Lots of firsts lately and upcoming. The 3rd-quarter binge on the Peak on the 9th was Liam's 1st (at 7) and my first since a night with the SF Sidewalk gang on Mt Tam in '80. On 1 January we picked up ole #31 from Mark Taylor and have been doing plenty of eyepiece time in the backyard, our first telescope, Oscar.

Liam is fascinated with individual stars, was riveted with Rigel and its color from the Peak, then compared with Betelgeuse. He had figured out how to sight right away at home, with cursory directions, found Rigel on his own. That night I spent long moments staring at M31, M42, the Double Cluster and M34, all for the first time that night thru a scope and candidly a big jump from binocs. Registered several astounded outcries. Also studied the Cassini division for many content minutes.

Thru the scopes of others we got to see iota Cas thru Paul Sterngold's refractor, the Eskimo nebula thru Rashad's and Mark's scopes, a 12th mag galaxy the number of which I didn't write down, thru Rashad's wonder machine, and M37 & M36 thru Mark's SCT. Watched Saturn thru everything, incl Doug's Coulter and Mark's Obsession (aptly named).

What I didn't find was the elusive and wondrous Marsha Robinson, during her Messier tour triumph. Now we've met in dense fog and attended the same party, during which I looked around for a likely resemblance but somehow missed her and her 10".

Liam was just thrilled to find another kid, Paul Sterngold's daughter Joanna. They had a big old time showing each other the sky and making up games.

Learned about what Rashad taught me to regard as Dobson's hole, zenith, and much about the vagaries of diagonals on finderscopes, which are now cordially regarded hereabouts as the devil's invention. The method I've picked for learning the basics is to go constellation by contellation, starting with Perseus & Auriga and moving to Orion, starting with the main attractions and moving in on details.

Very big news for us is that tomorrow Liam and I go up to Lumicon, after long study and deliberation, to get a Celestron 11" Dobs. Given Buynoski's warnings about the call of the throbbing want gland, now we have the money and figgered we better move on it. All three in the household are pretty damned excited.