Quick update from somewhere in the Atlantic!

Ahoy all. We left Southhampton on a rather pretty evening on our way to the mighty Atlantic. The exit from was the most spectacular we have ever seen. We were parked in a narrow channel that was packed with sail boats and cruise ships and jet skis, all trying to get a close up look of our ship. Trouble is, we were backward- we couldn’t see how a boat this massive could turn around in such a narrow space; would it back out???
So instead of drinking champagne at the back of the ship where the band was, we went to a special place in the bow where the super nerds hang out. Here is where you hear all the technical talk about bow thrusters and electric pods. It was rather mesmerizing: we saw, far below two ordinary chaps throw the huge lines into the water, to set us free. Then we basically scooched left as if we had feet. Scooched left, and then slowly every so slowly turned around. This planet sized ship has a very small turning radius. Who knew? Anyway it was all very bad ass- the captain, the ship, the little humans who figured this all out.
We cheered.

So off to sea! I am reading a wonderful book about the Atlantic- and the author is as awed and enamored by this ocean as I am. He points out how unlike the pacific which has some turquoise   areas, a few palm trees lining it here and there: the Atlantic is stubbornly gray; a terrifying expanse of moody, magnificent water. He explains how it all started, and how it will all end. The continents will come back together and humans will end, and there won’t be any more soft serve ice cream machines.

Our room is apparently the third best on the ship. It is two floors and has a kitchen and three showers (!) It was the last one available….we don’t usually do this.
But it has gotten us a really good table at dinner and a few curious looks. (“Funny they don’t look like gangsters…..” ) Oh speaking of gangsters, there was a beautiful Russian family at an even better table, that I had my heart set on befriending- she was so lovely and worried. I think she only had champagne for lunch after a long worried discussion with the Russian waitress. Oh the waitress is too funny- she makes comments like my father used to make if the order is too wimpy. I ordered two appetizers for lunch instead of an entree and no wine as usual. She hadn’t even met me and she said I was boring. HA!
Where was I? oh the Russians got off in England so I have no friends. sad.

And friend the Turk is alas on vacation, so we don’t get the extras we used to.

Yesterday we had the planetarium show, a talk on an unsolved murder in 1930, a pedicure, a blow out, a table tennis tournament, and F started and finished a first draft of the caltech application which just came out.

Today was really good. There is a man from the Royal Astronomical Society (the Wehlen luck!) and he is giving four  talks. Today was the first- on how to look at the night sky with the naked eye. He is beyond fabulous- teaches at Oxford, and is singularly obsessed with light pollution. I am with him on this…so many people cannot see the stars at all, literally cannot see a single star due to this problem. It seems if people would just keep from having lights shine UP, things would be a lot better for astronomers and romantics everywhere.
more on that later.

Later in the week we get to meet him at a bar on board for Q&A. We are excited believe me. OH! and the last talk will be on asteroids! Can’t wait to talk shop with him.

Met the really young, handsome, Italian, absolutely earnest, third in command at the cocktail reception. Thomas wanted to ask why, when we left English waters, we went around this tiny island, rather than in between it and the shore, which was the shorter trip. He said that they never do that- it’s too risky and the fuel savings  are not worth it. He looked terrified of us, especially Mr. Captain in training, Thomas K. Wehlen.

We have had two food related scandals- F’s soft serve ice cream fell somewhere in the zone between the machine and our room, so he had to run with the fast melting goo in his hand, all the way to the room. Then Thomas, who has a rare weakness for the stir fry pork in the buffet eating area (not in our precious dining room), encountered a wily foe who stepped in front of him when he briefly hesitated after having served himself the stir fried noodles. She apparently saw there was very little left of the pork and not wanting to take any chances, simply swept in and took almost all for herself.
He is quite rattled about it and won’t let it go. We had to have a long walk around the deck, complete with full reenactment (“Ok you act out the part of the woman, and I'll be the pork..”)

There is much much more, but this has taken too long. Photos maybe tomorrow.

Lech Love

Greetings from the Post hotel- the main competition to the Almhof. Perhaps due to Michael's occasional patronage, they are being extra nice to us, and we were upgraded to the Kaiser suite.  It is insane- larger than several of my old apartments, with a dining room table, and a wood burning fireplace. Also it is just steps from the new outdoor pool-my new favorite place on earth. Our schedule includes long late afternoon lounges in bathrobes under the watchful gaze of the Omeshorn. Then we wander to tea - a silent army in bathrobes, then back to the chaise longues.

Every day we march up and down through bad moods and tired legs, past 16th century huts and baby cows; past church steeples and the town drunk. We walk and walk and walk. It is not always pretty- I experience a lot of self loathing and doubt along the way; but when I get back and my lunch order is in, I am as happy as I ever am. Really- it is a peace very close in intensity to the moment I met Frederick.
I just wish people knew this. Your path to peace is just one very long walk and a good lunch away. It is that simple.

