the Transverse of Venus

First off, thanks to all of you who commented, emailed and called.

I spoke with my Doctor, I go for an ultrasound tomorrow and will discuss options with her on Friday.  There is still some pain and we both believe I may have a stone stuck in my bladder, we'll see.

Anyhow, I'm feeling much better and today we took off down to Santa Cruz where the local astronomy club had set up a viewing station for the transit of Venus across the sun.

What a great afternoon, perfect weather 

for this once in a lifetime event.

There were lots of people, 

lots of telescopes 

and a general air of festivity.

Someone even made free cookies 

commemorating the event.  

How cool is that?

I didn't have a filter for my cameras, 

but I was able to get this shot 

using one of the telescopes and my iPhone. 

 Venus can be seen in the lower left.

The next shot is another one I got from the telescope. 

I didn't have a clue what I was doing, 

but I sure do like the effect.

Could I be down at the shore 

and not include at least one shot of pelicans?

On our way home, we had to stop at the market 

and I thought these flowers were just so lovely,

I had to take a picture.

And in honor of today's astronomical event, 

I'm including this picture. 

I found this in the house 

and the name and cover just tickled my funny bone. 

If Cholula Red wasn't already an established name, 

I'd name her the Galactic Derelict.

That's it for tonight.