Dolly, First Night hasn't been around in Akron long....maybe 7 years? Most of those Dec. 31sts we've been out of town, so we've never been!
Last night was exquisite weather-wise for all the events. Did you enjoy yourselves???
kay, my sister and I and our sons had a great sky-gazing session Tues night, altho the wind made it too brrrr.....BUT it was clear, and we found the Andromeda nebula very easily, despite the half-moon nearby.
She has less light pollution than I do too, so it was really neat to see so much!
Way back when I was a Jr. in high school I built a camera to photograph the stars. It had a 62 inch focal length and was 63 inches long. It was a foot and a half in diameter and used 8 by 10 inch film. I bult a 720 degree rotating mount out of sewer pipe, auto transmission parts and an old washing machine motor. It could track at the earths rotation speed allowing for long exposure times. I used infa-red film (new at the time) which grealy reduced the effects of the earth's atmosphere. I got some fanstasic pictures. I won a superior at the State Science Show for that project.
Unfortuneatly that was about the time I discovered it was a lot more pleasurable to hold a girl in my arms under the stars rather than a camera. So astronomy went the way of many other worthwhile pursuits.
The astronomy thought association does indeed that bring back some good memories. The girl that brought me back down to earth was named Jewel... but I called her Judy.
I remember singing to her:
You're my angel Judy
You're my darling
The sweetest flower
Heaven ever grew.
I didn't call her Jewel because no one ever wrote love songs for Jewel. Every time I tried to write a love song for Jewel... all that came to mind was carrots... and then What's up, Doc? Mental images of Bugs Dunny are of no help in a romance with a beatiful young lady. So she became Judy and an angel to me.
When I went away to college Jewel started dating and eventually married a guy named Charlie. The funny thing is Charlie called her Judy too.
I ran into Charlie a while back. It seems Charlie and Judy divorced years ago. He no longer calls her Judy. I can't repeat what he called her in polite company. Come to think of it, I can't repeat what he called her in impolite company...either.
The one thing I remember is that Jewel looked just like her mom. When I dated Judy her mom was perhaps 55 and looked 35. Her Mom was an absolute knockout. That was before I knew that all girls turn into their moms. Had I known that fact, I would have come home from college on the weekends.
It think Charlies problem with Judy is he never learned how to carry a tune.