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Contents:
- Essay: Sometimes you need to get away
- Video: Amazing Physics Toys/Gadgets 1
- Explain Things Simply
- Pessimists Archive
- Root System Drawings
- Book: The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher
- Read the entire newsletter in your browser
Read the entire newsletter in your browser
Sometimes You Need To Get Away
I wrote a few weeks ago about how the world can seem like the world is ganging up on you sometimes. Day after day, week after week is filled with one crisis after another. I know it wears me down over time until I want to do nothing but sink into my bed and pull the covers over my head until it is all over.
Of course, it is never over. By its very nature life is chaotic. We can do things to make it less so, but we must remember that the amount of chaos is not under our control. All we can do is hold on and ride out the larger waves and wait. That said, it is also important to enjoy the calmer seas in between the waves. In our efforts to simply cope with it all, we often lose sight of the better moments in our lives.
This weekend, Rosanne and I are making a trip to Mount Wilson Observatory. The evening is made up of a talk on the women who made the science at Mount Wilson possible, a picnic dinner, and viewings of the universe as seen through the observatory’s 100″ and 60″ telescopes. In this way, we will both see some of the more beautiful parts of our planet and the amazing sights beyond it.
Missed Opportunities
This is all part of our attempt to come out of our pandemic shell (in the safest way possible) and start living our lives again. We missed many opportunities over the last few years. Joseph graduated from Cal Poly Pomona with no ceremony in 2021, we had many conference trips canceled to places like Oxford, UK, and way too many days simply sitting around the house. Rosanne spent countless hours at her computer teaching classes at Cal Poly and even hosting her twice-yearly workshops for the Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting on Zoom –– three. The garden benefitted, of course, but we want to see more of the world again.
When this Mount Wilson event showed up in my mailbox it seemed the perfect opportunity to “get away from it all” if only for an evening. I highly urge you to do the same. Find an event that allows you to be around people, yet distanced, preferably outdoors. Turn off your phone. (Mount Wilson is a cell phone dead zone so that greatly helps me.) Bring snacks, an important part of any getaway, and tune out. I know that when we drive down from the mountain we will be eased, refreshed, and ready to face another week.
Off On A Garden Tour
If you follow me here and elsewhere, you will know that I love photography. One great opportunity to exercise that part of my creativity was the Mary Lou Heard Memorial Garden Tour in the South Bay. My sister was in town and had discovered this tour, so we spent the day bopping around to around 15 gardens (of the 59 available). It was a great day that allowed me to take lots of photos and gather many great ideas for my garden, We even ended up with some new plants, thanks to the kindness of one of the garden hosts, who had made up small pots for everyone who visited.
So, what would you like to be on your agenda in the coming months? Can you find ways to emerge from your COVID cocoon as we have? Be safe about it, but get out, get moving, get eating, get seeing, and jumpstart your new post-pandemic life!
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