North
@northpaux
White wolf of the North. Loves space, airplanes, geology, motorbikes, live music, hi-fi, mountains, snow, skiing, fursuiting, F1, puppets, cooking, and cocktails. Occasional convention staffer. Citizen of Earth, resident of Seattle. Will you be kind?
Yesterday evening my Dad handed me one of his great martinis, in our traditional family style. I’m enjoying my parents’ company despite their frailty and medical challenges that I’m here to help with. Plus the fact it’s car week makes it more fun too.
My Dad got through the biopsy surgery very well, however it does look like we’re going to have a cancer journey to go through. Meanwhile, I’ve been helping my parents recover from a scam and resecuring all their tech. Took an hour of me time to see the start of Car Week, in downtown Monterey.
Staying overnight at SLAC while my Dad gets his surgery at Stanford Hospital today. TIL the camera for the big Vera Rubin telescope was designed and built here! It’s the biggest digital camera ever made. And I found the eastern terminus of the historic linear accelerator.
Back at the ancestral home. Helping my parents as my Dad gets surgery this week. It’s relatively minor, but any surgery at all when you’re 88 is scary. If all goes well I’ll be using the recovery time to work through a long list of other elder care issues that need addressing.
I must have seen the Blues do this Pitch Up Break at least 50 times over the years. And today it was just as fun and exciting as it was the very first time. I love it!
50 years ago today SR-71 61-7958 set the absolute speed record for jet aircraft of 2,193 mph. This record still stands to this day.*
I had to cancel plans for tea at Buchart Gardens tomorrow. It was just too much for my elderly parents on top of packing to fly home the next day. But we had an excellent dinner of caviar and king crab tonight! Now I’m decompressing in my stateroom before tomorrow’s challenges.
Aww, so sweet! While I was down at dinner my cabin attendant tucked in my plushie with my book to read as part of turn-down service!
I enjoyed a nice walk in the rain around Prince Rupert BC today. Getting back to the ship I warmed up with some cookies and a mocha. Apparently, in international circles, chocolate chip cookies have a different name…
Look close, zoom in center frame. It’s Polaris. My star! The North star. Kinda neat to see it so low on the horizon in the northerly midnight gloaming. This is a happy place, Alaska.
Kinda a cool thing about high latitudes. We’re a bit further south now than when I took the daylight picture of me at 11:00pm. Now it’s 11:30pm, but there’s still a little sunset twilight on the horizon. And it’s not to west but due north!
High adventure! I rode on a jet boat that can go 30mph in just six inches of water up the Stikine River 35 miles into pristine wilderness to see the toe of the Shakes Glacier. On the way back to the ship we lost an engine and had to be rescued by a second boat. That was adventurous and fun too!
It’s glacier day today! Visiting the Hubbard Glacier, a tidewater glacier fed by two of the highest mountains in North America; Mt. St. Elias and Mt. Logan. Both in excess of 5000m. The glacier is massive, miles wide, and one of the few advancing glaciers left on Earth.
Happy Canada Day to all my Canadian friends! Thanks for your hospitality to my American family in Vancouver yesterday too. I’m wearing my CBC hat (gift of a Canadian Foxcat) and toasting you all with a Bloody Caesar in your honour!
All aboard! It took two hours to embark the octogenarians, but we’re here. We had our choice of welcoming champagne; 1926 style or 2026 style. Then a little fresh made pasta for lunch as we settle in.
I’ve arrived in Canada! Next up, meeting the old folks when they land in a couple of hours and getting them to the hotel without injury. They’re very old, so it will involve canes, wheelchairs, and a lot of patience. Meanwhile, having Canadian lunch. Am I doing it right?
Starting my next adventure today, escorting my elderly parents on a 12 day cruise of Alaska. It begins with a short flight to Vancouver BC. And boy did I cut it close… My suitcase clocked in at 49.5 lbs.
There is magic in Monaco! Think of LeClare’s win there, or Panis, or Ricciardo. Or Senna storming first to the red flag in 1984. This year, the Monaco love is going to Lewis. Cars; the Toleman 184 in which Senna should have won his 1st Monaco and the beautiful Lotus 97T he won his first race in.
I was working on creating a tasty gumbo at the time. I needed to assemble a critical mass of onion for it.
Yesterday was the MotoGP of Italy at Mugello. Two of the track’s fastest corners are named Arrabbiata. Naturally for dinner I was obliged to make Pasta Arrabbiata. So tasty!