We leave the day after tomorrow for Hamburg to catch the ship. yay. We are all a little amazed that this Exeter thing is in its last quarter. What a joy it has been- just a lovely exchange- I handed over my kid, and he came back better: a little braver, and smarter. I want to tell him that he needs to suck in every single thing about the place before he goes- he needs to do another radio show with his cousin- he needs to get to know the janitors, he needs to try the yoga class and the non fiction poetry with the cute teacher. He needs to check in with the trees and  the little redhead he has not yet met. He needs to eat at the salad bar more, and sing at karaoke night. He needs to go out for fencing.
But alas he will not. He will spend time with his cousins and the Wentworth crew and will take a lot of physics classes. He will mostly stay in his lane, my little left brainer.
But that is still pretty good.

Postscipt: we are on the boat now! just boarded a few hours ago; madly in love as always. Will send Hamburg/QM2 first day update soon. xx

Turtles, Euler Constant and the LMU

Ok where to begin? We had a week bobbing off of southern Turkey with the Wehlies and some huge turtles. All is well. We couldn't get the sleek, sexy boat we usually charter, but instead got this rather nice family wagon with Turkish crew. It included a mad chef who sent up Turkish wonders every day, all day. We are now back in Munich so F can see the famed Ludwig Maximilian University. For some reason I am delighted to be off the water and back in good old Munich. It's been too long.
The passport control at the airport took three seconds with a ridiculously handsome border person asking if I lived here. I found myself saying "Leider nicht."

F liked what he saw- a collection of stunning 18th century buildings in the center of one of his favorite cities on earth; a school that was founded in 1472 and is well known for physics and astronomy. There is no sports team, no greek system, no zany scavenger hunt, and it appears no school color.  Surely they need a color?  I know Amy wants a t-shirt- and she will have one, but the shop is closed for the summer, so online it must be.

The good news is they will guarantee a place for Frederick based on nothing more than decent grades and a nice lump of physics classes under his belt. This is where Exeter comes in handy: it offers a large array of advanced classes- so he's ok. Furthermore, it only takes three years to get an undergraduate degree and it is completely tuition free. Eva is so excited at the prospect of her grandson studying physics in the Vaterland that she just might offer to take him castle shopping. Something discreet with a turret or two.

The only fly in the ointment is they expel the bottom 50% of the class automatically after the first year. Brutal. I am starting to wonder about how the US will keep up with these types..? It seems like most of my friends' kids are studying at major Universities, but none of them have any idea what they want to learn. They just want to go to- fill in the blank- BerkeleyPrincetonHarvardStanford but aren't really sure what comes next. This is why the undergraduate part of the US system is really just the first step. It's the graduate degree where the rubber hits the road in America.

Now don't panic. I didn't say it was this was his first choice. But he is not going to be applying to too many schools if he has this option. What can I say? He is a bit lazy.

Meanwhile the meteor project is heating up...Both of them are now totally ignoring me as they drift into their own heads; either that or arguing in German using the word Matrices. There is some sort of rule for multiplying them, and apparently the spread sheet is not spitting out a reasonable number. I asked how they knew this and they said that the only way a number that big would make sense is if, rather than the meteor smashing into the earth, the meteor and the earth had a head-on collision. Thomas is officially only a sounding board on the spread sheet mechanics, but I know he has been fiddling with it when F is not looking. Too funny.

Lech tomorrow- Schneider dinner party the first night with a wine maker (obviously) and I am sure the usual assortment of communists and bee keepers. What to wear....what to wear.

XXX

I will update this later with photos. check back in.

Beloved Moon

All details to follow! For now must go back to the eclipse, the longest lunar eclipse this century and just four minutes shy of the longest possible. Wildly romantic - but no one here at the hotel is looking at it, so I am going table to table. (no joke).
Frederick is not amused.

Wrapping things up

Fly tomorrow to  Turkey - always sad to leave our little sports oasis, but if I am going to leave, then I am glad the next stop is Istanbul.

Rainer and Devon were here for a few days and R's comment after being fried on a tennis court for 90 minutes as we giggled at his form (that backhand!!), was that a Wehlen vacation always meant pain and should not be entered into lightly.

I am a bit worried about our stats on this trip. We were here for three weeks and never, not once, went to the beach with the intention of staying and hanging out. Sure, we would go atone for whatever sins Protestants seem to think they have committed, by jumping into icy water before breakfast. But that's not the point of a beach. I would see attractive- I mean really attractive Portuguese our age, hanging out there until 7:30 or 8 pm, flirting with each others' husbands and loving life. I know because we ran into them when we were going to dinner at the beach restaurants as they were sexily coming up from the same beach.

