I took this photo by plopping my iPad against the bathroom window and hitting the shutter button. That was it.
I will never get tired of these sunsets.
Caturday.
Truman has been pretty chilled out. Today we bought a new harness so he could safely explore around the property with supervision. Even though the harness is a different color, it’s the exact same model we had in Chicago, and he was purring like a maniac as soon as I put it on him. When it was time to come in and I took it off, he attacked it like he always does.
He was still purring.
I snapped a photo while in his meditative state on Friday.
Night Sky.
I love the desert sky at night, especially when it’s moonless night. And the iPhone 13 Pro continues to amaze me with its night shot capabilities. These two photos were taken with me holding the camera as still as possible and a 10 second delay on the shutter. The first one was taken around 9:00 PM Mountain Standard Time, the second at 10:50 PM Mountain Standard Time. Check out the detail of the Pleiades.
I need to get the tripod out.
RIP JoAnna Cameron.
In 1975 one of my favorite shows was the latter half of “The Shazam/Isis Hour”. Hyped up on Honeycomb cereal with two extra tablespoons of sugar, all smothered with raw milk from the dairy farm down the street, my sister and I watched “The Secrets of Isis”. JoAnna Cameron was the lead as Andrea Thomas who could pull out an Egyptian amulet, face the sky, and proclaim “Oh Mighty Isis!” and turn into a superhero to save the day. Many Gen-Xers can incant, “Oh Zephyr Winds which blow on high, lift me now so I can fly.”
Ms. Cameron passed away earlier this week at age 70, after suffering from a stroke. She had retired from acting in 1980, though at one point she held the Guinness Book of World Records for having appeared in the most commercials.
RIP JoAnna Cameron. Thank you for bringing many smiles and warm memories to my life.
Flying.
I am so happy to be flying again. This afternoon I flew this 1975 Piper Warrior, my first time flying a Piper Warrior. It’s basically what I’m used to but a little different. Every airplane has its own personality.
The instructor and I did 10 landings and after the first couple I was starting to “feel” the airplane. It was a lot of fun. I’m really happy to be in the air again.
The Expanse.
So last night we finished the latest season of “The Expanse”. We are now caught up with the rest of the family and we can all watch together when season six comes out at the end of the year. I’m looking forward to the next season; rumor has it this will be the last season. I hope they do the series justice.
I have to admit, season five was a little tough for us to get through. Not because of the content, but more because of the lack of content. It really felt like they were dragging out the storyline just to say 10 episodes had been produced for season five. There has been a slight degradation in the quality of the show since Amazon saved the series from cancellation at the end of season three, and I’m quite gratefully that Amazon carried on the mantel of the show. It’s just that season five took a really odd turn, and instead of being a kick-ass space opera, the storylines tended to favor “Dynasty In Space”, albeit without the shoulder pads.
There were several strong character moments in the series and I have to say that Shohreh Aghdashloo is still my favorite with her portrayal of Chrisjen Avasarala.
I realize this season might have suffered because it was filmed during the pandemic, so they had to separate as many folks as possible to avoid the whole COVID thing, but I feel like there were a few unfortunate choices made with the storyline. Someday I’m going to read the books the see how faithful the television production is to the original material.
Overall, I still enjoyed the experience and am looking forward to season six. I hope the writers are able to do it justice.
Update: so I just read on screen rant that the filming for season five completed right before lockdowns began in 2020. So, I don’t have an explanation now as to why they made creative decisions to split up the cast the way they did. Hmmm.
39.
I can’t believe it’s been 39 years. I can easily remember my sister playing this song on the GE Wildcat record player that had made its way to her bedroom from the family room. I’d dance to this song in my room and then end up dancing with my sister in her room.
When I was a club DJ, late in the night I’d start playing “lost” tracks when the crowd was half drunk. They’d love hearing songs they hadn’t heard in years.
But in 2021 it’s been a LOT of years. From 1982, here’s Grammy award winning Melissa Manchester with “You Should Hear How She Talks About You”. (I still think music from the 80s is much better than what we have in commercial pop music today).
Summer Breeze.
Folks back east ask why we moved to the Desert Southwest. There are many reasons for our move. We are quite happy with living in Tucson and desert living is all that we thought it would be.
Being able to drive on Interstate 10 with the windows down, Yacht Rock Radio cranked, after sunset while it’s 85ºF in late October is one of the reasons we live here.
I worry I’m going to find 70ºF chilly this winter.
Cake.
Jeff and Mark from North Carolina are visiting for the weekend. Jeff’s family lives north of Phoenix and they decided to wrap up their visit with a stop here in Tucson. It was great to see them.
Mark is celebrating a birthday this weekend, and Chris and Mike made a Guinness-chocolate cake to celebrate. It was wonderful.
Caturday.
Truman is allowed on the bottom shelf of the cabinet in the kitchen. He enjoys this vantage point.
