"A large drop of sun lingered on the horizon and dripped over and was gone, and the sky was brilliant over the spot where it had gone, and a torn cloud, like a bloody rag, hung over the spot of it's going. And dusk crept over the sky from the eastern horizon, and darkness crept over the land from the east." ~John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath I am not feeling particularly verbose tonight, so I will just let the sunset speak for itself! And oh what tales it could probably tell! ~Mood: Quiet ~Me :)
"I never really thought about how I look at the moon. It's the same moon Shakespeare and Marie Antoinette and George Washington and Cleopatra looked at."
~Susan Beth Pfeffer, Life As We Knew It
There is a rumor that if you go outside, just after dusk, you will see something special in the western sky. It's a comet, and it's called Comet Pan- Starrs (C/2011 L4). I checked out the western sky at sundown, and I saw the bright silvery bottom outline of the moon, but there wasn't any sign of the comet. It should have been positioned to the left of the moon, a slight angle down in the sky. I didn't see it, but I think it was being obscured by a small amount of wispy clouds that were in the same general direction.
I heard from the doctor, and as it turns out I don't have Whooping cough, I have a fairly new virus that mimics Whooping cough. THANK GOD! I will still have about a 2 week recovery, but I won't have to do any of the unpleasant things Whooping cough would have demanded. And more importantly, Alan won't have to walk around in a mask, take anti-biotics, or inform his coworkers that they may have been exposed to the highly contagious, painful, stupid, coughing spasm disease.
False Alarm!
My virus is a poser! Let's hear it for posers everywhere! RAH RAH RAH!
See, kept my word!
Anyway, back to the sky watching. I am going to try to get enough rest so I can venture out tonight, only this time I will drive down Grizzly Peak to my favorite spot, where I have a better, unobstructed view of the sky. The same basic place where I do my sunset photos over the bay should do nicely. Wish me luck! I think I will stop at either Panera or this wonderful little Chinese restaurant I frequent, and grab some soup for the trip. I am not sure which place will win out, both offer such different experiences, but both are wicked good so either way I win. Now, if the medicine kicks in and does it's job, and the twilight sky doesn't let me down, I think I will have something special to show you tomorrow!
Stay Tuned!
*If you would like to join me in photographing our visiting celestial visitor, pop over to SpaceWeather.com to get yourself a sky map and be sure to stop and take a look at the wonderful images of the comet compiled so far!
