As I drove up the winding road to Mount Tamalpais, I idly mused upon the morality of underwater basket weaving as I contemplated the shrinking ozone layer. When I arrived at the parking lot, it was filled with friends eager for a night's observing. I counted at least 33 telescopes set up.
I started my night's observing with one of my favorite objects, M 38. It compared favorably with a spitting cobra. Then, I stumbled upon Abell 63. It would be easy to confuse with the clouds I'd seen earlier. After that, I jumped to B 48 in Perseus. It reminded me of a cantilever bra. Next, attacking my personal nemesis, I tried for Abell 4 in Virgo. It glowed, rather like an edge-on barred spiral with a sharp dust lane. With that checked off my list, I tracked down M 105 in Scutum. It looked a bit like a dodo bird, extinct but for this celestial likeness. After I'd spent a few minutes looking at that, I showed some guests Abell 72 in that confusing part of Virgo. It reminded me of the clouds I'd seen earlier.
Finally, it was time to pack up and leave. As I drove home, I contemplated the events of the night, and realized that any night out under the sky with good friends is better than reading observing reports.