I worked the Girl from the North Country traveling Broadway show this weekend. I was looking forward to it because it was based on songs from Bob Dylan. I didn’t know anything else about it.
It was more of a spoken play, set in the Depression in Duluth, Minnesota. The story is a tad dark, but well done. The singers were very good.
They performed over 20 Dylan songs, but only the lyrics were familiar, not the melodies, as they were arranged very differently than what I was familiar with.
Overall I enjoyed show. But, the highlight was getting to chat with Ann, Shelly, and Laura who were in the audience on Sunday. 🙂
Some National Parks are created to preserve a rare species. Others are created to preserve a uniquely beautiful location. I’m sure there are other reasons that motivate a place being enshrined and protected as a US National Park.
Sequoia National Park was founded in 1890, to “protect giant sequoia trees, the largest living trees by volume on Earth,” according to the National Park Service website. In the early days of Sequoia NP, fire suppression was a major focus. It was fascinating to learn that in doing so for upwards of a century, we were actually threatening their existence. It turns out that the seed cones of the giant Sequoia trees require the high-temperature heat from wildfires to release their seeds. And natural thinning by wildfire is also needed to provide adequate sunlight for the new trees.
In the end, modern researchers have provided better guidance to preserve these gentle giants, who are obviously resilient to fire. It was hard to find one of these up to 2000-year-old trees that hadn’t been scarred from fires at some point.
This is an important lesson to think about on this 54th Earth Day. We should act with preservation and conservation in mind, but learn and adapt to the best methods. Sometimes we are wrong.
The North Entrance along General’s Highway greeted us with hills and canyons full of fire-damaged trees.Nearly every giant sequoia bears the scars of wildfire (they are over 2000 years old!) Some don’t make it, but many do.A balance of nature.
As we roll into this year’s Earth Day, I find myself coming home from a whirlwind trip to California where I experienced four national parks in four days with Lori, Doray, and Laura.
The first park was Yosemite, where I got a glimpse of the amazing scenery of El Capitan, Half Dome, Bridal Veil Falls, and Yosemite Falls. We walked through the Yosemite Valley, along the Tuolumne and Merced rivers.
El Capitan to the left. Bridal Veil Falls in the middle, with Cathedral Rocks above it. And Half Dome way in the back between them. Taken from Tunnel View.A better view of Half Dome 💙
We stayed at the Wawona Hotel. It was comfortable, but the shared bath/shower house attached to the Hotel might not be for everyone. There’s no elevator, so pack light, because everything must be removed from your vehicle at night to prevent attracting bears. The restaurant meals were good. The scenery everywhere was amazing.
The next park was Kings Canyon, a deep glacially-formed canyon where the ‘kings’ are gigantic monarch sequoias, including the one called General Grant. We enjoyed up-close views of these giants, and hiking through incredible groves of trees.
General Grant monarch sequoia.
The next park was just down the road, Sequoia National Park. Snow and downed trees had kept the connecting road, Generals Highway, closed this season until just an hour or two before we arrived. This was a much appreciated surprise which saved us hours of driving.
Inside Sequoia, we stayed at Wuksachi Lodge for two nights. It was comfortable, but we schlepped everything up and down stairs here, too. The restaurant and lodge was convenient for breakfast and dinner. But we made our own lunches to eat on the go. We visited petroglyph rock, the Giant Forest of 2000+ year old sequoias, and its museum. We had lunch at Beetle Rock, overlooking the San Joaquin valley. The highlight of Sequoia for me was the hike to, and up to the top of, Moro Rock and its 360 degree views of the canyons and surrounding valleys. It was breathtaking.
Lunch stop atop Beetle Rock.Moro Rock taken from the foothills. We made it to the top of this bad boy @ 6700+ feet above sea level
Even though we were pooped, we made the trek down to see the biggest known single trunk tree, by volume, in the world, General Sherman. Impressive. But I sure wish it wasn’t downhill from the parking lot at the end of day three. 🙂
The next park was Pinnacles, which featured rugged peaks formed from volcanic eruptions. We didn’t spend much time here but we enjoyed lunch and a hike. We didn’t originally plan to hit this park but realized it was close enough to include in our trip after we arrived.
