Phil,

There is a book called something like "to Touch the Universe".  It has
raised line drawings of things you can see in the sky, maybe even things you
can't see.  It costs money to get, though.  I don't know that they have it
in a library where we can just borrow it.  I wish they did.

Sharon
----- Original Message -----
From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, October 16, 2005 7:39 PM
Subject: The Moon As I See It Now


> The Blind Side Of The Moon
>
> By Phil Scovell
>
>     I have been blind from detached retinas since age eleven.  I
> well remember, however, my fascination with the stars and the moon
> before going blind.  As a young boy, of course, I merely noticed
> the celestial bodies when I played outdoors at night in my
> neighborhood.  I remember, however, looking up often even during
> the day and night to watch the clouds, lightning, the sun as it
> rose and set, and especially the moon and stars during darkness.
> Flying kites also gave me good opportunity to notice the daytime
> sky.
>
>     My favorite recollection is taking my uncle's borrowed pair
> of binoculars, turning off the porch light, and laying on my back
> in the middle of the front yard and gazing at the stars aided with
> the magnification of the binoculars.  I can still smell the
> freshly cut grass.  Though my uncle died a number of years ago, I
> still have those old binoculars.  They are of no value to me now,
> of course, because I can no longer use them but they mean a great
> deal as far as memories are concerned.  I can still see the
> sharpness of the stars through the binoculars as I studied them
> magnified a few times through the lens.  I remember my excitement
> as I discovered that stars were not just white twinkling white
> lights on a velvety black curtain but they were stars, suns
> actually, radiating color.  I made this discovery the first time
> viewing the stars with the binoculars because I could clearly see
> the twinkling blue, green and even red.  I removed the binoculars
> from my eyes and stared up into the darkness of the night at the
> stars.  To the naked eye, of course, they twinkled white as though
> someone had sprinkled salt over a black tablecloth.  Returning the
> binoculars to my eyes, again I noticed the distinct blues, greens,
> and reds some stars radiated.  I repeated the process several
> times before I was finally convinced stars really had colors.  It
> was many years later, upon reading an astronomy book, I learned
> that the colors were real and that they revealed the distant suns
> radiating magnitude.  their colors also indicate if they are
> moving toward the earth or away from it.  The Big Dipper had been
> pointed out to me once by someone and I often looked up to locate
> it while playing in the darkness.  I knew nothing of the other
> constellations and wish I would have learned more when I could
> have viewed them.  Now, all these years later and unable to watch
> them, I wish I would have spent more time viewing the beauty of
> these heavenly bodies.
>
>     On July 20, 2000, we had a total eclipse of the moon and it
> brought back all the memories I had of the moon.  that evening,
> several friends described the moon has it went through the phases
> of eclipse.  I felt a little sad at first because I longed to see
> it for myself, having never seen a full eclipse in my younger
> days, but then I let my mind review all the memories I had of the
> moon and it helped.  As a boy, just playing hide and seek, I can
> remember seeing the moon on warm summer nights as a bright white
> milky beacon in the sky, high overhead, illuminating the yard as I
> scouted for my hidden friends.  I remember cold winter nights when
> the moon was small and crystalline in its brightness and white as
> the snow upon which it reflected.  On extreme cold Iowa winter
> nights the moon was so bright, it illuminated the snow crystals
> and they sparkled like millions of tiny diamonds across the yard.
> I remember times seeing the moon large and low, hanging just
> above the horizon as though it were a milky white balloon tethered
> by an invisible string.  I can even recall seeing the moon hanging
> low in the sky in early mornings in broad day light as though it
> were translucent.  My favorite memory was a harvest moon.
>
>     My little sister and I had just climbed into the car with our
> parents.  It was chilly, as I recall, and we were leaving for an
> evening church service on a Wednesday evening.  It was late
> October or early November.  Our car rounded a corner near our home
> and there, perched on the edge of the world, was the largest
> display of the moon I ever saw.  It was huge and almost orange in
> color.  It seemed so close, it appeared three dimensional and I
> wondered if we could drive to the edge of the earth and drive
> right up on to the moon's surface.  I could clearly see the dark
> outlines on the moon made by the huge craters I had read about
> and I secretly wished I could go to the moon to walk on its
> surface.  Later I learned this was called a harvest moon because
> of its orange tint.  I never got to be an astronaut but maybe some
> day somehow, I will get to go to the moon.  At least for now,
> though I am blind and can no longer see its friendly face hanging
> in the night's sky, I can remember.
>
> Victory isn't something you have, it is something you are.
> www.SafePlaceFellowship.com
>
>
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