Don't be so sure

There was an amazing moon on Tuesday morning, but by the time I saw it, I wasn't in an area where I could pull over to take a picture. When I arrived at MMH, I couldn't find it. I think it was sitting too low in the sky to be seen from the hospital. I got the moon at apogee on Wednesday morning and the moon again on Thursday morning. Unfortunately, I missed the full moon on Wednesday night. I must be slipping.

The sunrises are so late now and it's been so cloudy, I don't even have any sunrise pictures. Had I known when I was a kid that the moon, sun, planets, and constellations would hold such fascination for me, I would have paid more attention in class when we were learning these things. I remember the earth revolves around the sun creating the change in seasons (not so much if you live in Florida! *LOL*) and the rotation of the earth on its axis causes day and night. And of course the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Give me a gold star!

It's all about the stars!

 

               October 12, 2011-Moon at Apogee              October 13, 2011

I also remember that when Ralph was in fourth grade, his teacher marked his answer wrong for the definition of latitude. I was not armed with any research when I went to school to ask her to fix his grade. I figured she made an honest mistake. Turned out she didn't know the definition of latitude and she refused to be convinced that I was right and she was wrong. Since she was teaching the class, I'm surprised Ralph knew, and still knows, the correct answer. I probably helped him with his homework at that time. I wonder if she ever realized her error. If you don't know the answer and you've been having sleepless nights over this, the answer is at the end. And no, I didn't 'just Google it,' I know the definition, unlike Ralph's teacher! Geesh, where was Google back then when I needed it?!?!? If she wouldn't believe me, perhaps she would have believed Google...but as I already documented, there are many mistakes in Google...I'm doomed!

I'm happy to report that the restaurant sponsored a blood drive with the Suncoast Community Blood Bank on Friday from 4:30 -7:30 pm. Extending gratitude and many thanks to the all the donors who showed up for the cause. Donating blood saves lives and all blood types are needed. I'm usually wiped out the night of and the day after giving blood, but I don't let that stop me. Donating blood is just another one of my many obsessions, what can I say?!?!

 

                   We're still on the marquee!       Tim, one of our cooks, on his way to donate!

As always, clicking on each picture will make it bigger and easier to see and discern what's going on. Ralph questioned me earlier in the week about the pictures in the previous blog. I asked him if he saw the notation below the picture and if he followed the directions. Yes, he saw it, and no he did not follow the directions. Then he said, "I thought you took those pictures from an airplane."

Yes, Virginia, there really is a Santa Claus, and no, Ralph, I really don't go riding my bike when I say I'm off for a 20 mile cruise. I really bike up to the Sarasota-Bradenton Airport where I keep my small single engine plane in a rented hangar. I take out the plane and when I reach an altitude of 5000 feet, I go joy riding over The Meadows. When I see an alligator sunning itself on the bank of the lake or resting in the shallow end, I whip out my Sony Cypershot and have a Kodak moment. People, and Ralph, click the pic!

OK, lines of latitude run east and west and measure distance north and south. Lines of longitude run north and south and measure distance east and west. So, when your kids ask why do they have to learn this stuff that they'll never use again, all you have to say is, "Don't be so sure." Now, sleep tight!