Where were you....

Where were you 40 years ago tonight? Were you as glued to your tv screen as I was, watching the most phenomenal event of a lifetime - man walking on the moon? Lots of good memories have resurfaced with respect to this anniversary.

When I was really young, I wanted to be an aeronautical engineer. Then I discovered that math and I did not get along. Science was not a close friend, either. During the winter we used to dig caves in the snow and use them as space capsules, even finding an old chair that we could recline in just like the real astronauts.

So, 40 years ago tonight I was with family and friends on Orrs Island, celebrating our country's great achievement. We had had a great cookout and we all waited anxiously for the big moment - switching between Cronkite and Huntley/Brinkley. (It all depended upon which station was coming in best at the time. No cable? That was still several years away for the Island.) I can remember being very emotional (okay, I cried!). What a great night all around.

Today I was looking over a new book about exploring the moon, "Moon Missions" by Rob Pyle. It's great. It covers not only U.S. of A.'s explorations, but it does a good job of detailing our race with the USSR. Very interesting, indeed. The book has a lot of extras in it, like maps and NASA press releases, which makes it fun, but a bit of a nightmare for a librarian to catalog and process. Anyway..... I came across a telegram the VP Humphrey sent to Mission Control Director Chris Craft. Hmm, I think today it would probably be either an IM or a Tweet. I wonder which?

Great job NASA and USA. Happy anniversary. I raise my glass of Tang in your honor.

Have a heart, please......

My faith in mankind was sorely tested today. On my way to Harpswell, a girl in an Suburban had broken down at a very busy intersection in Brunswick. Of course, traffic had snarled. I felt so bad when I finally managed to get by as the girl just leaned on the hood of her car while talking on her cell phone. You could easily see how stressed out she was. So, I stopped to see if I could help. She said that she had been there awhile. I really couldn't believe that no one had offered to help in any way, especially since she could have easily been pushed over to the side of the road to free up the intersection.

She said her husband or boyfriend thought it might be her alternator. She said the car had just stopped cold and she couldn't get anything started. The only way I could help was to start directing traffic. First a fire truck drove by returning to the station. Then an ambulance went by. I didn't expect them to stop and help, but they could have called for help. Instead, people just gave us dirty looks and one guy hollered something about why didn't she put her flashers on. Excuse me? Um, her car had completely broken down. I really doubt that she chose to break down at all, let alone in the middle of the intersection. Someone she knew did happen to drive by and tried jumping the car. It seemed to help. Of course, that's when the police finally showed up. So, I just left. Hope the rest of her day went better.

I'm not even going to start on the rude tourists from Connecticut.....

"Book-ing" a show....

A couple of months back I saw that a local theater group was putting on a production of Thorton Wilder's "Our Town." Since I'm primarily responsible for selecting the books for our library's discussion group, I thought it would be fun to see the play, read it, and then discuss it. It turned out to be a good choice. On Thursday night, several from the group went to see the Hackmatack Playhouse's presentation. It was excellent. It's a very intimate theater as it is in an old barn. And, despite the rainy cold weather, it was really quite pleasant in there.

I read about half the play and it is much as I remembered it from high school. It was our senior class production and I was the lady in the balcony asking about drinking in Grover's Corners. Back then, the most important thing was being a part of the cast and having a good time. Seeing it as an adult gave me a better appreciation for it. There were parts that really touched me and made me think about our current times. It is such good literature and really timeless. Let's hope our discussion Wednesday night proves me right.

Golden Oldies.....

Driving home from work late Monday night, I was surfing the XM stations and came across Gordon Lightfoot's "Sundown." I listened, not paying any attention to what channel it was on. When the song was done, the one that followed was an instrumental a la elevator music. I checked the channel and it was "Escape" which is the XM version of elevator music. Gordon Lightfoot in the elevator??? I guess I'm getting old to see that come about.........