Magazine Posts

I started High School in Seattle at O'Dea.
My Mother wanted to return to her roots,
to be close to her Mom and Dad.
We packed up our furniture, shoes
clothing and books into a small truck.
We headed East to Ellensburg.
My Father had attended a small High School,
West of Ellensburg. He was going to build
a house and so we moved in with his
parents and great grandpa May.
I enrolled at Thorp or THS, a
High School, of approximately 41 students.
There were 14 in my class which at the time
was a large class but a shock to me after
being at O'Dea, an all boy school of
approximately 200 students.
My English Composition teacher, had
also taught my Dad. I recall that she was
a stern but a fair taskmaster.
Quite different from the stern, Religious
Brothers, teaching at O'Dea.
The enjoyment I had at THS were many.
Many new friends, dances, holding Student
Body Offices and most importantly playing
sports. We did not have a Football team but did
have active teams in Basketball and Baseball.
I lettered for 3 years in Basketball and Baseball.
In those days, I was average height for a Basketball
guard. Baseball, I played 3rd base, 2nd base and
pitched. Not much of a fastball but I could throw
a lot of "junk", screwballs, curve ball and slider.
Great memories, great times with great lifelong
friends.

It is very cold, out on the street,
as I walk alone, the Sun at my back.
All bundled up, to keep my self warm.

I walk past a house, with windows of glass,
seeing the Sun reflection, as I pass,
when a bright flash of light, with a blast of heat,
comes from the windows, reflecting the Sun.
I pause for a moment, to soak up the rays,
reflected on me on this very cold day.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Why does Saturn appear so big? It doesn't -- what is pictured are foreground clouds on Earth crossing in front of the Moon. The Moon shows a slight crescent phase with most of its surface visible by reflected Earthlight known as ashen glow. The Sun directly illuminates the brightly lit lunar crescent from the bottom, which means that the Sun must be below the horizon and so the image was taken before sunrise. This double take-inducing picture was captured on 2019 December 24, two days before the Moon slid in front of the Sun to create a solar eclipse. In the foreground, lights from small Guatemalan towns are visible behind the huge volcano Pacaya. Follow APOD in English on: Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, or Twitter

Photo by Francisco Sojuel

The horns of time
upon my head
reveal a new fear.
That being said;
to run from here
at a fast pace
and escape this long
fall from grace.

Many years ago, in another time a friend of mine
was making a trip out of town. He took along an
empty suitcase, a big one.
He flew to Medford to visit some of our units.
He stopped at a Discount Store, where an old
friend was the Manager.
My friend, Harold, I'll call him Hal grabbed a
cart and went down the aisle. He told his friend
we had a toilet paper shortage in Seattle.
He loaded up his cart and as other shoppers
came by, he told them of the TP shortage in Seattle.
Those customers and others, immediately cleared
out all the known supplies of the TP in that store.
My friend arrived home the next day. Took his
suitcase into the bedroom, put it on the bed, opened
it and called to his wife, Donna.
"Donna" he said, "come in here and see what I have."
Donna went into the bedroom and Hal said" Look what I
have." His wife replied, "What's this?"
Hal said "You told me that you couldn't find any toilet paper".
She said to Hal, "I told you I couldn't find any Blue"
And so it is said that it doesn't take too much talk to
start a run, (pardon the pun) on toilet paper.
Not the same as what happened here, but at the time
when Hal told me the story, we laughed.
Keep your chin up, we will get through this terrible period of
time of our life.
Wash your hands.

One thing I've learned;
Learned it well,
Is the disease of Dementia
Comes straight from Hell.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

You couldn't really be caught in this blizzard while standing by a cliff on Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Orbiting the comet -- frequently abbreviated as 67P or CG -- in June of 2016, the Rosetta spacecraft's narrow angle camera did record streaks of dust and ice particles -- similar to snow -- as they drifted across the field of view near the camera and above the comet's surface. Some of the bright specks in the scene, however, are likely due to a rain of energetic charged particles or cosmic rays hitting the camera, and the dense background of stars in the direction of the constellation of the Big Dog (Canis Major). In the featured video, these background stars are easy to spot trailing from top to bottom. The stunning movie was constructed from 33 consecutive images taken over 25 minutes while Rosetta cruised some 13 kilometers from the comet's nucleus.

A witness to, these days gone bye;
Nary a whimper or prolonged sigh.
A virus that attacks from the cold,
Selecting the infirm and the old.
Low immune system, old age abound.
If you're exposed, it will be found.
You will be diagnosed as positive,
Now the fight begins, for you to live.

The days were many.
The nights did last
but in reflection
they went by too fast.

The words come forth
from my childlike mind.
Some are cruel,
some are unkind.
Nevertheless, out
the words come,
some are witty,
others are dumb.
Why do those words,
from long days gone bye,
fall to the paper,
with nary a sigh
nor a yell?
Please tell me now,
if you can tell.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

What phase of the Moon is 3.14 radians from the Sun? The Full Moon, of course. Even though the Moon might look full for several days, the Moon is truly at its full phase when it is 3.14 radians (aka 180 degrees) from the Sun in ecliptic longitude. That's opposite the Sun in planet Earth's sky. Rising as the Sun set on March 9, only an hour or so after the moment of its full phase, this orange tinted and slightly flattened Moon still looked full. It was photographed opposite the setting Sun from Teide National Park on the Canary Island of Tenerife. Also opposite the setting Sun, seen from near the Teide volcano peak about 3,500 meters above sea level, is the mountain's rising triangular shadow extending into Earth's dense atmosphere. Below the distant ridge line on the left are the white telescope domes of Teide Observatory

Photo by El Cielo de Canarias

I run from you.
I try to hide,
but I miss you so,
my thoughts can't decide,
if I should stay
with you, by your side.