Stars and Moons

 The night skies up here are fabulous on a clear night.  I had a guest from Holland, an older gentleman, who commented that in all his life he had never seen the Milky Way.  We were out on the Bondi front lawn, calling the wolves (who did answer), and I was able to simply point up.

"There you go."  He was so delighted.

This photo was taken by Peninsula Lake resident Harold Doran, in Algonquin Park.  He has some serious photographic 'skillz' as the kids now say.  He also has a website, and he was kind enough to send me this photo to post here.  Much thanks Harold.

We didn't see much of the Milky Way, or the stars, this past week -- that's because the last full moon of the summer, and the last "super moon" of the year was eating up all the sky.  My cousin Robin Tapley took this through his telescope.  It's a beautiful look at our near neighbour.  Robin has a website, too.

It is essential to our health and general well-being that we preserve dark skies, and quiet places.  At home, turn out your exterior lights, except for a motion detector. Ensure that all lighting is low wattage, and directed downward to prevent light spill into the sky.  If we all worked harder at this, our friend from Holland might have a fighting chance to see the stars in Europe...