In our defense, we had to get to bed early enough to go play tennis and look at impact crater statistics.

Meteor Crater Analysis Update from Thomas:
"The problems with the Euler transformation have been solved. We used the wrong order of matrices at first, but we have it now. Still trying to figure out angle and speed of earth impact. "

I keep asking when I should duck- that's the only thing I want to know-  but they do not seem interested in answering. Reminds me of sailing as a kid with no wind, when the engine went out and a super tanker was within inches: "DO I JUMP OFF NOW POP!????"

Am close to podcast poisoning. The other day on the way to tennis, I made Frederick hold the phone and put the pod on speaker. He kept trying to tell me that this would do me no good. That we knew this already; that all this ranting was not useful. But then he heard something new and he was hooked.
 How many times a week does this come on?????!!!!

But because I am not craaaazy, I am balancing the ranting anti Trump ones with new age meditations. I listen to a Deepak and or Tolle or you name it, for each one. Trouble is, this is making me late for tennis. Thomas came rushing into the room yelling WE ARE LATE!!!! yesterday, as I was deep into Deepak "Oom Shanti Shanti"  And because I had obviously not absorbed any of the message of this whole earth-thing-is-an-illusion-blaring in my ear, I sat up straight: OH SHIT!!! I'll get the rackets, you get the low sugar Portuguese Gatorade !!!!!!!!!!!

What, disease we have exactly is not clear. Who gives a shit if the tennis teacher has to wait?

Love our teacher. His name is Roque and he is ours. We have known him for years, and he is the most beautiful player. Also he is very easy on the eyes, but he does not seem to know it.

It's an old friend's birthday today, and I love my friends' birthdays- (as you all painfully know).  It's so nice to have an official reason to stop and just eat some damn cake. Tell people you love them-

Then forget the rest.

So next stop Mediterranean. Thomas has his swim goggles packed; Frederick has his lap top charged; I have earphones cleaned.

Oh!!! i forgot to tell you, I SIGNED us up for the grand canyon 8 day camping trip in May  (!!!!!!!) At first I was euphoric. Me and Professor Knaut and a bunch of nerds from Germany looking at the rocks and stars. But now I am panicked. I saw a film of what it is like and it was like a Japanese reality show where people are doused in water until they give up. Then I read the most horrible words I have ever read: highly recommended that women wear bikinis - to make the trips to the "bathroom" easier. Except there is NO "bathroom".
Will anyone come with???? I'll throw in a trip to the Aman after...?

LOVE you guys. Today and everyday.

Pods Save America

No news really from over here. Lots of tennis and essay writing and world cup watching and meteor crater analyzing; a little golf and a few cold water swims. The weather is unseasonably cool- more wind than usual, so any extra time not bobbing in the frigid sea, I have filled with ranting left wing podcasts. Thomas says I am up to 8 espressos and four podcasts a day. He is more right than wrong on that.
This morning he walked into the kitchen where I was huddled over my fourth (fourth!) espresso having already gone through the New York Times, a Rachel Maddow show and a ranting email from Boo. I was so agitated over this business of handing over our former ambassador to Russia- that I had no choice but to go to net-a-porter and buy a pair of Gucci red shoes. I mean a girl wants to look good for her new Russian compatriots.
Thomas merely looked over my shoulder at the price and said: "Wow. What did he do now? "

He is a good man for not putting me directly into rehab (I hear they have a good one that combines addiction to caffeine and red leather). God help us. Please God heeeelllllp. And I don't just mean get rid of Trump. I mean please fix what he has he done to us. We are crazed- nervous and furious a lot of the time. Deaths from liver disease have risen dramatically in the US; I am not making this up. I myself am going through an extra large bar of Cadbury's nut and raisin every two days. The brightest spot in my day was the story about Mariachis trying to keep the president up all night. How was I not involved in that..?
Listened to a podcast where Father Rohr spoke to Oprah. (Oh how lovely he is!) He talks about radical grace and not hating people or you will end up becoming them. He says don't take yourself too seriously. I am sure he wants me to soften my heart towards all of the spineless Republican congressmen, and I absolutely will. A little later.

No but seriously, the only good news about Trump going so far off the rails is I actually had a little sympathy for him. It was a miracle. He looked so trapped and pink and pathetic. Whatever it is: a pee pee tape or an offer of help, or money for a Trump Tower Moscow, whatever it is, we will find out. Think about that. No matter what he does, someday we will see him fully exposed. Yes, he might stay in power for 30 years, and we may all need German passports; but eventually we will know he only made three dollars last year, or he likes prostitutes to sing him lullabies in his ex wife's native language. (Ok where did that come from??? lol. Dr. Freud; line one.)

