Friday, October 16, 2009

Notes from the Road

I’m writing this early and setting it up to post on my blog day. When it posts I'll be in Indianapolis at Bouchercon without my computer. It’s really Tuesday and I’m in Chicago. It’s amazing how the leaves have changed since I was here a month ago. The trees are still full, but the green is different. Some of the leaves are a bright yellow as if they have captured the sunlight. Sunlight from some other day since today is cold and gray. But then its cool and rainy in L.A.

Okay, this is just weird. I have the television on as I’m writing this. I don’t have cable or satellite here, so I end up watching mostly PBS. Nova just came on with a show about the mission to repair the Hubble telescope. I hear the name of one of the astronauts and it grabs my attention. I babysat for him. Immediately I have a memory of the first time. He was a year and a half old and in wet diapers. He’s changed a lot - obviously.

I ended up taking care of him and his sister for years until they moved to the suburbs. He wasn’t much of an eater and his parents were thrilled that I made smoothies for him with raw eggs in them. They weren’t called smoothies then and raw eggs weren’t viewed as salmonella carriers. The drinks made such a mark, they gave me a blender as a wedding present.

It’s making me claustrophobic just to look at the inside of the space shuttle. And watching them standing out in space trying to unscrew the old camera gives me the hebbie jebbies. I guess its lucky I didn’t want to be an astronaut because I’m sure I would have washed out.

I’m glad my only challenge tonight is to crochet a washcloth to use as a sample in my craft room demonstation.

1 comment:

Linda O. Johnston said...

How fun, Betty, that you have a connection to outer space! When I was a kid, I wanted to be a veterinarian until I had to dissect a live frog in Advanced Biology. After that, I wanted to be an astronaut--but I gave that up fast. Confined areas? The possiblity of getting stuck somewhere without any help? No way! These days, I can write about veterinarians and outer space, and that's a lot more fun.