Taken inside Pinnacles NP from Peaks View
We started and ended the trip in Santa Barbara, which allowed us to see Laura’s beautiful new home.
I’m back home now. And scheming my next park adventures.
Happy New Year! I know. I’ve been MIA. Sorry about that. But, I’m still here!
Noreen and David joined us in Austin for the last week or so. They flew down to see the total solar eclipse. Our house and much of Central Texas were in the zone of totality. We wanted to maximize our amount of time in totality. So, Monte picked Lampasas, Texas as our destination, about an hour drive northwest of our house. The forecast was not great for Austin or Lampasas, but we took our chances, and it turned out great.
Lampasas experienced over 4 1/2 minutes of totality, and it was awesome. The clouds cooperated and, like in 2017, the predicted Armageddon didn’t happen. We didn’t hit traffic or crowds.
One thing that was particularly cool, and that I really don’t recall it being as striking during the last eclipse as it was this year, was how upon reaching totality, it was like the lights just turned off. I don’t remember it being that sudden or that dark in 2017.
I guess I’ll have to travel somewhere if I’m going to see another. There’s one in August 2026 in Spain, maybe I’ll make that one!
Photo of April 8, 2024 solar eclipse taken using my Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III from Lampasas, Texas
Today we drove a couple hours into the hill country to see the annular solar eclipse of October 2023. We originally thought we would drive to the center of the path, but decided to head for the eastern edge. This meant we wouldn’t see the complete “ring” of the sun around a concentric moon passing in front of it. Instead, we wanted to see the edge of the moon barely passing by the sun, hoping to see some Bailey’s Beads. That means the passing moon wouldn’t be centered inside the sun, but just barely touching the border. I wasn’t able to capture any Bailey’s beads his time – I think the sun’s light was still too bright. But it was a fun roadtrip. The next eclipse is less than 6 months away!
We drove to the west side of Canyon Lake. Eclipses are pretty cool. 🙂
I’ve started my second season with Texas Performing Arts as a volunteer usher. I now have a name tag with my name on it! Moving on up. Yesterday I worked the show for Broadway in Austin’s performance of SIX – The Musical.
A bit of an unusual musical. It really didn’t have much dialog other than the songs that each of the six former wives of Henry VIII sang, giving a glimpse into each of their different situations before and after marrying the king. As they say in the show…”Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived.” There were no set changes. No intermission. Just 80 minutes of singing and dancing. All that is not bad, just different. I enjoyed it very much.
They have moved on from Austin, but the current US Tour runs through the end of July 2024. You can see the remaining tour schedule here
I wonder how Captain Kirk dealt with software updates on the Starship Enterprise. We experienced our first automatic “over-the-air” software update in the Subaru last week. It was not something we could opt out of. It was going to auto install if we deferred it more than twice. So it did. It said it completed successfully.
Oh yay, new firmware! (Not)
HOWEVER, after a couple days, the computer touch screen went into an endless reboot cycle every time we drove the car. And that’s a tad disconcerting in this day of smart cars.
So we took it into the dealer who said we didn’t have the most current level of software. So, they installed it.
Maybe THIS is the right level? (Pardon our dust)
I guess we’ll see if this one will work. New 1st World problems…
As Monte likes to say, every time we go to the boat to cross something off the todo list, we add 2 more things to the list.
On Monday we went to the marina to install 3 new halyards and new jib sheets on Nirvana. When we lowered the jib to change the halyard, I found a 2’ long tear along the edge of the sunbrella cover. So we rolled it up and brought it home.
No more over-sheeting the jib against the spreaders, please. It’s not the America’s Cup…
Yesterday I laid it out and mended it; should be good for a while. I ripped off the sunbrella cover, sandwiched the tear between 2 layers of new adhesive-backed 6 oz dacron, sewed it down several times, and then sewed the sunbrella back down.
It’s nice to be home. And, thankfully, the forecast for the next few days includes rain and lower temperatures.
We have been trying to keep our trees alive, but it is difficult with the extended, excruciating drought, and the water restrictions that come with it. We got a pretty good thunderstorm overnight. And in the morning, I was greeted with an amazing sight. The flowering plum tree that looked nearly dead, brown, and crispy the day before has pushed out some new green leaves and white blooms. A sign of the indomitable persistence of Mother Nature.
