69 degrees South

SWMBO and I went to a performance yesterday by the Phantom Limb Company of "69 degrees South" at the Scottsdale Center for the Arts.  It's a stunning presentation which refers to the Endurance Expedition to Antarctica of Ernest Shackleton in 1914.  His ship became trapped by pack ice and eventually sank.  The crew than began a seven month trek hauling lifeboats to reach the open sea and after another 7 days of rowing they reached Elephant Island.  

Shackleton, however, realized they had no hope of being discovered and resolved to travel 800 miles to a whaling station on South Georgia to get help.  He and five of his men made the journey in about three weeks and after three tries they returned to Elephant Island and rescued all of the other men.

The play is presented wordlessly by six characters who prowl the stage in costume and on stilts manipulating puppets to represent Shackleton and his men.

It is a stunning and somewhat puzzling performance accompanied by video images projected on a rear wall, glaciers rising from the stage, and a musical sound track performed by the Kronos Quartet.

The performers are excellent as they move around the stage, bending and weaving as they control the marionettes.

The New York-based Phantom Limb Company spent four years putting the show together, including a trip to Antarctica,  and collaborating with the Kronos Quartet on the sound track.  Additional music was provided by Skeleton Key.

If you want to challenge your brain . . you might try this avant-garde performance as it travels around the country.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PETE

Much has been made of Willie Nelson's 80th birthday recently and we join in the congratulations.  Willie, who is as well known for his marijuana habit as his singing, just keeps going.  At a concert in Florida after his birthday celebration in Abbott, Texas it was reported that someone tossed a hemp necklace to him as he came on stage.  He reportedly caught it in mid-air with a smile.  I don't know if the weed has kept Willie performing for all these years but a reviewer said he gave a rock solid performance for 90 minutes that night.

But today brings news of another legend of the music business.  Pete Seeger turns 94 today.  And he's still singing, recording and leading crowds through a rollicking performance of "This Land Is Your Land."

That's an early and a later picture of the great songwriter and performer.  You probably can't read the words printed on the face of his banjo.  It says "This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender."  Pete printed that after learning that his predecessor, Woody Guthrie, printed "This Machine kills Fascists" on the face of his guitar.

Pete was a member of the Weavers, a folk group from "way back". I saw him perform live a couple of times with Arlo Guthrie, the son of Woody.  If you get a chance to see them, it's a great show.

Happy birthday, Pete, and please keep on playing, singing and leading the rest of us to try harder.

SPF SIX ZILLION

A small biology lesson today.  

Watch out for the sun.  (Fine advice from a guy who just moved to Phoenix, right?)

When I was a young lad of half Norwegian descent I loved the sun and would play outside until I was burned to a crisp.  I never really tanned all that well, I just got sunburned.  Or as Woody Allen says "I don't tan, I stroke!"

As I got older and older I continued to worship the sun, spending many, many days at the beach and usually ending up with yet another sunburn.

Now, finally, I'm paying the price for it.

Those red spots above my right eyebrow (that's the one on the left in this photo) are tracks from my new dermatologist's liquid nitrogen spray.  That's how they take care of minor skin cancers these days.  Freeze them to the point of pain with a very cold spray.

Then there are the others, which require more invasive treatment, like the squamous cell carcinoma my former dermatologist cut out of my upper arm awhile back.  It left a barely discernible scar but it's still a scar.

Now that I'm an Old Fart, I can say whatever I want.  Here is what I say.  Stop tanning.  Use the highest SPF factored sunscreen you can find.  Wear a broad-brimmed hat.  

Avoid.  The.  Sun.

You'll thank me someday.

EYES ON THE SKY

For the last two nights in a row, SWMBO and I have been in the back yard watching the International Space Station pass over.  The first night it was for less than a minute but last night it lasted nearly three minutes.  It looks like a very high fast-moving airplane.  The space station is about 200 miles above the earth.  It takes only about 90 minutes to circle the entire globe so you can imagine it won't be visible long in any one area.

I learned a lot about the Space Station by going to this NASA web site.  For example, I learned that the station is currently being commanded by a Canadian, Chris Hadfield.  The rest of the crew includes two United States citizens and three from Russia.  The station has been in orbit for about 12 and a half years at this point.

The space station is larger than a five bedroom house and about the size of a football field.  Compact spaces but lots of room to rove around.  There are many other interesting facts in a video tour of the station conducted by a former commander, Suni Williams, accessible from the web page.

You can schedule email alerts to let you know in advance of a passing over your area.  Just click on the link for "Spot the Station".

The BRD was with us for the first night of viewing but I guess coming from the Star Trek generation it was no big deal for her.  I, on the other hand, was thrilled to watch it, especially last night as it moved across the sky and then just winked goodbye.

Oh and by the way, for those of you who may not have seen my thank you on Facebook, thanks to all who wished me a happy birthday Wednesday.  It was a great day and I am fortunate to have so many friends.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME . . .

Okay, I know this is the post you've all been waiting for.  Catalyst/Bruce celebrating his #%rd birthday.  Today was the day so here we go.

SWMBO and I were accompanied by the irrepressible BRD to a nice restaurant where we were seated far away from the other patrons. I don't know why.  Well, maybe I do.  It was because of the antics of the BRD.

Y' can't take her anywhere.  And if it's your birthday she insists on singing.  Badly.

She insists on applause.

Or, at least, dessert.

