telescopes and a view to a filk

So last night, Jeff and I went to the Star Party at the Ontario Science Centre with our friend Andy ("aiabx" in Blatherchat) to celebrate International Astronomy Day. Andy set up his telescope in the parking lot along with dozens other members of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Toronto Centre while the public eagerly lined up to look at the sky.

I had fun wandering from telescope to telescope as a member of the eager public, peering at craters on the moon, Saturn, Jupiter, and a binary star system called Alpha Canum Venitacorum (thanks for the spelling help, Andy!). I've only attended a few of the RASC events, but have found the astronomers to be remarkably friendly.

I would have taken photos except I didn't want to use flash, because then the remarkably friendly astronomers would probably not be as friendly since a bright light like that would make it difficult to see the night sky until their eyes readjusted.

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Starting to get back to my German language studies again, by the way. I'm gradually working my way through the German version of Michael Ende's Neverending Story (thanks, Gary!) with an English version for reference, listening to my German language audio course, listening to the German pop music CDs given to Urban Tapestry by Kirstin Tanger.

Speaking of Germans, I'm also very much enjoying listening to Ju's and Katy's CD, A View To A Filk. The songs on this CD are so well-written; I love the melodic lines and the gorgeous harmonies. And the lyrics are wonderful (and even more amazing when you consider that English isn't their first language). Juliane Honisch wrote all the lyrics, and Katy Dröege wrote some of the music.

Here are some MP3 excerpts from two of my favourite tracks:

A Thousand Ships
No Frogs Please

You can find more information and clips at their Web site. Allison, Jodi and I will be staying with both Katy and Ju when we visit Germany this fall.

37 more days until we get the house.

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