Regards to Wilhelm and Serianna

Made my way down to Albuquerque Wednesday this week. Worked remotely on cybersecurity through the days, at the Library in Los Alamos, in my guest room in Albuquerque. With Pinocchio Grande safe at the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History, it was time to change focus to family business. Started by recording some videos of Mom and her memories, both of her youth, and the time she spent in Santa Monica.  I tried the green screen last week, with the idea that I could put the image of mom over historical photos, but decided to just go with her wall as a natural background, and I think it turned out well. Mom had interesting things to tell about Great Grandfather Darmody, and also of the four years our family spent in California, which I remember, but just barely. Recording video is harder than it appears, and requires a lot of trial and error, but the results were a solid 40 minutes of good stories.  It was hard to leave on Friday. I stayed with a Friend I met in the Marine Corps

Spent the night at a nice campground in Bernallilo. Appreciated that it had picnic table shelters, as the weather was stormy. The lightning display driving north from Albuquerque was splendid. The Rio Grande is in the background Saturday, I finally got a chance to see the Santa Fe Farmer's market. First rate. I guess I had heard about Jujubes -- it is like a date -- but I had never tried any. I came away with a bag of fresh Jujubes and a bag of dried Jujubes. The sellers had been growing them for around thirty years. They are well suited to the local dry climate, they say. I lunched with Hollins, one  of the Eagle Scouts I coached in Troop 5 -- His Eagle Project was outstanding -- who is studying at St. John's College. He told me about his Astronomy class, and showed me around the campus, including the library, his Greek seminar classroom, and an interesting Astronomical instrument, which is apparently  the only working Tycho Brahe Equatorial Armillary Sphere.   Also met his Gr

 Tuesday was a work day, and I had good success working from the Los Alamos Library. There is a nice place on the third floor. Wednesday, worked and went back to Albuquerque in the evening to See Mom. Thursday, worked from the Quelab makerspace, which was quiet and had good internet. Thanks to Brother Dan for buying me a one month membership! Thursday I realized I needed to finish up the Button-activated mode of the Exhibit. I figured it would take me an hour after work, but I was going until way past midnight. But the results are great! There are three modes: Standby mode, where you can reset the exhibit, move the ping-pong balls around, and won't trigger the sensors. Button Mode, which turns on the sensors for 45 seconds, and randomly fires a tube every 5 seconds. I set it up so that there is a light inside the button that turns on when you select button mode, and goes off during the 45 seconds that the exhibit is in action, to show the button is no longer active. Then after the

 Well, the sleeping bag liner was worth it. Slept warm and awoke to another great sunrise. This campsite was more a patch of grass than a pile of dirt. Back on the road to Los Alamos, snagged a campsite at Bandelier, and headed off to Mass at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church. After mass, met with the Pastor, Fr. John, and he said I could show Little Pinocchio in the parish hall after 9 am Mass. So a third open house! This is a nice place at the Church to say a rosary: Took a trip up to Camp May by the Pajarito Mountain Ski Slope.  Los Alamos, from half way up the mountain Back at the Juniper Campground, I asked the Camp host if I could have a Star Party. She let me use an unoccupied campsite, and broadcast the event on her evening journey around the campground. I did a little walking around and advertising as well. 20+ people showed up for a nice clear night of stars. We viewed Jupiter, Saturn, the Andromeda Galaxy, a nebula, and some clusters, as well as 10+ constellations and, of cour

 An eventful start to the weekend! Friday night was the burning of Zozobra, Old Man Gloom, at the start of Fiestas de Santa Fe. It was pretty crowded, but I met two new friends, Paul and Debora, on the bus to Fort Macy Park. We had a lively conversation. I told them all about the Pinocchio Science Exhibit, and they told me of their world travels and how they have settled in Santa Fe, and how much they love this unique city.  Here is more information about Zozobra, the original burning man festival. I had also planned to meet up with Nancy, who is a friend from high school, and her family at the festival, but it was so crowded that even though I was less than 100 yards from her, I could not meet her until after the burning was completed. We had a nice conversation on the bus ride back from Fort Macy Park, catching up on all that has happened in the last year, since the high school reunion, which Nancy organized. When we got back to the parking lot, I headed out and camped on a nearby si

 Spent four nights at Mom's residence, in a nice guestroom. Brother Dan invited me to display the Pinocchio Science Exhibit at his makerspace on Wednesday, and it was a grand success! It was the first time both Little Pinocchio and Pinocchio Grande performed together! I suppose some explanation of the science museum exhibit is in order... Growing up in Los Alamos, we loved visiting the small but amazing Science Museum. Three exhibits really stood out: There was a set of remote manipulation arms for radioactive materials, sort of like these: Space History Photo: Bob Oldrieve Using Manipulator Srms | Space The talented operator would show how expertly he could use the arms, pouring liquids, and so on. As a finale, he would ask the name of one lucky kid. He would gracefully write the name, and with a flourish, rip the paper off the pad, deposit it in a slot, and present it to the lucky kid.  I was never that kid. Then there was the magnetic pinch. it had a clear plastic tube, about tw