That red velvet cupcake in the center was supposed to be my birthday cake but she devoured most of it.  But never mind.  The lemon cake on the left and the "loaded" carrot cake on the right were equally delicious.

SWMBO, in the meantime, was ordering wine . . . a very good Pinot Noir by Mirassou.

And, in spite of what I said earlier about the BRD, we all had a very good time.

So, happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, I'm only seventy-three, so happy birthday to me!  

And surrounded by much younger ladies that I love dearly!

NEPHEWS AND WIVES

As I said yesterday, two of my nephews and their wives were coming to visit.  Just a day after a four-day hiking and camping trek into the Grand Canyon.  The organizers were Amy and Barry from St. Paul, Minnesota.

Amy is an excellent and pretty competitive cross country skier.  Barry is the cook extraordinaire and planner.  They go somewhere nearly every weekend to hike, camp, fish, ski or whatever.  They're a very active couple.

They had gone into the Canyon a year ago.  This time they brought Barry's older brother, Larry and his wife Debbie, from Minot, North Dakota.

I was just talking with SWMBO and noted it was interesting that all three men in that family do a bulk of the cooking.  Barry, Larry and their younger brother, Tim, all cook very capably.

By the way, I found that Larry likes his white wine!

Barry and Amy had to catch a plane back for the snowy north.  Here's a picture Barry sent of what greeted them at home.

Larry and Deb stayed over a night.  Great to see them after way too many years.

MONDAY, MONDAY

Happy Earth Day!

Two of my nephews and their wives are enroute to our house for a visit.  Here's where they've been for a few days.

This year Deb and Larry joined Amy and Barry for a backpacking trek into the Grand Canyon.  After several days camping in the depths, they emerged at the top yesterday.  Brave and sturdy folks!

SILLY SATURDAY STUFF

Phoenix television anchor team, Lin Sue Cooney and Mark Curtis,  at Pat's Run in Tempe this morning.

Back in the day, I worked with both of these people.  What I want to know is how come Mark and I got older and grayer and plumper and Lin Sue has remained her same gorgeous self.

Maybe it's because of this.

Some other stuff I swiped from the Internets today.

And one for, like me, the gentle cat lovers among you.

RANDOMICITY

HA!  I just made up a word.  To explain, here are some random shots around my neighborhood.

If you've got really good vision or a good monitor you might have seen a sliver of moon up there.  I call it a moonlet.  (WOW!  I just made up another word!)  If not, here . . I'll blow it up for you.

Have a GREAT weekend!

KITTY WISDOM

A SURPRISE!

I had a big surprise yesterday.  I was sitting out on my patio in the morning when the phone rang.  It was my cousin, Bonnie, from Billings, Montana.  I said "where are you?"  She replied that they were about 20 miles out of Flagstaff, heading for Prescott.  She said "why don't you drive up and have lunch with us at the Palace Saloon."  

Now that's a little over a hundred miles from where I live now but, since they had come from Montana, I said "fine" and we agreed to meet at noon.

When I got there she was standing out front with a young woman I didn't recognize but was quickly introduced to Linda, her sister, another cousin of mine.

Then the doors to a car parked right in front opened and more people emerged.  This is Linda's husband, D.J.

Here is Bonnie and her husband, LaVerne.

But the biggest surprise was yet to come.  One more woman stepped out of the car and I asked Bonnie in wonder, "Is that your mother?"

It was.  Lil was married to my mother's brother.  I asked Bonnie how old she was and was told she is 91.  Now I ask you . . is this the face of a 91 year old woman?

It certainly doesn't look like it to me.  She is full of pep and ready to go.

The group had been through Wyoming and Colorado, taking in the sights, and were on their way to the Grand Canyon and then Monument Valley before going on to Bryce Canyon in Utah and then back to Montana.

They are great adventurers, those Montanans, and it was wonderful to see them all again, especially my ever-young Aunt Lil.

Oh, and Bonnie brought me some of those famous chocolate frosted chocolate cookies that I remembered from my mother's oven when I was a wee tot.

Oh, yes, I was.  Once upon a time.

VISITORS

Some of our nearest neighbors.

The Sentinel.

Actually, it's just a bloody mourning dove . . . one of several, er, dozens, er, hundreds around us.

A honey-bunny.  One of at least two, probably many more, in our neighborhood.  This one was in our back yard this evening.

Ready for your close-up, bunny?

They may be pests but I think they're cute with their little cotton tails.  And we're not gardening so . . .

(By the way, Steve, my apologies for taking your blog title for my post title.  I promise not to do it again.)

MOON SHOT

Taken the other night from my back yard in Phoenix.  But I've doctored it a bit to darken the sky.

A smiley face moon?

An Arabian moon?

A rip in the fabric of space?

Nyahhh.

Just a new moon.

But at least one guy thinks it's important.  His name is Steve Judd and he's a self-taught astrologer living in Bath, England.

Gobbledegook, maybe, but with his delivery and accent, I could almost believe him.

Have a good month.

IT'S FLORA, DORA!

Our new Phoenix home is surrounded by plants.  We have big palm trees,

and smaller palm trees,

Bottlebrush shrubs,

and roses,

and mock roses,

and some I can't name yet.  Any help with the next two?

A couple of bougainvillea trees were badly burnt by a hard frost and had to be cut back this week.

But there's new growth and new color coming.

Then there are the potted plants SWMBO has planted on our patio.

A mix of petunias and cosmos.

All in all, I think Saint Frank approves.