TONIGHT I AM 'OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD'...THE HARRY POTTER WIZARD THAT IS:))

A YOUNG ROBIN DROOPS IT'S WINGS IN THIS AFTERNOON'S HEAT

Our front yard was awash in Moonlight this morning as I was out of bed early again & headed for my recliner.  Didn't fire up the laptop or my usual ambient music.  Didn't even turn a light on.  Just sat quietly in my chair with beams of gentle moonlight filtering through the Pine trees & alighting softly on our living room floor.  Sometimes, I wish quiet moments could last forever.

Like many other folks across the land right now we are spending our days in the safety, security & comfort of our A/C.  We are sooooo glad we made the decision 3 summers ago to put in central air.  I did slip out earlier in the day figuring on trimming some weeds but 10 minutes later had me back in my recliner enjoying the air conditioned cooling Arctic breezes from a fan near my chair.  I was soon considering the addition of a sweater.    
When I saw on the news awhile back that Slave Lake in Alberta was deluged with rain & saw the sudden flash flood that resulted I wondered if Ivan from ROADTRIP 2011 had been caught in that & had to break out his boat paddles.  I knew he had been in town schmoozing with Royalty's Will & Kate a few weeks earlier & we hadn't heard too much from him sense.  Figured he & Hailey had got themselves a little Star Struck maybe.  Ivan finally 'surfaced' in Blog Land Tuesday with his own photos of the flood that could very easily have turned his truck camper into a boat swamper!!

It was the pure magic of the first Harry Potter movie I saw years ago that brought me back to each movie thereafter.  However, the simplicity & charm of that first movie quickly gave way to a darker and murkier form of magic & madness.  By the time I saw the last Harry Potter movie in the series I had been left so far behind in the thickening plot twists that I had no idea of who was being most violent to whom. 

Tonight I shall don my round black Potter glasses once again & head off to the land of Muggles, Quiddich, Hogwarts & Half-Bloods.  I shall grip my theater seat tightly, expand my lungs deeply & oxygenate my brain thoroughly.   I shall focus my mind on the big screen before me in hopes of not being left in the wretched dust when I am once again swept up & whisked away to the land of magical mayhem & violence .  Wish me luck now.... lest I cast a spell upon you all.

My interest in Astronomy began in earnest while we lived in the old tumble down farm house back in the late 90's.  We had crystal clear night skies with hosts of shimmering diamonds overhead.   I found myself increasingly drawn to the infinite darkness that enveloped us each & every night of the year. 

Subscribed myself to a Canadian Astronomy magazine called, SKYNEWS.   This quickly led me to editor Terence Dickinson's book, NIGHTWATCH third edition. 

On many warm & not so warm nights, armed with my new book & it's open page star charts I headed out the door, across the driveway & into the field about 10 yards away.  There, I set up my tripod with a pair of 7x50 binoculars steadily affixed.  Seated in a lawn chair with Astronomy book on my lap & a dim red beamed flashlight to read by, I began pouring over the star charts trying to figure out what I was observing all laid out above me. 

Tomorrow night I will tell you about my early night sky discoveries & the beginnings of many pleasant nights under the stars with no one to ask for directions to where I was going.  I would have to find my own way to the far off Stars, Constellations & ever elusive traveling Planets.

The photo below actually shows a very typical boon docking set up for us in the desert.  I included this photo to show my binoculars set up on the left hand tripod for day or night viewing.  On the right tripod is my Stellarvue 80" Nighthawk Refractor telescope which I have 3 separate eye pieces for.  More about this telescope in a later post.  This is the same telescope/lens I use on either my Nikon D40 or my Nikon D90 cameras which turns that Telescope into an equivalent 700mm photo lens.  The way the telescope appears in the photo does not show either a camera or the eyepiece set up on the far end. 

Ok, time to saddle up my Quiddich broom & head off in search of Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows..........the final movie.  But first..........

THE LAST PARAGRAPH:  Being I was in a big hurry to get the blog out early tonight I didn't come up with anything for the last paragraph except to say that the old nugget, 'Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained' has been rattling around in my head all day..........   

I TOOK THIS MOON SHOT WITH THAT 700mm TELESCOPE LENS ATTACHED TO MY NIKON D90 ON DECEMBER 21ST 2010 NEAR ELFRIDA, ARIZONA...ONLY CONTROL I HAVE ON THIS MANUAL

GROANER'S CORNER:(( 

I halve a spelling checker,
It came with my pea see.
It plainly marks four my revue
Mistakes I dew knot sea.

Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait aweigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the era rite
Its rarely ever wrong.

I've scent this massage threw it,
And I'm shore your pleased too no
Its letter prefect in every weigh;
My checker tolled me sew.

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The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right
now...... AL.