What I wished I'd seen...

My next-door neighbor sent me this picture from a friend of hers, "Lyn," who lives further south (and closer to the launch pad) than we do. It confirmed for both of us that what we saw (even if it was too small to get a photo) was indeed Discovery. I'm glad I went on the NASA site to listen to their radio transmissions until they did the fire-up to go out of orbit and into space to catch up with the Space Station. There is another evening launch in May, if it goes as scheduled, and I think I will make the effort to get closer so I can enjoy the bragging rights of having "been there," at least once.

"We're go for that!"

So I wasn't able to make another trip to the Space Coast to see Discovery (STS-119) launch this evening, but my neighbors and I went to the top of the street and were able to see a wee streak across the sky after it launched and at 7:53:00 (EDT) we saw the booster rocket come off and begin its fall back to earth, to be consumed by the atmosphere. (This photo is from NASA's coverage of the launch.)
As I am writing this I am listening to the crew talking to Mission Control Houston as they complete their first orbit of the earth, preparing for the next phase - to catch up to the Space Station to deliver their payload of solar arrays. Some people don't find this particularly fascinating, but I worked on the Apollo Project (now you know for sure I'm over 60!) and specifically on the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM). Some years ago I had the great opportunity to take my son to the Kennedy Space Center and show him the Saturn V rocket booster that put Apollo into space. Even I was surprised at how large it was, in spite of the number of times I'd put together materials and specification sheets. That's a really interesting journey to take with children and grandchildren. The additional family link to all of this is that my father's business was also participating in the "space race" of the 60's, which I didn't find out until after I'd left the project to have my first child. And with that child in my lap we watched the lunar landing... that I played a very small part (on the molecular scale, I'd estimate) in helping to make happen.

Today is not the beach day I hoped for...

My plans were to head off for a beach day - imagining it to be like the one shown here, from a previous trip to Sarasota. But it is cool, cloudy and there's every likelihood there will be rain later. So, my plans will change. I'm not sure how or where I will end up today, but I'm taking my camera and will share the adventure later.

Bernie goes to jail

   I am not a big follower of all the news... catch bits and pieces, here and there. But when I heard about this Giga-bite Scambag,  (photo to right) I had to follow the outcome. Yesterday a woman,  about my age, was on one of the news channels telling her story about losing everything - a life of working and saving, along with her now-deceased husband's work and savings - because her investment counselor put it all with Medoff... and by the way, that investment counselor should be punished as well!!! She said Dec. 11 will be as memorable for her as Sept. 11 since it was the day she found out she was destitute at the hands of this thief.

   And yet Mrs. Madoff and the kids should be allowed to keep all their worldly goods, acquired by their sanctimonious and insensitive father? NOT! Strip them too - take it all to auction, divvy up those ill-gotten gains among the many who lost it all. Let Mrs. M wander the streets in slippers and rags and tatters with a sign strung about her neck with a string saying, "I once was found and now I've lost it all to Bernie."

I feel almost like a drug dealer....

I have "turned on a friend," to blogging! She's very excited now and almost couldn't wait for me to leave so she could get right into it. She's got some great information and needed a way to get it out, so I hope this will help her. In a few days she will be fully operational and I will give you a link to go and read her tips on how to improve your skin care regimen, what products really work and which ones are a waste of time and money. She's not selling anything but offering up important tricks about looking good in the skin we're in!!!

A Flower Show Cancelled

When I was growing up, I had an older woman who cared for me. The story was that she was "not quite right," and had been forced to have surgery so she would never have children of her own. I guess her parents thought - back in the 1920's - that she wouldn't be capable of caring for her own children. This wonderful woman loved me as if I were her own and was better than my own mother at the job. Every year about this time, she would ask my parents for time off and she would tell me several times in advance, "I am going to the flower show. I will be back." And when she returned, she would tell me about all the wonderful flowers she had seen. I believe she went with other folks from our small NE town and it was always a trip she enjoyed completely. I thought about her today when I heard that the New England Flower Show was cancelled, after 137 (!!) years, due to the economy. If it managed to be produced during the depression, then we are in worse shape than I realized....