Megabytes

Last night, Matt V, Dennis A, myself and my 9yo goddaughter, Briauna, enjoyed a brief, pleasant evening atop Larch.

Matt and Dennis arrived before me and I’ll leave them to talk of what I may have missed. ;-)
Briauna and I made a very last-minute decision to go out right after dinner. She has been wanting to go out observing with me for some time and last night turned out be the night that circumstances conspired to make it happen. We arrived around 9:15pm and pulled in next to Matt.

Matt and Dennis were very welcoming of Briauna and began showing her objects while I set up my scope. Briauna was suitably impressed by the Andromeda galaxy, Hercules cluster, the double cluster, and my favorite open cluster, NGC 457. You may know it as the bug cluster or the ET cluster. I call it the owl cluster (It looks like an owl standing with wings open.) Briauna saw an alien staring back at her. “Spooky!” she remarked. (This may be a good object to show during a Halloween sidewalk event!)

Matt found Uranus and after boosting the power (what did you bring it up to, Matt?), thrilled us with views of the pale blue giant. We were also able to see one and two moons of the planet. Both were about 5 o’clock to Uranus.

We tested Briauna’s eyesight with Alcor and Mizar, as well as counting stars in Pleiades. While we ancient adults could count 6-7 stars, the strong-eyed child saw 12. Yup. That’s what she said.

I taught Briauna how to use the telrad and once she recognized Hercules in the sky, was able to locate M13. Many wows escaped her lips last night.

I don’t know if Briauna will continue to be interested in astronomical observing, but last night was so much fun for both of us. Thanks, Matt and Dennis, for helping to make such a great night for my goddaughter.

I’m at the beach. A comfy, relaxing cottage just south of Yachats, on the Oregon Coast. I’m not doing any work. I swear! I’m really just taking it easy; reading a sci-fi novel (Marion Zimmer Bradley), walking on the beach, collecting smooth cobble, and hanging with my mate.
I’ve brought my sketch pad and today made some quick sketches of people on the beach - just fast line drawings. One exercise I do is to look solely at the subject and draw my pen on the pad while my eye follows the outline of the subject. Oh, the subject has moved. start a new one. a new pose. It was great fun. I felt very in the moment and could have continued much longer if the wind wasn’t so persistent and ever blowing. I felt tired after my outings and all I did was walk a bit and sketch.

like these folks here.

No, this image is NOT upside-down. This is a drawing of a room at Canterbury Shaker Village, NH. The Shakers, so named for their prayerful-inspired wild gyrations, were great carpenters, farmers, educators and more. You may have heard of Shaker Furniture? It was designed to be practical, economical, and easy to store when they wanted to dance! Instead of picture molding going around the top of the walls, there was a ‘peg molding’ to hang things upon. The brooms had a loop at the end of the handle. The chairs were low-backed to not take up so much room and be easy to lift.
Quick! Hang the furniture. I feel the spirit coming on!

My partner’s family got together mid-August down in Southern Oregon. It was not a big gathering. The smaller group allowed for more individual connecting. These are people who live all over Oregon and we don’t get to see each other very often.

We had a picnic in Lithia Park - beautiful place in Ashland. Brought the deviled eggs (requirement for summer picnics, don’t you agree?), cold bbq chicken and fresh fruit. One of our party dug out his dart board and we hung it from a existing nail in a tree. I haven’t played darts in about twenty years, back when I was drinking and spent a lot of time in bars. Playing darts outside under sunny skies was a pleasant alternative to playing in a dark, smokey bar.

I’ve been getting back into drawing - pen and ink. Now why do they call it pen and ink? It’s not like I use a pen and lead! So, my black ink pen drawings - funny, I don’t like pencil as much, even though you can erase marks and tidy up lines. I love the feel of the ink. especially at different point sizes. I have permanent ink pens with .005, .03, and 1.0 widths. I also have a brush tip, but I don’t use it as much.
Many of my subjects are detailed technical drawings. Last weekend I was camping in the Ochoco Mountains, surrounded by beautiful tall junipers, rolling hills, sagebrush - and what did I draw? my campstove!