Sunday, August 21, 2011

Lovely Day!

This morning a friend picked me up, and we drove to another friend's place for spinning group.

Across the road, there was a flea market, so we stopped in for fun. I got a kick out of this old "wool winder":
IMG_4986
Definitely hand made! The hooks are bent nails. I found an antique shoe stretcher for $2. (My grandma usually needs her shoes stretched, and mine could often use it too.) Plus it was neat, and only $2. (I left the $10 "wool winder" behind... I don't think I could use it.)

Then we continued on to the spinning group, where there were lots of animals to pet as well. :)
IMG_4997
IMG_5006
The llamas didn't come close, but Mikey the dog loved attention. And, of course, as the person allergic to cats, I was the only one who had the barn cat jump onto her lap. (Thankfully it jumped back down when I looked at her and said "NO".)

We spun outside (some in the sun, some in the shade... I chose shade), had lunch, then spun some more. (Some people knit, but that's okay too.)
IMG_5015
It was a *beautiful* day, and not too hot. :)

After I got home, I had a nice nap (I didn't go to bed early enough last night).

I watched a movie I got in the "previously viewed" bin, it was quite enjoyable.

About an hour ago, I went out to take out some getting-stinky trash (I had shrimp for dinner last night), and did a little star-gazing. There were some clouds, but the rest of the sky was quite clear. I saw one shooting star (Perseid?), Cassiopeia, Polaris, Ursa Minor, part of the big dipper, and what I'm guessing was a satellite (moving south to north at a constant speed, but not an airplane) and possibly the space station (something extremely bright, to the left of the moon, apparently stationary). The police helicopter also circled overhead several times.

Hmmm... googling, it says that the space station isn't in geosynchronous orbit, so the bright thing isn't the space station. I tried looking it up on a star chart, but am having trouble wrapping my head around the placements. (I think I'd need to take my laptop outside, and hold it above my head... but I'd rather go to bed now.)

I hope you had a lovely day too! (I suppose tomorrow I'll have to actually cross something off my list... or at least tackle the dishes that have, somehow, once again stacked themselves up.)

4 comments:

Bethany said...

Planet?

Sounds like a good day. :-) I especially like the last picture of the sky.

noricum said...

Looking at the chart, it was either a planet (possibilities were Jupiter or Venus... but I wouldn't think Jupiter would be that bright, and it was rather far from the sun for Venus) or the M45 cluster, unless I'm totally useless at reading charts.

Bethany said...

Almost certainly Jupiter.

I saw it this evening (confirmed to be Jupiter by Star Walk, which is basically hold-up-your-laptop for the iPod/iPhone). It's VERY bright, which is why it caught my attention.

The Pleiades are clearly a cluster of stars and are much dimmer.

noricum said...

Thanks! I suspected it was Jupiter, but didn't it could be so bright. I know it's big, but it's *very* far away. I guess that goes to show how little I know about astronomy. ;) (And yet my student gets me to tutor him in it!!!)