My first view of unEarthly moons

Last Tuesday, for the first time I saw the moons of a planet other than Earth with my own eyes. I heard on Earth and Sky that Jupiter was unusually close to Earth, closer than it has been since 1963 and than will be again until 2022. And also very near the Earth moon. So I whipped out my binos and there Jupiter was in the early night sky. And right near Jupiter I saw three of its moons. Wow. Uranus was supposed to be hanging around within one degree of Jupiter, too, but I didn't see it. That would have been a first for me, as well. Saturn is the farthest out planet I have seen so far.

More info from Earth and Sky.

Here's a neat chart of where these planets are right now.

Over and out.

computer death

OK, this is not about the yard, though this is the yard values blog.

Last week our iMac died and took a lot of files with it. Actually the biggest hunk of stuff was photos that I had in iPhoto. The last photos I had backed up were from September 2009. So a lot of photos.

The last time this happened was when we first bought that iMac, and I lost a lot of photos when the motherboard crapped out--bad capacitors, I guess--then, too. And I was really devastated. But this time, I'm not devastated. Sure, I'd like to have them back, but no devastation. I'll see if I can find someone/thing that can resurrect them--Geek Squad at Best Buy, maybe--but I'm not hopeful. Maybe this means that I'm getting more comfortable with death.

Of course it doesn't hurt that I have a new iMac to play with.

3 months later

Well, the passing of my 65th birthday signaled a change, an elbow, in the direction of my life. Preceded as it was by knee surgery and the death of my aunt, Janet. And followed by rehabilitation of my knee, which is ongoing. And our trip to Seattle and Port Townsend for Janet's memorial service and interment. And returning to work at Olin Library.

The best thing so far about this post-65 time has been swimming in Lake Champlain one or more times a day during the two weeks we were in Vermont at the end of August. And visiting with Clare, a college friend who now lives in Seattle. There is nothing more strengthening and clarifying about swimming as far as I can in that water and playing with its buoyancy. The first few days were very windy, hence really wavy and challenging to swim in. When calmer days came, the strength developed swimming in the wind enhanced my appreciation of the smoother water.

Seems like the end of an era. So where now? A new direction is not yet clear. To experience a tectonic shift in my sense of self does not mean that I know much about it yet. I wonder what will happen.

Meanwhile, I have been enjoying reading two books in the Library of America series: Reporting World War II, Part One and A. J. Liebling's World War II Writings. It is sobering to read reporting. I know how the events proceeded more of less, how they turned out, but the writer has no idea, of course, because their future, and our future, has not yet happened. It rather parallels my present state. Something is going on, and I can only report about what seems to be happening without knowing how it will turn out exactly. Or even approximately.