Where was I? yes instead of drinking port wine and flirting with beautiful Portuguese men, I am four hour a day earphones in the ear listening to anything that talks about this mystery: how we got here, how bad it might be. I will listen to anything that will make me feel superior for knowing he was am impossibly damaged human being before other people did. SEE?? I TOLD YOU!!!

For a while we were ending the evenings watching an Israeli Netflix show called Fauda. God how I loved that show. The actor playing the main character is a real Arab Israeli former special forces guy who I was so in love with, I would miss him just a little bit during the day. Yes it was biased towards Israel, but it did show the brutality too, how many Palestinians innocents get killed.  Thomas finally put a stop to this podcasts-followed-by-beheadings-in-the-middle-east schedule, and has got us watching Planet Earth 2. You MUST watch!!! remember Planet Earth 1? those incredible pictures? Well this next one took 10 years and it is astounding-the perfect antidote to the news.

I am also re-reading the Seat of the Soul- 25th anniversary addition. It is written by a former navy seal who returned from Vietnam and sank into deep PTSD depression. He only came out of it when a friend introduced him to the idea of Quantum Physics; he got so interested that he began going over to Lawrence Livermore Lab to speak with the hippie physicists there. Zukov believes, as do I, that the greatest physicists of our time were also great mystics. From these interviews he wrote Dancing Wu Li masters- which won the national book award for science. I have bought it, but not read it yet- but I am of course intrigued by this duality of science and spirituality- the biggest questions asked by the smartest people, the beauty and mystery of mathematics, the twinkling of stars. Anyway his next book, The Seat of the Soul is a little out there, but I love it; and it helps. That and the pictures of the little snow leopard with her mother.

At dinner, Thomas tuned out for a minute while I was explaining what I had heard that day on Pod Save America- (fellow addicts: check out Marcy Wheeler's blog) and then he said: "Oh sorry, I was calculating how fast the moon goes around earth". I mean really. Is that not the best excuse for ignoring your wife ever? Swoon.
I asked what Frederick had come up with so far, and Thomas said with no sense of irony: "it seems Keppler's formula holds up." lol. I could have told them that was a pretty good bet and gone for a swim, but to each his own.

Meantime we try to focus on hitting the ball a little more in front of us;  to pick the best white peaches at the farmer's market in Loulé. We try to get the milk foamer to work better, because it makes milk warm but not foamy.

It is not lost on me that while his mother rants about psycho assholes who cannot tell the truth, and then buys red shoes that are probably made in sweat shops, Frederick is toiling away at his little spread sheet- counting the 8, 502 near earth objects that swirl dangerously close to our precious earth. He is asking big questions while I ask the tiniest; looking up while I look down at my amex.

I intend to stop and I definitely will.


Postscript:
In the final version of this entry you may have noticed that our president's name was changed to Trump. This was done by Frederick - a neat trick one can do on one's laptop where the man's name is automatically changed, in very article, every single time. It's not much, but it's something.
vive la resistance.

"One, remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Two, never give up work. Work gives you meaning and purpose and life is empty without it. Three, if you are lucky enough to find love, remember it is there and don't throw it away.  Stephen Hawking


OK Greetings from Quinta do Lago.... headquarters for bad tennis, world cup viewing,  space exploration and college essay writing. F is -how shall I put this? not that into the idea of writing 50 essays about himself. He has basically finished his main one, and I have to say I quite like it. "Space is no place to leave a friend" is about the downgrading of Pluto and why he cares. The first draft was a dry, point by point rendition of why the science was flawed. Total crap.
"Frederick" I said, "this is supposed to be about you; why does it matter to you." "You have to show a little leg; make us care. "
He wants to kill us.

But then we had a conversation about anthropomorphizing and the Pearls before Swine Comic strip and somehow it is lurching towards being finished.

The Caltech one is a dooozy. It basically asks you to talk about the science projects you have done in your basement since you were a tiny kid; the time you almost blew up the dorm experimenting with nitrogen; and your plan for stopping a near earth object hitting earth. In 500 words or less.
Don't make your reservations at Pie and Burger just yet Kathy!!

He did write a good one for Chicago (how I love them over there) where the prompt is simply "Where is Waldo?" and he compared Waldo to an electron and somehow weaved in Schrödinger's cat. I didn't understand it, but it was amusing.

Ok since this is a travel blog where were we? London was hot and really fun. K and P are in great shape- exciting things ahead for work, and they have a new apartment that looks amaaaaaazing.

