2018 Life Logs, Day 43—Happy Darwin Day
Date: Monday, February 12, 2018
Weather: Sunny with Temp Dipping Overnight; High 51, Low 22 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
I’m listening to Heather’s weekly Living Lab science program while writing this log and she opened her show by saying, “Happy Darwin Day!” Well, that got my attention. Who knew today was Darwin’s birthday. He would have been 209. I think only Heather knew that! Sometime in the 1980’s I read Irving Stone’s biographical novel of Darwin called The Origin and that started a life-long love affair. I was fascinated and decided that I just had to go to the Galapagos. In fact, that is the way Mark got me to sail around the world with me. It was my ticket to the Galapagos. I read The Voyage of the Beagle, Peter Nicol’s Evolution’s Captain, Darwin’s Finches, and I bought every natural history guide on the Galapagos I could find.
Then, we actually sailed there and Heather and Jed joined us.
I’ll never forget having lunch in the shady area behind Tortuga Beach with Heather and Jed while reading Darwin’s Finches.
And while doing so, those finches sat on our blanket with us hoping for bits of our lunch. It was a dream come true for me. So, yes. Happy Birthday, Charles Darwin. And thank you for helping all of us look at the natural world through your eyes. And thank you, Heather, for reminding us of this day.
Warm Monday, cold Tuesday, warm again on Wednesday. So goes the weather, but the forecast states that tomorrow will be the coldest day in the next ten, so the moderate weather should return after tomorrow. I caught up with Sam of Windbird today and found that Windbird is stuck in the Turks and Caicos, with the only possible window in this month for getting out being this Friday and Saturday. Sam took advantage of the down time, to do a flying stint to Chili and is doing training in Atlanta on Wednesday and Thursday. But if the window really opens on Friday, he and Dawn hope to head to the Dominican Republic. I’m still hoping to catch up with them at some point, so I will keep following their progress and make a determination at the last minute when to fly down to either the DR or to Puerto Rico. It could be in a couple of weeks or nearer the end of March. All depends on the weather. Stay tuned.
I made my weekly veggie soup today. It is so easy to make and so nice to have as a fall back for lunch or dinner.
I just chop a cup and a half each of onions, carrots, celery, and zucchini, sauté those ingredients adding thyme, salt, and pepper, then add my homemade chicken mineral broth, crushed tomatoes, and kidney beans. After that simmers for about 20 minutes, I add three packed cups of Swiss chard.
Lots of veggies and so delicious.
And how about those Olympics? I am right now enjoying the end of the women’s snowboarding with USA Chloe Kim taking the Gold. A great addition to Red Gerard taking the men’s snowboarding Gold. And both at the ripe old age of 17! Go, Olympians. And you’ve got to love those Toyota “Start Your Impossible’ commercials. They get a Gold from me.
And by the way, my computer is still syncing with the Google Cloud. I don’t think this is good news.
