I like to think of myself as an ordinary housewife though I have been confronted by others regarding this issue. My interest in the stars started in my teenage years but was more of a romantic fascination than serious Astronomy.

I was in my thirties, sitting outside one evening at our DIY holiday home in Betty's Bay, glowing with satisfaction at completing the eleven year house building project , when I noticed a faint fuzzy in the night sky and wondered what it could be.

My library book list which always included titles like Bricklaying is easy changed suddenly to Observing the Constellations and Observing without a Telescope.

My husband quickly caught on that something was brewing and surprised me with a 4" Tasco with impressive specs on its box. I started observing conservatively and saw amazing objects, however, when I jacked up to 300X magnification, Jupiter would turn into a saucer-like UFO. After one month I hinted that I would most probably have to upgrade to a slightly larger telescope some day.

An 8" Bushnell Dobsonian with no spectacular promises of magnification on its box accompanied my husband home from work a few weeks later. When he opened the boot to surprise me, I cried and looked over my shoulder to see whether the cops were following him because the first thought that crossed my mind was that a telescope that filled the boot must cost more than the car and that I was staring at stolen property. My shock wore off the moment the telescope saw first light. Herschel's jewel box sparkled and at that moment I fell madly in love with my telescope.

I taught myself to observe and bumped into a boffin by chance. He subtly adjusted my approach in order for me to achieve more formal results. I learnt that the international standard was North up and East to left. Drat! just as I was having so much fun.

Before an observing session I consult various star charts as having to wear reading glasses makes things more difficult at the eyepiece. I try to memorize the location of objects as much as possible beforehand. Once found, I do sketches which make more sense to me than just written descriptions. The less paraphernalia I have around me in the dark the better.

Other than my telescope (a 12" Dob has also become part of the family) my light box on a tripod which I sometimes use just as a table has become my favourite piece of observing equipment. "Glasses on ,glasses off" has become much easier without having to balance a clipboard and pencils on my knee.

Although I love to stargaze with a group of enthusiastic people, I like to observe alone. Apart from the fact that I talk aloud while I'm sketching (which sounds something like :OK one bright one in the middle two not so bright left, faint one twice the distance and.....), there is something magical about being alone under a dark sky. While everyone else is asleep, the universe belongs to me.

The length of my observing sessions vary. When I drive to dark skies, I plan for whole night observing. At home I do shorter sessions in light polluted skies to combat withdrawal symptoms.

Whenever I look through my telescope, I get so excited that sleep is the last thing on my mind and out in the veld there are usually little (sometimes big) things that go bump in the night to provide the extra adrenaline.

My advice to someone who wants to take up deep sky observing apart from the best equipment for your circumstances, is to forget what you see in books and on the internet. Get hold of a list of deep sky objects and a star chart and go on your own journey. Even the most basic equipment will provide one with a wealth of objects to explore.