9 March …
View out the front door at 0630 this morning …
It was light out but the flash made it look darker.
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Scott Kelly is back on Earth. We watched the PBS program and the wonder flowed almost like it did in the old days of space. Even had goosebumps a couple of times.
Thoughts following the show …
As much as I am space oriented, I wonder how the denizens of the ISS avoid wrecking something with all those whatevers sticking out into that one path?
How does anyone get any work done with out-the-window views like that?
Who decided the optimum pose when in a conversation is with your arms folded across your chest?
Why is the light in the “garden” red?
All that fun and they get paid in the bargain !
I am going to work on finding a way to talk with the ISS sometime this year.
And did you know that since Congress defunded our space program, one qualification for a US astronaut is that they speak Russian?
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Last thursday was my first session at the Family History Center since last autumn and it was quite a ride.
I had planned to do some work on a young friend’s lines since I could access International records at the Center (his tree is a mix of Chinese, Pilipino, German, Russian Jewish, Costa Rican and Polish). Overall, I was left about 20 minutes for my own research.
First “client” was a woman who was stuck on a relative from Alsace-Lorraine. That was fun. But we did find a birth town and a way to get help from a genealogy group dealing with that part of Europe (Germany-France-Belgium). She will be back (I could tell she had been bitten by the genealogy bug) so I will be able to learn more about research in that area.
Then came a woman with quite a story. She had been born in London to an English mother and a US Navy father who disappeared a month before she was born. She found out her father was an adoptee, had two Social Security numbers, and the National Archives have no record of his military service. Lot of work facing her research, but guesses led to a couple of clues with which she will be working until her next trip to see us.
I am sure she too will be back, Besides, she was born in London and some of the research I’m doing for that neighbor involves a part of London and I want to ask her some questions.
Not a boring day at all.
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Final finale (as opposed to a season finale) of Downton Abbey was last sunday (as you know if you’ve been following the series).
I’d been wrong about Lady Mary (I thought she would not remarry but if she did, it would be to the one with whom she shared the pigs and the mud).
Fellowes seemed to be doing well with tying up all loose ends when we lost the signal. We’d been having snow since about 1400 and, of course, I’d been hoping it would hold off loading up the satellite dish until after Downton was finished. No such luck. A heavy, wet snow had begun a little before 1500 and not quite half way through the finale we lost the signal. So we spent some time before we went to bed guessing.
Tuesday morning we watched the last forty-five minutes on the internet.
Our reactions ??? (Spoilers here if you haven’t yet seen the final finale.)
Interesting that …
Edith is now married to a peer who outranks her father while Mary is married to a second-hand car salesman. But they are sisters. Made me value the sister I have (in spite of our lack of blood). Did I ever tell you about the time we were traveling together and people kept raising eyebrows when we spoke of each other as “sister”? There is not a modicum of physical resemblance between us. We finally broke down and said (in unison) “We are sisters but we had different …”, and here we diverged. As I said “mothers”, she said “fathers.” Oh, I have told you before? Oh well … old timers’.
But back to Downton Abbey …
Thomas now has the position he schemed to obtain for many years. Good. I’ve had trouble believing he was as bad as Lord Fellowes would initially have had us believe. Barrow will fill Carson’s shoes well and see the family through the next changing decade with panache. In addition he will become “Carson” to Master George’s “Lady Mary”.
Robert and Cora will settle into the comfort George and I enjoy … that of being right together and right where they belong.
I was interested in Carson’s “palsy”. I have that “palsy” tremor, but it is in my left hand rather than my right and so is less of a problem. It is not Parkinson’s. In reading Lord Fellowes’ description, it seems he is describing an Essential Tremor and he has it as well. I would bet that neither of us see it as really “Essential”. But Carson, with Elsie Hughes’ help, will do well and be of continuing help to Barrow.
I’ll stop here since all of you may not have acquired this addiction.
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Weather has been its usual unpredictable self.
Sunday …
Monday …
Tuesday …
Today …
(Blur due to the air full of snow or a slight fog on the lens due to temperature change as I stepped outdoors.)
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John will be here next week. He will be helping me get the garden area ready if possible. It may be too early. The earth is damp and we’ve been having rain and a bit of snow rather consistently. That is no problem since we need the moisture and can’t plant outdoors until the end of May.
I was told, when I first moved here, that we would not be able to plant outdoors until all the snow is gone off Black Butte. In the beginning of my gardening in this area, that adage was true. Then we entered the warming and drying times and were able to get things out a bit after May Day since there had been little or no snow during winter and Black Butte was bare early.
We now seem to be back to the beginning. Snow pack is above 100% of normal.
Our nephew and his wife, Eric and Julie Eggen, will be visiting over the first weekend in April (but they will miss April’s fools Day .. . Oh well …) and friend Liz is scheduled for early July. Our older grandson and his girl friend later in July. Then the New York family in August.
The schedule for radio events is one in June, one in July, two in August, two in September, and one in October.
2016 is shaping up to be a good year. Get your reservations in early.
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In closing for now, an interesting thought …
“Education is what you have left after you forget everything you’ve learned.”
So … ’til next week …