After the SJAA swap meet and auction, six or eight of us went to the Flames Coffee Shop at Los Gatos Boulevard and Lark Avenue, for supper. We managed to stretch dinner and coffee out for three and a half hours, for the most part talking about astronomy or telescopes. I think that a good conversation was had by all, notwithstanding that no mudslides were in evidence.
On leaving the coffee shop, we noticed that the cloudy sky of earlier in the day had almost completely cleared. Rich Neuschaefer had his 55 mm Vixen fluorite refractor with him -- on a Tasco mounting, yet -- and had a 21 mm eyepiece and a 2x Barlow lens. Akkana Peck had an 8 mm Tele Vue Plossl that she had not sold at the auction, so we were well set up for observing, and had good views of the Moon -- Schroter's Valley was well seen, with the Cobra Head, and Mars -- with north polar cap and some vague dark markings, too, all from the Flames parking lot.