Friday, March 2

 

Birds have resumed chirping this week and there are many ducks and bunnies in the neighborhood.

Saturday, March 3

My daughter rides a new horse today during her lesson, Irish is a big, red horse that caused one of the fellow parents to remark to me as the sun shone on them as they rode by, “your daughter looks very beautiful riding.”

Sunday, March 4

 

A glorious morning as spring hastens to arrive.  It is clear and bright and mild.  The sun rises and sun sets have been almost as spectacular as Jupiter and Venus shining near the crescent moon each night.

Monday, March 5

I am reading This Will Make You Smarter, edited by John Brockman.

Tuesday, February 28

 

If you want to trace the history of everything through the academic disciplines, begin with physics(universe) then chemistry(elements) then geology(earth) then biology(life) then human history(us).

Wednesday, February 29

Leap Day

Some of the greatest patterns ever organized or charts created are:

Maps of the full-sky by the COBE satellite showing the cosmic background radiation hot zones that help date the universe by Astrophysicists and Nobel Laureate George Smoot;

Chemist Dmitri Mendeleev’s periodic Table of the Elements; and

The United States Constitution.

 

Thursday, March 1

The scientific community calls the stuff that existed (matter and energy they believe) “stuff,” literally, that is what they call it, “stuff.”

Sunday, February 26

 

I hope I am at the top of my game at 82 like oldest ever Oscar winner Christopher Plummer.

Monday, February 27

Don’t leave spontaneity to chance.

                        Neil Peart, Drummer and Lyricist, RUSH

Friday, February 24

 

One of my favorite books is Maps of Time, An Introduction to Big History by David Christian.

The DVD series by the Teaching Company’s Great Courses series is equally good as Mr. Christian leads 13 lectures based on the book.

He covers everything from the Big Bang, life on Earth to the rise of humanity.

He describes the eight generally agreed to “layers of complexity:”

1)     the universe;

2)     stars;

3)     the chemical elements;

4)     Earth;

5)     life;

6)     species;

7)     agriculture; and

8)     the modern revolution.

Saturday, February 25

 

Girl Scout cookies!

Thursday, February 23

Professor James Galvin of the Iowa Writers' Workshop gives his students an exercise wherein he asks them to contemplate a blank sheet of paper and consider the effort involved in creating it from tree to what is in front of them.  Then he asks them to consider overnight writing something on it that is as beautiful.

Tuesday, February 21

 

John Fairfax passed on February 8 at 74. 

He had rowed across both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. 

His 1969 six month cross of the Atlantic was the only recorded solo rowing cross of an ocean.

He crossed the Pacific with his girlfriend Sylvia Cook in 1972.   They were the first people to row across the Pacific.  It took them 361 days to go the 8,000 miles.

Wednesday, February 22

 

Lent begins.  

It is the Christian faith’s period before Easter to meditate and fast.  

A time to take an interior journey of introspection and reflection.  

To cross the oceans of one’s soul.

Monday, February 20

 

The history of Presidents’ Day dates back to 1800 when February 22 was declared a federal holiday. Today, the third Monday of the month is used to honor our nation’s presidents, two of whom had birthdays in February, Washington and Lincoln.