Fingers crossed we don’t lose this tree or any of our other struggling, stressed trees on the property.
Monte and I made a long weekend trip to Seattle to visit family – old and new. We have 3 new great-niece/nephew babies to meet, and my brother had a big birthday to celebrate.
The last time we were up in the Pacific Northwest together was 5 years ago. The last time all my siblings were together was over 4 years ago. So I was really ready for this trip 🙂
Mount Rainier viewed from the north
We visited the Museum of Flight just north of the SEA airport. This was my first visit, and I would recommend it. It has one of the largest collections of aircraft on display. We flew a flight simulator and did a barrel roll. We walked through a Concord, a 747, a 787, and one of the Air Force One planes from the Kennedy, Nixon, and LBJ administrations. The space flight exhibits are great, too.
So many planes
After the museum, we drove to southern Washington to meet Byron, Rachel and Matthew’s 4-month-old baby, and my great-nephew.
Sunrise at Rachel & Matthew’s home
The next day, we booked it back up to North Seattle and stayed with Patrick and Nga. We had a nice visit and a great dinner. And as a bonus, both their boys were home.
Sunset over the Olympic Mountains, the beautiful view from Pat & Nga’s home
Saturday morning we made it to Noreen and David’s. We took the Edmonds-Kingston Ferry, popped into Poulsbo for coffee and a walk along the waterfront.
Saturday evening we had a party for Brian. It was wonderful to have all 5 of us siblings together again after way too long. We laughed way too much and enjoyed our time together.
On Sunday we walked around the woods in the morning, and watched the Seahawks game in the afternoon. Jared and Cass came over with their new twins, Nora and Viola, my great-nieces. I got to hold each of them for a while. They are tiny and precious.
The next day it was time to head back to the furnace that Austin is. On the way to the airport, we stopped in Port Orchard to see Fran’s kids, Rebecca and Aaron. They are 20 and 18 and each has a good plan for their futures. It was great to see them.
The only faces I didn’t get to see were Neil, who is working 12-hour days, 7 days a week for the next few months, and Julie, who is in Denver. But other than missing them, it was a perfect visit. ❤
Since the beginning of the year, I’m having an issue with my right knee. It has gotten steadily worse. I have an orthopedic specialist. I met with him again a few days ago, to get his interpretation of an MRI and a prognosis/diagnosis.
This is the actual dumbed-down drawing he made to illustrate for me what an ideal, ‘healthy’ knee should look like on the left, compared to the current situation in my knee on the right. I was initially taken aback by the jagged, bumpy, withering bits on the right vs the bit on the left. Not ideal. And, apparently, it’s not going to get any better. I have an angry knee.
So, I’m going to have to get used to a popping, crackling, unstable, inflamed, and swollen knee for the long haul. A compression brace can help with stability. Injections may alleviate symptoms a bit, but only a replacement would get me back to ideal, and I’m definitely not ready to do that.
I really wish I could have afforded better shoes when I spent so many years running back in college.
Monte and I are both truly sad to hear that Jimmy Buffet died last night. Like millions of other people, we spent time talking this morning about the times we saw him live in concert, when, where, and what great shows they were.
We went to the boat this morning to do a few chores. Afterward, we walked up the hill to the marina’s restaurant and ordered cheeseburgers and margaritas to toast his passing.
After being hounded mercilessly by SiriusXM for a few months by email, text, and phone to renew our trial subscriptions from the new cars, which have both expired, I reactivated it today just to listen to Radio Margaritaville. 🍔🍹🌅⛵️🏴☠️
I have a bunch of cousins in Ireland. We’ve met in the decades-old past. We’ve had eachother’s addresses tucked away. But I’ve recently connected with them on some internet chat platforms, which has been a much more lively, and quite lovely, connection.
One of my cousins, on my father’s side, posted a photo of an undated aerial photo that was taken of the family farm and homestead from the late 1950’s or early 1960’s. This is where my dad grew up, in County Limerick. The house is on the left. The farm buildings on the right.
You can see workmen on ladders in front of the house, and some other people walking between the buildings. My dad had emigrated to the States by then. But I wonder if my grandfather and or uncles are some of those people…
Sheila365 