Bernadette and Emelie

Two new girls to join my family of My Crochet Dolls by Isabelle Kessedjian.  Bernadette, on the left, loves mathematics and music.  To her, trigonometry is beautiful in its symmetry, and Baroque music as precise and complex as calculus.  Her plans are to be the commander of the first human-crewed Mars mission!

Emelie, on the right, is quite shy.  Social discourse leaves her breathless and anxious, but she has a magical way with animals.  She calms them as they calm her.  Her dream is to have a small farm and run an animal rescue there.

As unlikely as it seems, these two are best of friends.  Emelie listens with fierce affection to Bernadette's dream of escaping gravity, and Bernadette helps with affectionate care the many strays that Emelie nurses.

Emelie's Nightgown, and Bernadette's Knit School Outfit are both freely available.  Bernadette's book bag is from Isabelle's book My Crochet Doll.

I'm sure we will be hearing more from these friends :-)

Welcome home, Atlantis. Farewell, Shuttle

All the photos on this page are from the NASA website:  www.nasa.gov


Shuttle Atlantis touched down this morning at 5:58 EDT, bringing to an end the Space Shuttle program, after 30 years of flight.

I watched entranced, 42 years ago yesterday, when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon.

As a child in grade school in the 60's, every Gemini and Apollo launch was watched on a TV wheeled into the room just for that purpose.  I was captivated by the space program, as so many of my generation were.  The space program was a ray of hope during the bitter decade of the 60's, and inspired me to study science and math, and go on to become an engineer.  

I recall holding my breath as Columbia landed for the first time, in 1981.   I watched dumbstruck as Challenger broke apart in 1986.

And I have been wholly amazed at the construction of the International Space Station.  Not only a marvel of engineering; not only like building a ship in the middle of the ocean from the keel up, but of the international cooperation between countries that only a few years ago were bitter enemies.

Interestingly, we cooperate better in space with former enemies and rivals, than we do within our own congress.

In space we speak a common language of committment, focus, dedication, and passion .  Surely this is a legacy that must be passed on to our children.  If we do nothing else as a country, we should inspire our children to dream beyond their horizons, to be passionate and focused and dedicated.  The space program brings out the very best in us, and shows us just what amazing things we can accomplish, when we work together.

Welcome home Atlantis!  Godspeed, NASA, on your next manned mission of discovery.  I hope the wait will not be too long.

An Awesome Opportunity

My family and I had the awesome opportunity to hear Kevin Ford, pilot of STS-128, talk about his adventure aboard the space shuttle Discovery.

Their mission launched last August, 2009 to the International Space Station and took 15,000 lbs of supplies, experiments, and equipment, and performed three space walks. They also took Nicole Stott to the ISS as a space station crewmember, and returned Tim Kopra.

Kevin was informative, funny, and gracious. It was terrific.

Thanks to my brother-in-law Roger for the pictures. I'm the wannabe with the braid :-)

Remembering Apollo

"We choose the moon"

40 years ago today men first step foot upon the moon. I was 12 at the time, and know exactly where I was, and remember the fuzzy video transmission, and Walter Cronkite. It was an incredible event for all mankind; probably one of the few events of the 20th century that will be remembered 500 years from now.