Look up, child. Find the bright star in the north sky and look above it. See the ladle—that’s it.
It was my grandmother who first taught me how to find the North Star and the Big Dipper, where to look for them in the night sky. That’s because we were always outside at her house, always in her huge garden, in the soil, in the vegetables, in the flower beds and strawberry patches, in the cherry and apple trees, with the rabbits, with the cats, from morning until bedtime. The house was only for sleeping and eating, mostly. And at night there were stars and fireflies, dark bursting with tiny lights all around us. Summer days were magical and almost seemed to last forever.
