It’s Bay area cool where I live so I’m curious about where the term “dog days of summer” originated.  I thought it might have to do with days where we lengthen our tongues into ice cream scoops.

Now I learn that in the summer, Sirius, the brightest star visible from any part of Earth and part of the constellation, Canis Major, the Greater Dog, rises and sets with the sun.  The term refers to the 20 days before and the 20 days after the alignment of Sirius with the Sun – July 3 to August 11 – so we’re in the dog days of summer, and because dogs wisely lie down and reflect, I’m in contemplative mode. 

My mother was raised Christian Science and she simplified it for me to “All is Love”.  That philosophy has served me well. Therefore I’m puzzled these days because lately there seems to be a great deal of humor and angst about whether the word “love” is appropriate in political discussion.  

Mahatma Gandhi used nonviolent resistance to free India from the ruling domination of the British. I’m sure at the time it seemed futile, but as Margaret Mead is said to have said, Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world: indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.

For me, that commitment is the love of which my mother spoke.  

The star Sirius, though white to blue-white in color, radiates in our sky with many colors. She, and somehow I see her as a she, can be seen as a rainbow star, a twinkling composite signaling change.