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I spent a couple of hours in the driveway of the cottage that night, futzing with telescopes and peering at Jupiter. I'd thought I'd not have a chance to get a good observation in of any planets, because of the trees. I then realized the break in trees in the drive was positioned perfectly - Jupiter rose right between them, bright and obvious. I set up shop there with a pair of telescopes, a chair, and a candle, and forgot about the bugs and darkness. I had never in my life managed to look at Jupiter through a telescope, and... well, I found that it just made me want to buy a better telescope. The ones I was using (50mm and 60mm respectively) were little better than toys, wobbled terribly, and had almost useless sighting scopes.


The camera/telescope adaptor I'd bought was too heavy for the telescopes, and too small for my good camera. But, with the magic of a mere zoom lens and extreme cropping, I was able to resolve Jupiter as a small disc with the camera alone.


For comparison, this is what Jupiter looks like through a 60mm telescope, and more less what I saw.
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We went canoeing, swimming in "our" lake, visited Tobermory and went shopping, did more swimming, made bacon, and [livejournal.com profile] velvetpage made a smashing campfire with her old Girl Guide lore.


A cormorant came to visit. I think that's what that is. Or possibly a spider monkey?


Claire did NOT like the canoe. "I'm dying!" she claimed, at one point.


Curiously, she was quite happy to paddle about in the same depth of water. The "lake" was about 4 feet deep in the middle, and no more than 2 feet deep near our cottage.


Later, I played Gulliver and towed the girls about to various rocks and other points of interest in the lake. This was alternately "Cormormant Point" and "Mermaid Rock."


[livejournal.com profile] velvetpage made a campfire!


Claire did NOT like the campfire, either. She was actually very afraid of it, because she didn't want to be burned. I suppose that's a fairly healthy fear.
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I set the telescopes up on the first night.


But, how would I know what to look at?

Why, I had Stellarium (free software!) running on my laptop.


See?

But... how would I know the compass directions?


That's where Fievel and Burger King came in...
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We are back from our vacation, away up north at Dorcas Bay. (Yes, "Dorcas.")

Day ONE

Precariously ... precariously ... precarious ... L-Y!


Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Garafraxa Street?


We're here!


[livejournal.com profile] commanderteddog believes that Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot had been staying at the cottage.


"Hawai"-style shirt? Check! Short trousers with extra pockets? Check! Sandals (not pictured)? Check! I am officially on vacation.
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Can you see it too?

Huzzah!

Jul. 7th, 2009 07:48 pm
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First of all - Happy 34th Birthday to [livejournal.com profile] velvetpage!


Second of all, Happy 10th Anniversary (again) to [livejournal.com profile] velvetpage. Thirdly of all, Happy 15th First Date Anniversary to [livejournal.com profile] velvetpage - sometime later this month, anyway.

Also, we're home now. Claire is happily stealing cheese from the fridge, Elizabeth is looking for Woody Woodpecker DVDs, God is in His heaven, etc., etc.


I highly recommend both The Annex Room in Stratford for quiet get-aways, and the current production of Bartholomew Fair. This is the first known such production of this Ben Johnson comedy ever presented in the Western Hemisphere. It makes Shakespeare's most bawdy bits look like school marmish puns. Full of bawds and pimps and curpurses and brawlers and Puritan heretics and cursing. The two ladies sitting beside us left during the intermission and didn't return. And, it ends with a Filthy Puppet Show!

The set design and costumes reminded me strongly of a Warhammer Fantasy LARP. I'm sad that way.

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