Maple at Sunrise

It's Indigenous People's Day!  Yeah, yeah, I know a recent executive order reclaimed the holiday as only Columbus Day.  I personally prefer celebrating the First People more than celebrating the second European to land in the New World.    Since we are on the subject, to me the tallest mountain in the U.S. is Denali and the Rio Grande empties into the Gulf of Mexico.

Anyway, I didn't have any ideas this year on how to celebrate except by not picking up my mail.  On the constitutional tonight though I stood picking out stars and constellations.  The Milky Way made a carpet for Cassiopeia.  The teapot in Sagittarius is pouring out the last of the summer's warmth.   Too much low haze to see Orion kicking his leg up over the horizon but I knew he was there trying.   I was confused that the Summer Triangle was a rhombus until I realized one star was just Saturn wandering through the general vicinity.  Changing pictograms in a starry sky is exactly what  Native Americans would have also looked for.  Of course, while Columbus used dead reckoning, he did try to use celestial navigation methods too.   Guess star gazing works as a way to celebrate both versions of the holiday.