Catharsis

TL;DR: We saw Mercury while on vacation! Wednesday night, we were walking back from dinner, and saw this sight in the western sky. (Picture courtesy GD1): "What is that bright speck at the upper limb of the moon?", I wondered. I vaguely recalled that there was an annular eclipse around now. I was tired from a full day, so my brain said: " Baily's Beads "! This jolted me into action. I yelled "It's an eclipse!" and tore off down the hallway to fetch my 50x zoom camera from the hotel room. Witnesses say I just missed bowling over some alarmed tourists, and numerous grandchildren raced after me. One witness (SIL1) said he'd never seen me move so fast.. A jink and a jag, and I got to our room's balcony, camera in hand, just in time for everything to go behind the clouds. My picture: We're home now, and I've been curating some of our images. I zoomed in on the highlight of GD1's picture: and later SIL2 offered up his, which I zoomed ...

We recently had a lively discussion in the family online chat and later at a seasonal gathering regarding what constitutes a Christmas song. My criteria aren't exactly defined, so I might change my mind, depending on my mood.  But key to making the decision is that the song needs to invoke an emotion. Traditionally a happy, warm, fuzzy one. But sometimes these days it's a bittersweet one, remembering what was and isn't likely to happen again.  Silver Bells - I'd like to say no, but begrudgingly yes. I liked it when I was a child, I think because of the melody. Same applies to the likes of Rudolph, Winter Wonderland, White Christmas, Baby it's Cold Outside etc. Too bland and contrived? Joy to the World - yes, especially when over the top, like these folks do. We did this in our community choir Christmas concert, and I had the pleasure of getting the soprano descant blasted at me from close range. So much fun! Hark the Herald Angels Sing, another   good one. O Holy ...

Well, that was magical. Lately, I've been experimenting with meshtastic, a technology of small, low power radios that run software to form a mesh of communications over a few tens of kilometers range, and enable text-based messaging independent of any other infrastructure. In theory useful for situations where the power is out for an extended period of time, like ham radio enthusiasts describe. For the last couple of days, I've been hoisting one up one of our taller trees to see what kind of range I can get.   Also for the last few days, our barred owl has been active. On Monday, I startled it under the deck, and we spent an hour watching each other.  Last night my arboreal meshtastic node's battery died, because the solar panel was not aligned with the sun. So I hauled it down, and was working on getting the halyard in a better position.  All of the sudden, our neighbourhood owl flew in, to see what I was up to! I interacted with her(?) for a couple of hours. She was cur...

In celebration of a significant number of decades of wedded bliss, we did a river cruise on the Rhine, courtesy Ama Waterways. The Route I've drawn this by hand, so our actual distance covered was likely more, over 800km. The plan She has consented to do carry-on only luggage, as we have a couple of multi-hour periods where a big bag would be painful to deal with. We reached a good agreement on what is really essential travel stuff. Itinerary Monday May 12th to Montreal, then overnight to Amsterdam arriving May 13. No one had announced direct flight when we booked all this. Stay in Amsterdam at the Rho Hotel See the sites in Amsterdam until we board our boat the AmaPrima on May 14. May 15, we stay docked the first night, and go on a canal tour in Amsterdam in the morning May 16, we dock at Dusseldorf walking tour of Dussledorf walking tour of Cologne May 17, we dock at Rudesheim bike tour of the Rheingau Siegfried's Mechanical Music cabinet May 18, we dock at Ludwigshafen (Mann...