Astronomy for Everyone

Monday morning came with some pretty hefty winds. We struggled to get up the side curtains on The Swamp that sheltered us from both the wind and sun. A couple of us were already sporting noses that showed signs of too much sun, so the sunscreen came out as well. Early afternoon found us driving to Cudjoe Key and the Square Grouper, fast becoming one of our favorite restaurants. This place is great! All the plates, bowls, cups, etc., are square or rectangular, the tables are covered with large sheets of paper, and square glass containers of crayons form the centerpieces. We all got the famous Square Grouper Sandwich, which is literally a square piece of grouper on square buns with the world's best onion rings on top, and served with fries, slaw, and Key Lime tartar sauce. Getting through the whole plate is a major accomplishment, but I actually managed to do it for the first time ever. We got back to camp with the wind gusting at 30-35 mph. Tarps were flapping like mad and several people had disassembled scopes and other equipment. We figured the wind would die down by nightfall, but we were wrong. It was so bad out on the berm we felt like we were being beat to death. Half the time was spent trying to hold down things like mirror covers, tarps, and atlases. Using a Dob in winds like that is a real chore, so we had to admit defeat and slink back to The Swamp to swap lies. Bugger!!!