Mellow Monday

It's been awful quiet lately. I think Thanksgiving has got everyone thinking of time off, and time with family. And food. Lots of food. My husband and I don't eat turkey, but we eat everything else so we never go hungry at Thanksgiving.

My son and grandson arrived at the Redmond airport at around noon yesterday. Yay! Poor little Zack is miserable with strep, and has no appetite. He's also getting a rash, which we think could be a reaction to the penicillin he's taking. The doctor's office will be on the list of activities for today. If he's feeling up to it, I want to take him to the High Desert Museum, which is also a zoo. It's small, and there are no lions and tigers and bears, but we have otters, beavers, bobcats, eagles, foxes, porcupines, and other desert animals.

Last night we watched the space shuttle fly over our house. The Endeavor and International Space Station are on a new mission, and the craft can be seen at night in our part of the world for a couple of minutes each night. It's very cool to see. What makes it visible is the sun glinting off its hull. If you didn't know it was the shuttle, you'd think a UFO just went zipping across the sky. It travels very fast. The astronauts made their fourth spacewalk yesterday.

I don't think I'd do well in outerspace. It's not so much the small enclosed environment I'd have to occupy, but the vast infinity surrounding me. It's strange enough just to ponder, but to actually confront the universe like that? Gives me vertigo just thinking about it.

I had an opportunity not long ago to participate in one of NASA's bedrest studies that paid big bucks just to lay on your back for two months straight. Or was it three? I answered their online questionnaire and a few months later was contacted with a lengthier application welcoming me to the program. I chickened out. I'd originally thought it would be a great opportunity to write without distraction, but they don't let you write. Just read. And there's probably no internet connection anyway. How would I be able to keep up with my blog?