Had dinner with Thomas' father's partner Patrick Q.- the closest person I know to the Auntie Mame character. He lives only four months in London now in a house that is so big it used to be a convent. The rest of the time he is in Africa, bouncing between Cape Town and two game reserves he owns. He tells stories in stream of consciousness form, picking up on one word, or a famous person mentioned at the table and running with it. "Richard Branson? good friend, terrible shot, can't hit the side of a barn, was just with him shooting rifles out of the sunroof in the Cotswold's. Almost got thrown in the clink.
David Frost? won't speak to me after that dinner party where we talked about culling animals. Lions? 85% of the time, if you fell out of the jeep , they would run. I have been charged thirty times but then they ran away.  Needed new underpants every time."

But the absolute best story was when he flew Emirates and the plane was stopped on the runaway for a burka clad, obese princess. She entered the plane surrounded by an army of Phillipine maids, while screaming into her cell phone,

Patrick told her to lower her voice, she was disturbing everyone.
She did.

Then, a few hours into the flight, a maid approached from the back of the plane with a bed pan, and- there is no easy way to say this, but you might want to forget about that beer you were opening. ..
put it under the royal burka...after which followed the sound of tinkling. The pan was taken to God knows where on the plane, and another maid approached with a towel for a royal wiping.
Patrick was in her row in first class...alas not far enough away to
miss getting the full picture. His friend was behind them laughing so hard he almost choked.
 "Bastard wouldn't switch seats with me".

No big breakthrough on the meteor project; we will let you know if we find a new planet.

                                                           
Announcement section! please see the trump baby blimp above. Some enterprising- fellow Trump haters have built a giant ballon that resembles Trump in diapers. It will fly over London during his visit. Please donate! They might have enough money to go on a world tour- following Trump where ever he goes.  Claus found it so funny he gave too- and he is not normally into idiotic things like I am. But we are all so inspired. I only hope the blimp can go right up to the window where DT is meeting- hard to keep spewing with that in one's line of vision.             

                   And, in coffee news- Thomas has bought a small espresso machine and placed it in an unused bathroom downstairs. I go there in the early morning and drink an unscheduled overly strong coffee while the Teutons sleep. Not a bad place for a coffee actually...I told the confused and wonderful couple that work here that it was my speakeasy. I don't know how to say that in Portuguese but I think they got the whole bathtub gin concept. They are fully supportive.


              

Ode to Joy

Greetings Earthlings...!

I am writing to you from Sedona after a very pleasant evening star gazing with my new best friend Professor Knauth. Phoenix in summer has a dystopic vibe if you ask me- the heat is brutal obviously,  but unlike let's say Dubai- it drys you out. It 's like that Disney movie where the witch looks with horror as her hands shrivel into prunes. You have a sense that you don't have much time until you lose all life sustaining water in your body, so you don't stroll in Phoenix, you scurry -like a cockroach leaving the light.

But the real estate market is booming, so maybe I don't have the right attitude.

We stay at the huge Phoenician with the very un-Schneider like welcome. The procedure for checking into a large American hotel is based on their apparent fear you will stiff them on the bill. You must produce IDs and credit cards for your room, and then they hold your kidney as ransom for your bar bill. Then once all the paper work is done, you are told that the room is not ready. They have taken your luggage to a secure location (much like Trumps' toddler jails) but "you are welcome to swim!!" (in what bathing suit?) When our rooms are finally ready, she tells Frederick and me that we are in "Casita K.  As in Carry". This kind of thing cracks up F who is cocky with the vocab now ever since he got published.
 I told him she must have meant Kerry as in John, as she seemed so up to speed on world affairs.

Ok but to the main event- after creeping along in the shade until the dinner hour, we arrive at a mall somewhere in the desert for our blind date with the Professor. He and his wife are younger and fitter than I thought, his wife teaches yoga to the elderly and has for years. They seem to have little interest in fancy food or fermented drinks....it was self service which I found sad, but I went with it. Our hero Professor K has his undergraduate from the University of Chicago and his PHD from the sacred soil of Caltech. He said plenty of classes in high school he did poorly in, because he took the hardest ones, for the joy of it- and never really thought about the grade.

He is now retired from Arizona State University where he taught geology, astronomy and probably everything else.  He is a living breathing Renaissance man: geochemistry, astrology, classical music, Shakespeare, mathematics. He said he was walking down a hallway in high school and was stopped in his tracks by the most beautiful music he had ever heard, and became an instant life-long classical music fanatic. I asked him what the piece was- and he said without hesitation: the final movement of Beethoven's ninth- what we know as Ode to Joy.  If you meet him, you will see of course that song in him- all that genius and joy; all that dancing with chaos.

