Hitching A Ride On the ISS

Last week, Russia’s state news agency, TASS, announced a Russian cosmonaut had told them living bacteria have been found on the outside of the International Space Station. The lead of Russia’s ISS crew, launching in December, Anton Shkaplerov, had said the station’s Russian segment was swabbed by previous cosmonauts during spacewalks, called Extravehicular Activities, taking […]

Ph.D For A Flat Earth Theory

As the end of another year approaches, no argument or subject of research has seemed more nonsensical and without reasonable merit than that of the Flat Earth Theory. Yes, as we approach 2018, people far and wide, including academia, are seriously discussing the shape of the planet on which they dwell. To understand, most proponents […]

Just The Right Word

Taking time off to think, or even not to think, is a rich and delicious experience. For one who thrives on writing, it is a difficult decision to set aside the very thing that has defined, throughout my life, vocation and avocation, melding them into one. Leaving words, sentences, paragraphs, those pesky frenemies behind; freedom […]

A Hardship That Never Was

Life has a way of wearing down what it considers my rough edges. It never seems to matter that I like me just the way I am (thank you, Mr Rogers), and would prefer to be left alone with all my quirky imperfections, intact. And how does this consistently unwelcome action occur? Easy. The things […]

Of Orchards, Smudge Pots, And Friends

If you lived near fruit groves in California or Florida way back when, you probably remember smudge pots and smudging. I believe the practice fell out of favor in the 1970s, but for any of us who grew up around orchards in the 50s, smudging was a part of our cold weather experience. It was […]