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Árbol del Sol
Thought for the Month
SunTree’s Participation in The Western Naturist Gathering of The Naturist Society at De Anza Springs Resort in Jacumba, CA. Your newsletter editor arrived on the morning of the Wednesday prior to the opening of the gathering on Thursday. My “part model” was a camper trailer and perfect for me since it had a full kitchen and numerous luxuries such as two fly swatters. It was large enough to sit eight people for a potluck if there was bad weather and we could not sit outdoors at the picnic table. The weather was beautiful on the day of my arrival and the outlook for the gathering was great. I was looking forward to another wonderful Western Gathering. Our good friends from NOAA told us on Thursday morning that we can expect the following weather for the gathering: Mostly clear with highs for the weekend near 100 and lows at night around 75 with light breezes (5 to 10 mph) and relative humidity in the single digits. They were mostly correct except for the high temperatures. It did not really get much over 92 during the weekend. They messed up on Thursday afternoon when we had a late afternoon rainstorm move in to cool us down and give us some puddles to hop over. They further predicted the weather for our Sunday field trip to Black’s Beach as: Patchy fog before 11am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy through mid morning, then becoming sunny, with a high near 81 and relative humidity 75%, Wind, Calm. That prediction was dead on. The gathering was the usual get together that I have come to expect from The Naturist Society with talks and workshops for just about everybody’s interests. A problem that I have had is that there is so much going on it is difficult to get to all of the events of interest. Some people solve that problem by vegetating the whole weekend and avoid going to anything. That is a great thing about gatherings also; you do what you want to and get an opportunity to meet some great people at the same time. I attempted to go to most of the discussion groups and NAC briefings just to keep up on what is happening throughout the country. As a result, I missed some of the fun stuff. I will keep it short (I have to since I was not in attendance at all of these things) and only list some of these fun things:
Noodle Race (a relay race in which the baton is one of those swimming pool noodles that you have to carry between your legs and cannot touch it with your hands when you pass it to the next runner)
I am sure that I missed some of the fun things, but it was a busy weekend if you wanted it to be and a relaxing one if you did not. As most readers who know me realize, I try to attend every Western Gathering and do get to most. It is truly a fun event and recommended for all.
Halloween SunTree Event in Elephant Butte, New Mexico The club has been invited back to Elephant Butte for a Halloween potluck on 25 October, the weekend prior to Halloween. That will allow you to go trick-or-treating in your own neighborhood the following week. It will also allow you to try out your new Halloween costume on some unsuspecting folks before you exhibit it on the streets of your neighborhood. We might even attempt to come up with a couple of prizes to encourage your competitive spirit for this event. Planning is needed on the part of the hosts of this (and all other SunTree) events, so be sure to contact us (see that page on this website) to let us know that you plan to participate, what you plan to bring for the potluck and when you expect to show up. This should be a fun time.
A Month with Two (2) Meteor Showers and Venus Returns From Behind The Sun Evening: Jupiter retains his night sky prominence in the south this month the first few hours after nightfall. His future in the night sky is predictable because he is now fading slightly to magnitude -2.1. That is still very bright, but it is a fade. You should never let your competitors notice that you are fading. Venus returns from her vacation on the far side of the sun. She can be seen each night about 40 minutes after sunset in the west. She is up 6 degrees above the western horizon on 1 Oct upper right of a dim crescent Moon [only 2.5 days old]. The next night, the Moon will be a little brighter and to the left of Venus. She will be 10 degrees above the horizon and a bright magnitude -4 on Halloween. That same night, to the right of the Moon, you will be able to see a bright (magnitude 1) star. The star is Antares. On 9 October, in the late evening, you can look to the Northwest sky and see The Draconid meteor shower (the trail trash of Comet Giacobini-Zinner). This is not a really big meteor shower, but all meteor showers tend to have their surprise years so you hate to miss any of them. Morning: We normally think that Mercury is not really worth looking for since he is so small and so near the sun, but this month is a great one for the cute little planet. Mercury has its best morning apparition of 2008 during the last half of the month. About 40 minutes before sunrise, the innermost planet will be 6 degrees above the eastern horizon at magnitude 1, on 13 October. It continues to brighten and hovers higher each morning. By 27 Oct, Mercury’s brilliance will have doubled to magnitude – 0.8. He will stand 10 degrees up from the horizon and is readily seen to the left of the thin crescent Moon. The Orionid meteor shower (following the trail of crumbs left by the Comet Halley) can be seen in the south sky during the predawn of 21 – 22 Oct. The best view will be on the morning of 21 October. The radiant (apparent source of the shower) will be just north of a bright magnitude 0 star in the south (Betelgeuse). Unfortunately the first quarter Moon which will rise just before midnight, will still be in the sky and will wash our some of the dimmer meteors, but you should still get to see over half of the expected Orionids if you look with your back to the Moon.
© 2004 SunTree Travel Club - Site updated Winter 2012 |
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What Happened in September