I've been crawling from my bed at 5am to show solidarity for my hard- working partner, J. He gets up at 5am every morning to cycle 6 miles to work in the dark, in all weather, packing fruit and veg at a wholesalers.
This new emergence time gives me three extra hours to wake slowly, write, drink coffee and prepare breakfast for our three year old son when he wakes.
I practice yoga. A clumsy, shuffling sun salutation, then I sit down to check my emails and write. This morning I checked Twitter. "Go outside- heads up for a meteor shower in the northeast sky" tweets the beautifully named Tristan Gooley, the Natural Navigator.
I dutifully head outside and look up at a clear, starlit, pre-dawn sky.
"I'll give it a couple of minutes, then head in" I thought, already getting a crick in my neck and violent shivers in the January air.

Whoosh! There! One, two... another... and more lights streak across the sky and I'm beaming.
Not only shooting stars but satellites, the ISS and planes blinking and gliding; more meteors. What a show! I pick out constellations, Orion, Taurus and Seven Sisters. It's truly beautiful.

The first hint of dawn behind me tints the whole sky above a strange sort of peach melba, then a clearer blue. The stars slowly fade as the new day reaches up and over my head, then down over the western horizon.
Perspective and a free light show, all before breakfast. I head inside to say hello to my waking son.

Look up!
http://grade9scienceplummer.wikispaces.com/Constellations
http://www.seasky.org/constellations/constellations-january.html

Find out more about the Quadrantid Meteor Shower.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/jan/03/quadrantid-meteor-shower-dazzle