I was in the hot tub the other night. It was clear, and the sky was alive with stars because the seeing out here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is amazing. I’m not much good at identifying constellations, but I did see the Big Dipper. It always amuses me because I have this strange snapshot memory.
I must have been about three years old. My family had taken a trip, flying from California to Kansas to visit my grandparents. I have a few memories of the trip: dressing in a cowboy outfit and holding a wooden snap toy like a stogie to emulate my cigar-smoking grandfather. Huddling in the basement during a tornado.
What I remember most clearly, though, was the return trip. My grandfather had bought us a ticket for a Pullman sleeper car on a passenger train. I remember the fold-down beds and the African-American porters and the French toast. Then I remembered one night — well past bedtime, I’m sure — when my mother was showing my brother the night sky through the window of our compartment. I wanted to see. She pointed and said “Look! there’s the Big Dipper.” There were… problems:
- I had no idea what a “dipper” was.
- I did not know we were looking at the stars.
- The Big Dipper, of course, looks nothing like a dipper even if you know what a dipper looks like.
I do remember, though, seeing lots of stars and catching sight of the back of the train as we gently rounded a bend.
pavilion progress
We’re making progress on the pavilion. Today, the Hand and I assembled the two shorter sections of the roof. We still have to make the longer sections, then get them up on the frame (might take extra hands). Today was too windy to put them up even if they’d been ready.
There are many other pictures of the progress of the pavilion.
—2p