His father was an inventor of the old fashioned variety- meaning he made his living from it. Together they built this amazing, hugely heavy telescope that the Professor uses to this day (he has another one as well). In retirement this is how he spend his time:  he puts the old telescope via a contraption he invented into a trailer that looks like a horse trailer, and goes into the desert and looks at the stars  until the sun rises.
After dinner, he very elegantly set up everything and pointed the telescope toward the things he wanted us to see. I heard Thomas emit something between a gasp and a giggle when he saw the moon and all the craters so close. He also pointed at Jupiter and a few of her satellites, Venus, (but she wasn't really cooperating- there was too much dust or movement or something), and we got to see two stars that orbit each other in what must be the most beautiful dance. He told us that 40% of all stars exist in pairs (who knew?) and ours is of course a single mother with her little planets. In addition to the craters, we saw tiny mountain ranges on the moon; and a little stripe across Jupiter. It was just so beautiful, but more than that it was calming. Because it's all ok really. We aren't that great a species, sure; but we did write Ode to Joy, and a little boy and his father built this telescope.

As you know,  equal to my interest in those little moons, is following around explorers like Knauth. I am nothing if not a pilot fish mooching off of the adventuresome sharks. I won't build a thousand pound telescope or risk horrible humiliation by taking quantum physics myself, but I wait eagerly at the knees of people who do.  In my opinion, they hold the absolute secret to life; they are in on the whole joke and I want them to explain it to me.

For the past 30 years he has taken a sold-out river tour through the Grand Canyon talking about geology in the day and astronomy at night. I told Thomas we are going. Thomas is worried about me using a god knows what for a toilet and him not getting exercise for 8 days. But we will manage. My friend (he signs that now on emails..lol) says I am eminently canoe worthy...or was it raft...? There is a strict no day-drinking policy- LOL.
 Because we are not some booze cruise. This is a raft of SEEKERS....singing in German all the way.

Before this gets too long and boring, I have to tell you what he did for the eclipse...basically sleeping out in Oregon for days and then with the very powerful telescope he has, timing it perfectly so he could look directly at the sun for exactly 45 seconds. If he got the timing off, i.e. if the sun were not perfectly behind the moon, he would - because of the strength of the mirror on his scope, "fry the inside of his skull".  Literally.
I hope Frederick grows up to be a man like that- a man who wants to look into the sun, and the brains to know how to do it.
He told us he can't describe the colors he saw.

Ok now to the CRATER! First- Sedona is heaven....! it is staggeringly beautiful, the hotel is great (Enchantment something) food good, margaritas strong and lots of Native American quotes and flute music everywhere.
I will definitely come back.

We drive through some National Park of indescribable beauty to the crater which is on a 300,000 acre cattle ranch right off of the old dusty route 66. The asteroid hit 50,000 years ago traveling 26,000 miles an hour, destroyed everything in a 15 mile radius, is a mile wide, and what else..? Oh we saw a huge chunk of asteroid itself and were just blown away. The crater creates a wind tunnel, so on the rim itself there can be over 100 mile an hour winds, hence how weird we look in the photo...we had hot air in our face for the 30 minute tour.

I should post this, but I am sure I forgot something.....stay tuned for addendum.

Meantime, listen to a little Beethoven and by all means sing along! My friend lying in the dirt in the desert would approve.

O friends, no more these sounds!
Let us sing more cheerful songs,
more full of joy!

Joy, bright spark of divinity,
Daughter of Elysium,
Fire-inspired we tread
Thy sanctuary.

Thy magic power re-unites
All that custom has divided,
All men become brothers
Under the sway of thy gentle wings.

Whoever has created
An abiding friendship,
Or has won
A true and loving wife,
All who can call at least one soul theirs,
Join in our song of praise;
But any who cannot must creep tearfully
Away from our circle.

All creatures drink of joy
At nature's breast.
Just and unjust
Alike taste of her gift;

She gave us kisses and the fruit of the vine,
A tried friend to the end.
Even the worm can feel contentment,
And the cherub stands before God!

Gladly, like the heavenly bodies
Which He set on their courses
Through the splendor of the firmament;
Thus, brothers, you should run your race,
As a hero going to conquest.

You millions, I embrace you.
This kiss is for all the world!

Brothers, above the starry canopy
There must dwell a loving Father.

Do you fall in worship, you millions?
World, do you know your creator?

Seek him in the heavens;
Above the stars must He dwell.

Training Capsule for astronauts at the crater

meteorite

Quick Photo

Voila Le Meteor Crater.
Am working on the long form entry now!
xoxox

Summer Itinerary

Some of you asked about the plans and so here goes for future reference.

Thursday is Arizona for Crater - palooza which I believe will be the best blogging of the summer. The professor wrote to Jim O. who cced us and he is exactly who I want to be when I grow up. I have taken the liberty of posting some of his incredible email to Jim (when Jim asked if he would meet Frederick in Arizona). He was a geo chemist but a very serious amateur astronomer as well. I believe he is almost 90. I really may run off with him.


