Duct tape launches first debonair rainfall with Leandr
Editorial note: It’s always best to do your sight seeing locally.
Salem is famous for witches, Halloween and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “House of the Seven Gables”.
“You can get assent to almost any proposition as long as you are not going to do anything about it.”
—Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nazy and I enjoyed a walk with Marjorie along the seaside and past the Gabled House. We stopped by the old Custom House. And I noted..
“… the absurdly long wait for traffic lights to change.”
“You’re right, Dan,” Nazy concurred — a comment so unexpected I was left speechless. For a while.
In Salem, the only legal intersection crossing time occurs when they turn ALL of the driving traffic lights (in all directions) red. In attempt to fool the gullible, the city has large buttons to ‘enable pedestrian crossings’ at each intersection. Because we never saw any pedestrian with the patience to wait for the light to (finally) change, I can’t confirm that pushing the button has any effect. We occasionally saw green pedestrian crossing signs, but since there was no correlation between those and button pushing, we simply jaywalked.
Our flight home, which left Boston exactly on time, was marred by a boring stop at Washington’s Dullest Airport. After an inordinately long layover, our flight boarded on time. Departure was delayed by a mechanical problem described by the pilot.
“.. one of the overhead bin doors won’t close. We have mechanics working on the issue.”
“They are keeping us on the ground because an overhead bin door won’t close?” I thought.
I turned to Nazy: “I am a Georgia Tech engineer and I can solve that problem.”
“Really? How?”
“Duct Tape.” I said — loudly as a team of mechanics with rolling toolbox the size of my garage arrived. After a bit of banging, hacking, grunting and cursing, they pulled out a roll of…
“…. duct tape!”I exclaimed. “Told you so.”
Before boarding our flight, we had to clear a TSA security checkpoint. Although I have TSA Pre✓ status , I knew my shiny silver western belt and my cowboy boots would cause problems. I ran those items through the X-ray machine and walked through the metal detector. The guard saw my socks and shirt.
“That is so cool. You’re making a statement there. You’re saying: I don’t care what you think. I’m me! And I can wear whatever I want!” He enthused.
“I could also be colorblind.” I commented.
“We need a lot more of that in this country right now,” he replied.
When we got back home, there was an anomalous event. It rained. Arrow, who wasn’t old enough to walk when this last happened, was very excited:
“Rain, Dan. From ky.” (He’s not good with the letter ’s’.)
“That’s..”
“Agua, Dan.” He exclaimed as he pointed to the sky.
“That’s Spanish.” I replied.
Naturally, the rain was over the next day when I went to get Tiger. He had somehow talked two little girls into pushing him around the playground on the tricycle. The lad will be dangerous when he grows up.
Melika (and the children) joined Nazy, me, Mitra Darius, Christiane (and the lovely) Leandra at a memorial service in San Francisco last weekend. As we were getting ready to leave, I had a talk with Tiger.
“I want you to be charming, suave, debonair and sophisticated, Tiger.” I said. “Can you do that?”
“Yes,” Tiger replied.
“Do you know what it means?” I asked.
“No,” He replied.
“It means that you’ll be quiet. Can you do that?”
“No Dan. What’s that?” Tiger pointed to my tie.
“That’s a tie, Tiger. When I wear it I am charming, suave, debonair and sophisticated. Why can’t you be like me?”
“I don’t have a tie, Dan.”
Nazy and I also had a chance to spend time with (the lovely) Leandra. She’s about 15 months old. She’s mastered walking and is beginning to talk. She was very good dealing with so many new and different people.
When Nazy and I got home, we went for a walk in the nearby Douglas Preserve overlooking the Pacific Ocean. So many things have been happening recently that it was the first time we’ve taken advantage of our new location. I was somewhat flummoxed by Nazy’s giant hat…
“Has there been an unscheduled total eclipse of the sun?” I asked as darkness fell when the sun was blotted out.
“Dan..”
“I think you’re attracting attention from the rescue helicopter.” I continued, ill-advisedly.
And, finally, this week a rocket was launched from nearby Vandenberg Air Force base. Launches can be quite spectacular if they occur right after sunset — and this one met the criterion. The SpaceX vehicle not only put a satellite into orbit, it returned the booster to the launch site. We had a perfect viewing position on our patio. The photo shows the booster returning to Vandenberg (on the right) and the 2nd stage pushing the satellite into orbit on the left.
For last week's letter, please click here
The SpaceX launch