Michael, I know you are an insomniac and early-morning riser, so If you have some clear skies in the next few pre-dawn mornings, look up with binocs near the Big Dipper just east of the last star in the handle. Comet SWAN Quoted from APOD: A newly discovered comet has brightened enough to be visible […]
Hi Mike, We’ve finally decided how to get our worldly goods west for our big move from Bowie to Boulder. The Mrs looked at the costs of various ways to ship our furniture from MD to CO, and said to me last night,”After looking at the costs of paying movers, I think you’ve got to […]
Michael, The Rakkity-Katie game came and went without any serious injuries (sorry Michael!), but the games were livened by a few wall and ball collisions and many calls of “Hinder!” Katie is a semi-cautious player, “semi” not meaning that she doesn’t dive for the wall sometimes, but she’s really careful about careening out of control […]
Michael, The Rakkity-Katie game came and went without any serious injuries (sorry Michael!), but the games were livened by a few wall and ball collisions and many calls of “Hinder!” Katie is a semi-cautious player, “semi” not meaning that she doesn’t dive for the wall sometimes, but she’s really careful about careening out of control […]
From Adventures in Spain, Part IV The Seville Epic Friday 3/25/05 During her stay in Seville, Niña Katie learned the ins and outs of survival, particularly during Santa Semana, the Easter holidays when interminable, gaudy processions criss-cross the city, and gawking tourists crowd into the narrow streets to watch. And since Mamacita Beth, Hermana Kathy, […]
The “Face on Mars”
A view from our new back yard. (Don’t I wish) –rakkity
Michael, While Matt was moving into Temple, Patrick was getting married to his lovely and effervescent fiancee Georgia Williams. We took lots of pictures of the exciting event, but haven’t gotten our pictures out yet. Fortunately our friend Lynn Kenny has beat us to the punch and posted a pile of pictures to
Hu Ton, Beijing I didn’t plan on taking any more tours of Beijing, but this morning my friend Gordon convinced me otherwise. Gordon is at this meeting with his wife Barbara, and they have been doing tours on and off this week between sessions. At 11:30, after the morning flare sessions concluded, he said, “If […]
Michael, On Tuesday I took the Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City tour. It was a surprisingly long ride in the bus to Tiananmen Square, which is in the center of Beijing, and our hotel is also in the “center of Beijing”. But this is a huge city. Along the way I noticed an extensive shanty […]
Michael, One of our stops on the way to the Ming tombs yesterday was a jade factory. I had no idea what to expect, thinking it would be all solid green statues, but I was wrong. The jade factory guide showed us yellow, white and red jade. A yellow jade buddha was translucent, and seemed […]
Michael, The first stop on our tour yesterday was to the Ming tombs. It’s an hour bus ride west of Beijing in a national scenic area bordered by green hills. On the way there, our guide told us the history of the Ming Dynasty. Ming I (14th century) had 20 sons, and he chose the […]