 I just finished leading my 31st raft trip for the general public through Grand Canyon and have scheduled my 32nd for May 2019.  My geology-oriented trip has become somewhat famous and usually fills almost immediately. It isn’t me; it’s the surreal world of the Grand Canyon! I am also on the Board of Directors of the Death Valley Natural History Association and am helping to get more geology and natural history field trip offerings for them.  In fact, I led their first ever 2 ½ day “Geology Discovery Tour” last January and will expand on that this year and in the future. That is an amazing place and I love showing people things there they never imagined.  It is another surreal world. I’m also writing a weird book about a raft trip through Grand Canyon, then by jeep across the Great Basin to the southern end of Death Valley, up its axis to exit at the northwest end, and then on up to climax along the crest of the Sierra Nevada near Tioga Pass.  It’s all about the grand themes of geology (and science) exposed best in those places and what it all means for the human psyche. Probably not publishable, so I may just put it on the internet.  It is something erupting out of me, and I enjoy working on it daily. Other than those 3 places, I no longer desire to travel.  I even just turned down an invitation to visit Macquarie University in Sydney to hang out all expenses 


We were fortunate to have been in the business when it wasn’t business and when isotope geochemistry was young. I’ve been memorizing Shakespeare soliloquies and poems by others to fight off the mental decline everyone says must come. Shakespeare comes in surprisingly handy; I wish I had started earlier in life. I’m also delving deeply into the origins of mathematics and how we try to quantify nature. That is a daily revelation.  That science came to a universe that blew out of pinhead--nay, not so much, not a pinhead…an infinitesimal point, a singularity 13.772 billion years ago (at 4:30 in the afternoon?) and is composed of >90% mysterious, invisible matter and energy….really, there has to be something else.  I’m suspecting these likely erroneous conclusions arose for the same reason the Achilles and the Tortoise paradox arrives at a nonsense conclusion.  But I digress…

Then:
The 25th-30th in London

30th we fly to Portugal, until about the 26th, when we tour LMU in Munich and then meet the Wehlens in Turkey for a float until August 4th. Then a few days in Istanbul; and then we have a week to kill, so I think we may swing by Lech and see those Schneiders...back up to Hamburg for a visit with the old Aunts, and on the QM2 on the 17th of August, home on the 26th.

The last week here was crazy- a lot of parties and then a friend in from out of town whom I love- rushing around showing her and her son SF. I tried to get her to look out the window but we had so much to talk about...Trump, husbands, Lech, the important things.
It always amazes me how close you can feel to people whom you rarely see.

Ok next note from the desert. xxx

11th Grade in the Books

First sight of the Bay below him as he woke. 

Got the kid; he is beside me sleeping now. He has slept across Massachusetts and Pennsylvania and New York and Ohio. We tried to wake him for food, but he couldn't lift his head, so he slept over the Dakotas and Wyoming too. He wants to watch the Warriors when we land.

11th grade is notoriously difficult at any school, and indeed this year he has climbed quite a hill: eight standardized tests (with two more APs to go); the dreaded history 333 and a chemistry class popularly known as death chem. But he has also had sublime moments of learning like when his teacher had office hours in the observatory, and told F to look at Jupiter. He was giddy when he called us afterwards: "I saw three of her moons!"

Traditionally, on the night before the last day of school, the kids stay up all night bidding goodbye to the seniors. Each one hears reminiscences about himself, and they tell each other things that have perhaps not been said. He said many kids break down: big hockey players and skinny kids from Hong Kong weeping and telling each other thank you and goodbye. Frederick said prep year it was more like watching movie stars, people who were so removed from you, that you couldn't really feel sad. But as he gets older, it gets sadder- he is friends with the seniors now. I can only imagine what next year will be like for him, my sentimental Teuton with Wentworth in his blood.

I am listening to the prettiest Bob Dylan version of a song that I had never heard before: Canadee-I-O. It's about a girl who stows away to see distant lands and have an adventure, but when the sailors find her they want to kill her. She is  eventually saved by the captain and by all accounts they go on to live happily ever after. It seems somehow appropriate now: an ode to people who want to see the broader world (both the physical and the universe of the mind) and are willing to risk discomfort to do it.

Speaking of discomfort- Margaret and I witnessed something amazing at crew practice. Charlie asked us if we would come watch him row his 2k test. We entered the beautiful old boathouse, where a single rowing machine was set up in the semi darkness. (It had the gloomy drama of an electric chair.) Charlie was nervous- pacing around with his head down, but insisting we stay despite our reluctance. His teammates were speaking softly to each other and to him, and one quietly put a garbage can behind the machine. This we later learned, was for the vomit. It seems that in the world of crew, the only thing that matters- (indeed two colleges already called him over this one tiny number) is the amount of time it takes him to row 2 kilometers on an erg machine. It's crazy in its simplicity and brutality. So he gets on and is rowing what looks like a slow pace. All around him are people cheering quietly while the coxswain is pacing him "Good Charlie, long strong strokes. Good Charlie 1:27 keep this exact pace. Good Charlie, you have got this." It moves me how he keeps using his name.
Good Charlie. I'm here.

