Surf City

After staying up so late to view the Lyrids, today was a wash. Fred is working on a pet project, which should pay dividends in the next week or two. Michael from Surf City Harley Davidson has been a great contact for us here in Orange County. It looks like we'll do a little bit of pro bono work for the City of Huntington Beach and probably turn that into some paid work - which is awesome!!

Fred will go to the meeting with the City next week, and I am confident that we will begin work right away.

The International Surf Museum in Huntington Beach is also interested in working with us on their newsletter, with the idea in mind that we can then assist with a multitude of items as needs arise. We met with Jodi on Sunday at a big event that they held at the museum, and it was wonderful to put a face to the name. We are aiming to get together with her very soon in order to iron out details.

Hot Date! The Lyrids

So we just got in from doing a bit of stargazing. Tonight was the peak of the Lyrid meteor shower, so Fred asked me out on a midnight date, complete with hot peppermint tea and the propane heater, to see what we could see.

The answer, as it turns out, is not much...at least not of the Lyrids (for more detail: Lryids Drowned in Moonlight Fred's excited because we are now, "intrepid and stalwart"). However, we had a blast with our binoculars and the telescope that Fred's parents gave us as a wedding gift. We each saw a few meteors cruise through as well, and enjoyed using different lenses to view the moon.

To me, the coolest part is seeing the things that you CAN'T see normally. What we'd learned before we went out was that Lyra has a double star in the form of Epsilon, just off of Vega...I know; it was all Greek to me before I started reading more about it. Anyhow, Epsilon is a double star with binoculars and a quadruple star with a telescope. Awesome. Looking at the dipper is amazing - even with just the binoculars. 

Anyway, it's the wee hours, but I thought I'd share the moment. It is truly awe inspiring to view the heavens using first your naked eye, and then progress to increasingly stronger lenses. For me, that begins with putting on my specs, and moving on from there. I feel like we discovered Lyra tonight, even though we had a meteor drizzle as opposed to a meteor shower. Mars is still hanging nice and red, although we seem to have lost Orion to the spring sky. Perhaps Fred will share with everyone the hilarious anecdote as to how astronomy maps had us both doubting ourselves on the basics of the compass!!

Been a while

This is just a quickie since we completely derailed. 

A ton has happened, but suffice to say that for the moment we are still in Southern California, and we were married on February 14. I am working for Surf City Harley Davidson of Huntington Beach, which is pretty cool. Fred is going to teach me the basics of riding a motorcycle so that I can take the Rider's Edge course sometime in the future and get my M1. "How?" I hear you cry. Well, he traded the Mustang for a motorcycle and there you go.

The photo here is from our wedding day. Well, more tomorrow, I hope. LOL