Clear skies at last

Finally, a clear night with no clouds, t-storms, rain, etc. I went out after the Daily Show and stayed until 11:45pm or so. Seeing was pretty good but there seemed to be some haze that was reflecting more light than usual. I was still able to see seven stars in the little dipper, 7 in Corona Borealis, Bootes, 7 in Lyra including R Lyra. I intended to try my hand at the 10 star tutorial from AAVSO and was able to find both Beta Lyra and R Lyra. I estimated Beta Lyr at 3.2 using 32 and 38 and R Lyra at 5 using 44 and 54. The log site mentioned in the tutorial did not seem to be active so I left my email and will wait to see what happens. In the meantime, perhaps there will be some more clear nights to practice. I had a good view of Lyra over a tree about 11:00 or so. The moon wasn't up yet. I used my 7x50 binos but mainly just did some naked eye viewing. Just before quitting I switched my view to the south to see Scorpio rising, Corvus, Virgo, etc. It was quite difficult to estimate the brightness of the two variables. It took awhile just to find them and then I had to identify the appropriate comparison stars. It was probably easier to just use my eyes without binos! Most everything was visible with at least averted vision. Binos made it easier to see the dimmer stars like 54 though. I really needed my red light though. I was using a regular flashlight and my night vision was totally ruined after even a brief look at the charts. All in all it was a great night even if it was short and I was glad to get in a little observing, finally. Oh, and to cap it all off, just as I was getting ready to quit for the night, a gorgeous meteor flew from SW to NE just west of Lyra.