And then comes the hardest part- the last two minutes when the lactic acid is putting him in agony. More kids come around; they are excited at the pace he is setting and they start to really cheer. They are clapping and yelling and the coxswain's voice is above all of them keeping him on pace. I noted to Margaret that Charlie's pace is a direct threat to their position on the team and perhaps with the colleges; but you wouldn't know it, the way they are ecstatically cheering him on-urging him to not stop, telling him they are with him. And then amid all the screaming and cheering Charlie finishes and falls off the machine. I'm telling you, I had tears in my eyes.

Youth is wasted on the young isn't it? ....they don't realize that there aren't many times in life when one is doused in friendship like that; with love flowing down over your head; and a vomit bucket conveniently behind your back.

Cookies

Sorry about the notices when you sign in...but nothing has in fact changed. fear not.
xx

Summer Coming Soon

Countdown begins. Prepare thyselves for: Queen Mary (from Hamburg!!); an independent study on crater distributions on Mars vs our Moon vs the Earth.
and much more..

Meanwhile enjoy the video of Ellie on her now ever present Lime scooter. Life changing San Francisco trend.

In Se Gloria Coruscare

Ok here is the PEA status update. F is happy. He is in the last position of the top ladder in tennis- says a strong breeze could blow him off and into the B squad, but for now he is psyched. He is taking the dreaded history 333 - a rite of passage in 11th grade where they have to write a very long paper. In it he will tackle the Cuban missile crisis.  He is finishing up the second part of calculus, and if they let him skip again over the summer, he will be in something called multi variant blah. Apparently every 8 year old South Korean applying to the schools Frederick wants to apply to is at this level. But it has been quite a game of catch up coming from Town school. We met with his college counselor who looked grave when describing what Frederick wanted to sign up for next year. She kind of said other smart kids had landed "bad" grades when they tried to take both of these physics at the same time (Modern and Quantum). She was very kind, but warned us that if he got a B in any of them, he wasn't going to get into the MITs or Caltechs. Thomas' eye roll could be heard a mile away. There is little he finds more annoying than avoiding something hard because you might get your ass kicked. If the kid wants to risk a black eye- that's good isn't it?  I remembered this great line from our history teacher's speech at graduation: Rather than collecting medals- you should be collecting scars.
But I still weasly asked Frederick what he was thinking...."what's wrong with a little theater class????" Anyway Down in a blaze of Glory as they say. (see Latin translation above).

On his birthday he was taken well care of by the merry band at Wentwoth- little presents with inside jokes were dropped at his door. I just hope "cool beans" doesn't mean opiods dropping tonight on floor two.

We took the cousins and Will to dinner and Will scored so big on the bday gift. In honor of Frederick's flying lessons, he is now Amelio Earhart. Too funny. Then we had this incredible night of spirited discussion...specifically Did we really need to drop two atom bombs on Japan? or would one have sufficed? We could not get rid of them. Check-in was looming, and yet they stayed debating on and on. Really its the coolest thing- they are these amazing listeners. It's great because it means I can interrupt everyone all night with impunity.

 The one I am worried about is Thomas: he is already saying how sad he will be when this is over. We handed over this skinny young thing and he is quickly morphing into this adult who knows things.

Cool Beans as they say at the Tworth

gotta run.... Ill add more gossip as I remember it.

MIT pirates ships

Charlie modeling the look

Phillips Exeter Academy's finest

Part of the new indoor sports thing. 

seen at Hanna's dorm. Not exactly the vibe at Frederick's

stole a hug in between homework

Alaska

I am trying to send the updates from Thomas' and Andrew's Alaskan adventure. So far so good- they skied until 8 pm the first day. Today there are grounded due to weather. Below is Thomas' email. Mormon skiers! who knew?

In the meantime (in case you didn't see it on instagram) here is what they have been up to while not skiing.

The scenery here is absolutely spectacular. Snow is good and the group mostly non drinking Mormons or recovering non drinkers. Some pretty funny stories involving the teenage years of a “recoverer”. Mike thinks group is extremely “tame”. Some very good skiers, but a little like Lech in that they like/need their beauty sleep to perform ‘at the highest level’. The skiing is obviously great, but there is a little bit of a rush to catch the helicopter....due to attempt to keep gas guzzling down.

Off to go “fat tire biking” now. Bad visibility has stopped play.

See attached. LIFO.... miss you soooo much

Btw. No running water in our cabins!!? Have to shower in main building...or use wet washcloth....