Fifty Years Ago

July 29, 1958 On my Dad's 11th birthday Congress passed the National Aeronautics and Space Act creating NASA. The new agency began operations on October 1 - which is when they will officially celebrate their Fiftieth Anniversary.

The Johnson Space Center History Office put together a short list of trivia questions for a program they presented earlier this year, and they've shared the list with me with permission to use the questions.

I'll post a few now and the rest on October 1. Have fun!

1) July 20, 1969. The crew of Apollo 11 lands on the moon. How many photographs are there of the first man to step out on the lunar surface?

2) Failure is Not an Option is now a well-known phrase associated with the "can-do" spirit of the space agency. Who is credited with the original wording?

3) Mercury 7 was the name given to the original class of astronauts selected in April 1959 that included seven pilots with college degrees. When did NASA announce the names of 35 astronauts that for the first time included women, minorities, and a new classification - mission specialists?

4) President John F. Kennedy spoke before a joint session of Congress when he announced the nation would send a man to the Moon and return him safely to the Earth before the end of the decade. Where was President George W. Bush when he announced the Vision to Space Exploration directing a return to the Moon and future misisons to Mars?

I'll post the answers in about a week, but only if I get any responses in the comments.

Bridal Tea

One of my best friends from high school is getting married! This wouldn't be such a big deal except Alexs has always been such an independent person and this has all happened quite suddenly. I suppose when you meet the right person and sparks fly, it is just meant to be.

This Sunday we held a Bridal Tea shower for her, in honor of the fact that the gentleman who pursued her to success is from Barrow in Furness, England. Of course, to him our having a "Tea" would be comparable to his friends getting together to host a Texas BBQ, or attempt to make "authentic" Tex-Mex. So let's accept our Tea simply for what it was.

Menu

Dried Cherry Lemon Scones

Mock Devonshire Cream

Strawberry Jam

Cucumber Sandwiches

Caprese Sandwiches

Walnut Tea Sandwiches

Eclairs

Lemon Cheese Bars

Chocolate Tea candy pieces

We served hot tea made from a special blend of black and green teas from the Park Plaza hotel in Boston (no tea bags) and in the kitchen we had iced tea and lemonade. (After all it was over 90F outside.) I think everyone had a lovely visit. I really appreciated the opportunity to get together with Libby, Diane and Alexs.

I have to give special kudos to Bryan for all his help in making this weekend a success. He has cleaned the carpets, painted the front of the house, helped with the kids, cleaned various parts of the house, and he made the Walnut sandwiches (the most popular ones.) Then during the party he also took the girls to see Space Monkeys and bowling.

The party would not have been such a success without my mother's help. She came out last weekend to help unpack the china, bring me additional serving pieces, iron and fold the napkins. Sunday she brought and arranged all the flowers, and made the lemon bars and cucumber sandwiches. Throughout the party she would disappear in the kitchen to pull the kettle off the burner (because I'd walk away and forget to go back in there in time to catch the water boiling.)

Congratulations Alexs!

Vote for Coach

My sister-in-law entered a Design a Coach Tote contest. There are 11 days left in the voting and you can only vote once per 24 hours (per IP address).

Design a Coach Tote Sponsored by Coach

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Hello Dolly

She may not have landed in Houston, but in the wee hours of the morning we definitely noticed her outer bands coming ashore. The lightning was all around us, striking in the (former) golf course behind the house. For over an hour this morning- between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m.- we were awake watching the near simultaneous flash/crash of huge thunderbolts, feeling the house shudder, and hearing the windows rattle. (Impressive!) Needless to say no one slept and we're all pretty draggy this morning.

On the other hand, it did rain enough to wet the ground, and we're hoping for some more of the wet stuff to perk up the azaleas, grass and trees.

Hard Day

Both girls have swimming lessons on Tuesday, and when we came home from daycare/work Brenna disappeared into her room. After I got settled, I realized it was awfully quiet and went looking for her.

I let her sleep for about 30 minutes while I cleaned up the kitchen and made some dinner. Brenna has a nasty little head cold and chest cough that's making her particularly tired and grumpy in the evenings.

Riding Lessons

Maybe two years ago, Papa promised Cameron that if she saved up $200 then he would buy her a horse. Now that she has the money, I'm a bit worried he might keep his promise! Whether he buys or leases one, the girls need to learn to handle themselves around a horse so we started riding lessons today.

Brenna, Cameron & Bryan all had a half-hour private lesson today. We met Stephanie, our instructor, in the tack room. When she asked who would go first, Brenna gave Cameron a quick glance to see if her hand was up, and when she realized Cameron hadn't raised hers Brenna shot her hand up -boom! (I thought that was so cute that she checked Cameron first.)

Both girls started with Charwin, a 24 yr old female Arabian. Brenna learned to curry comb and body brush the horse, then lift up the front hooves to pick out the dirt (with a little help). She chose a saddle blanket and carried the saddle herself from the tack room. Stephanie put the lead-on and bridle, carefully showing Brenna how to do it and together they led Charwin to the covered riding ring.

Brenna spent about ten minutes or more walking, learning to turn and guide. Throughout all of this she looked like a natural with no hesitation at all.

When her turn was over, she led Charwin back to her stall to remove the bridle, saddle, blanket, and brush the horse again. Look at this happy face!

Then it was Cameron's turn. She did all of the same, although she was a bit hesitant to lift the horse's leg to pick the hoof by herself. But past that she really enjoyed herself and seemed very comfortable while riding.

After Cameron's turn to walk, guide, and trot, she brought Charwin back and brushed her. For Bryan's lesson he had a larger horse named Partner. Bryan learned to pick the horse hooves, put the blanket and saddle in the proper place on the horse and fix all the straps. He didn't put the bit and bridle on during this lesson, but looked very natural walking Partner around the ring. By the end of the 90 minutes, we were all dusty, hot, and sweaty.

But I know all three of them are looking forward to next week's lesson!

Finished with Harry Potter!

Almost exactly one year ago, Cameron began reading the Harry Potter books. After breezing through the first three books in three weeks, she burned out a little during the fourth and fifth books. (I think the vocabulary and situations finally became complicated for her.) Bryan or I read aloud various chapters in Book 6 --and Cameron read to herself also. For book 7 the whole family listened to the audio CD, and last night we finally finished the series.

(Spoiler!) We had to stop it a few times near the end for Cameron to ask how Harry could be alive when he was dead. Admittingly, for an eight-year old the chapter on Kings Cross is heavy on the "explanation" dialogue and in Cameron's words, "Boring". Both seemed to really enjoy the epilogue, and roared with giggles when Ron yelled back to the children on Hogwarts Express, "It's me, I'm famous!" (answering the question of why everyone was staring.) But Cameron just would not stop asking me who married Draco Malfoy! I expect JKR has mentioned it or listed it somewhere on her site or a fan site, so perhaps I should go look it up.