A&E Entertainment Presents...

The Annual Parkway Square-Dance
and Pig-Holler Hoe-Down!

Here we have the M.C. and his beautiful co-host, Sweetie!
This is a couple that likes both kinds of music - Country and Western.

The crowd get excited waiting for the festivities to begin...

The couples prepare for the grueling competition.

And the show begins!!


And it's at this point that things begin to go sadly awry...







The performances just weren't up to last years' standards.




The crowd turns hostile...





People begin leave...






And let's not even mention the pig holler...




Yet, despite all this, the day was not a complete loss.

The food, the games and the friendship was top notch!!

If you want to see more highlights -

and instructions on how to wear a hat properly -



Step on over to Lunar Mark's Picasa Web Albums.

The Day

“The day, water, sun, moon, night - I do not have to purchase
these things with money.”

- Titus Maccius Plautus

LVAAS Star Party - September 6, 2008

The Lehigh Valley Amateur Astronomical Society - LVAAS - is holding its monthly Star Party on Saturday, September 6, 2008. 

This event is free and open to the public. If you would like to learn more about the night sky or take a look through a telescope, please join us!

7 pm: Feature Program - “A Trip to the Moon ”

Club member Mark Tillotson will take us on a journey to our nearest neighbor, the Moon.  You will explore craters that are visible from Earth and see stunning new images of Tycho, taken by the Japanese lunar probe Selene. Learn about Tycho’s fascinating system of rays and the size of some of the incredible impact craters.

8 pm and again at 9 pm: Planetarium Show of the Night Sky

Assistant planetarium director Peter Detterliner will guide us through the September night sky this month. Please note: Planetarium seating is limited. Because the dome is lowered, visitors
must be seated under the dome to see the planetarium show.

7 pm – 10 pm: Telescope viewing of the Night Sky

Weather permitting, our observatory telescopes, plus individual club member telescopes, will be available for you to look through at various night sky objects. Feel free to ask questions about the objects you see or the telescopes you are looking through.

You can learn more about LVAAS and the Star Party at www.lvaas.net.

Lunar Geese

Image by Walter Siegmund, Fir Island, Washington.

What a beautiful image! It combines my two favorite hobbies: astronomy and birding. Click the image to see a larger version.

This was the August 28th post from LPOD - Lunar Photo of the Day.

Happy Birthday

Happy Bird day to Lee
Happy Bird day to Lee
Happy Bird day dear Lee
Happy Bird day to Lee

He claims to be 32 but that may simply be a consequence of short-term memory loss. I remember that he was 32 last year...

That means he's 33!

The Truth

“Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.”

- Buddha (Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, 563-483 B.C.)

The 4 am Moon

Music Mike and I went to the LVAAS site at South Mtn at 4am today to do some observing. By coincidence - the Moon had just risen...



While I was still talking about craters Mike found the Orion Nebula. It was great. Picasa has more photos from our little adventure - including some cool colors from the star 'Rigel' in Orion.

And if you want to know more about lunar craters - just ask! Sometimes I'm willing to talk about it...

Faded Letters

Across the street from the PPL Plaza is a building with an old advertisement painted on the bricks. We spend some time trying to figure out what it says. Can anyone offer a guess or an answer?




Click on the image to enlarge it. You can post your thoughts by clicking the comment button below.

Sold Out

What would you do if you arrived at the baseball stadium only to find the game is sold out?



Our next obvious choice involved food. After a brief discussion (it really was fairly brief) we decided on Johnny Manana's in Center City. So off we went for Mexican food.



And fun...



We all enjoyed the meal and then hung out in the plaza for a while.









Even though we were all up for eating peanuts and watching baseball it was a nice evening with family and friends. We saw a Peregrine Falcon and some bats. When it started to get dark we headed home.



View all of today's photos on Picasa.

What Is An IronPig?

Here in the Lehigh Valley it is a AAA baseball team from the Philadelphia Phillies organization. They have a new stadium and I am going there today for the first time.

And as an added bonus: They are playing the Pawtucket Red Sox!

Go Red Sox!!!

A Beautiful Day

I had a great day today. I was blessed with this beautiful sunset.




I saw the Biker escort for the WTC steel beam to PA memorial.



I went to a Peach Festival.



My daughter returned home from her week-long vacation visiting friends in Richmond, VA.



And now the Moon is up. I need to go look for new craters.



I wonder what tomorrow will bring...



Meanwhile, you can view more photos from today on my Picasa Web Album.