It's official!

We pulled off a surprise wedding last night.  I had to keep quiet about it on the blog so friends who read my blog wouldn't find out.  We invited everyone to a pig roast and then surprised them with a wedding in the middle of it.  It was so much fun!

Journal

I've been totally wasting time today while my students were doing a written assignment in class. Instead of grading other papers while I waited, I kept going through my blog and looking at old posts. I need to find a way to preserve my blog electronically, maybe on a jump drive so that I can keep it for my kids. I've decided it's like my personal journal, a record of the things I did, the way I felt about things, and the people I connected with through my blog. Sadly, I'm not posting as much as I used to, and some of my favorite people, Tshmom, Great White Bear, are no longer blogging. Others I have just lost touch with, DeBambam, and thankfully others who have stopped blogging, I am friends with on Facebook, Michelle, and Melody who still posts occasionally. I have been wondering lately if the blog has served its purpose for me and if I should just shut it down, but then I think, I still want to keep in touch with Naomi, CK, Trish and Wunelle. I still enjoy reading other people's blogs, even if I don't comment very often or very much when I do (CK). The thought of stopping entirely also makes me sad, it's like a chapter has closed, but I don't know where the next chapter is. So, I will keep writing, if only sporadically. I will keep reading, regularly, and maybe even comment on occasion. I don't know if I need to take this blog in another direction, or what. So bear with me through my absences, and then maybe, a sudden burst of writing before I drift off again. I'm still figuring out where I'm going.

NASA'S LADEE LUNAR LAUNCH

Last Friday night we went to Assateague to have a bonfire and dinner on the beach with friends as we awaited the launch of NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft at 11:27 that night. I've only seen a few launches in the daylight, so this was my first nighttime launch. It was AMAZING! It went off exactly on time, a half circle of orange lit up the sky at the horizon and then the rocket appeared out of that half circle. We watched as the rocket separated from a couple of its booster rockets and then arched over us and flew out over the ocean. It will go around the Earth a few times as it sling shots itself to the moon for armospheric tests. I didn't take my fancy camera with me so I snagged these shots off of Google. The launch shot looks pretty close to what we saw and obviously the other is a shot of the rocket prior to launch so far as I can tell. Another cool thing about this launch is that they recycled ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) and used them for a peaceful mission.