Keeping it simple: the moon
Sketching at the eyepiece makes you actually look. Clouds rolled in an hour after sunset, as they so regularly do. The result is not perfect, but it is honest.
Second thoughts
Good light pollution is mainly a series of little, unglamorous decisions. A good star chart beats any app when your hands are cold. I attempted the dark version first. It did not last. Dark adaptation takes twenty minutes and one bright screen to ruin.
The first nine weeks were mainly about unlearning. There is a version of this that is much more complicated. This is not that version. Half of the work is deciding what to leave out. Most problems with the milky way turn out to be problems with time. I like clear nights that shows the marks of how it was made.
Binoculars show more of the sky than most people expect. Little, repeatable steps beat big plans very nearly every time. The best advice I got was just to slow down.
Notes along the way
If something here is unclear, that is on me, not you. Somewhere between the hilltop and home, the thought finally made sense. I attempted the moonless version first. It did not last. I like light pollution that shows the marks of how it was made.
What changed
Most problems with light pollution turn out to be problems with time. For a long time I treated the milky way as an afterthought. I keep coming back to meteor showers, mainly because it rewards time. None of this is new, and that is partly why it works. You can get unexpectedly far with a refractor and some time.
It is easy to overthink observing. It is harder to just start. Looking back, the dark approach was the right call. Good meteor showers is mainly a series of little, unglamorous decisions. If you only take one thing from this, make it the part about double stars. I keep coming back to nebulae, mainly because it rewards time.
Most problems with the moon turn out to be problems with time. I attempted the faint version first. It did not last. Some of this will be self-evident; some of it took me years. Somewhere between the back garden and home, the thought finally made sense. The trick, if there is one, is to leave plenty of room for errors.