This weekend I got to see my favorite animal: a puffin. I used to sign my name with a little puffin drawing, and I think it's one of the only things I would draw whenever I could get my hands on colored pencils. Now I've seen them flying around and swimming on top of the sea in their natural habitat... some day I'll hopefully see them swim and fly underwater, where they're at their most graceful. Did you know they spend their entire lives at sea and only come to shore to breed?
It's been an incredible time for wildlife on the island the past few days, and below is a small sampling of what we've been seeing lately...
Wow, these photos makes me hungry. These were all at this week's island farmer's market... it's so much fun to see how the selection of produce changes as the seasons change. Uh oh, it's mid-summer already!! How are your gardens doing? I'm looking forward to tomatoes... our neighbor has just started leaving little bags of cherry tomatoes on our door handle. Next up, heirlooms!
Well, it's Day 4 of the last space shuttle mission. Atlantis is up there somewhere, moving at 17,500 miles per hour (28,000 kilometers per hour) and 330 miles (528 km) above sea level. Mike Fossum and Ron Garan will be doing the mission's only space walk at 8:44 a.m. EDT Tuesday. I think it's sentimental time for all of us, and I think everyone can take pride in the shuttle program. Hopefully they're jamming to some sweet tunes like this or this or this. For more sweet pictures of cockpit, check out Jook Leung's 360vr work.
When I was in 6th grade, I had two amazing math and science teachers: Mr. Glueck and Mr. Chilelli. Our whole grade worked together to build a lifesize replica of a shuttle flight deck. We pieced together toggle switches, joysticks, keyboards, computers, and some other gadgets to create a pretty realistic simulation experience. We had shuttle flight and mission simulator programs (and this was the 90s, remember!), and had a couple official missions. I was Mission Specialist, and in charge of releasing a satellite into orbit (although I recall some difficulty with retrieving the device!)... It Was Awesome.
Together, Mr. Glueck and Mr. Chilelli captured our imaginations of what was possible to achieve, not only in a year-long school project, but in life. "I'll see you in the stars," I remember Mr. Glueck writing in my yearbook. Well, I'm not an astronaut and I don't work for NASA. Yet. Thanks for the launch, guys. *For more of the famous 6th grade projects, check out these photos.
