Most of you know just from reading this blog that I'm a romantic - everything in my life is oozed over. I'm no neutral gal - everything's amazing or awful. People or places are polarised by my imagination. But usually they're sent towards the positive - even if they don't deserve it! Well, New Mexico deserves it. I fell in love at first sight. Exhausted as I was from flying here via Chicago, landing at sunset, seeing the red sky over the desert and the Sandia Mountains (means "watermelon" as it reflects red so much), I was simply dumb-struck. Beauty beyond [View Full Entry]

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Detachment - something I'm trying to learn from this trip. To say goodbye without being ripped apart. Not getting so enmeshed with other people, basing my whole being on their every whim and mood. Forgetting myself in my willingness to be loved and liked by the all-important THEM. I had to bid farewell to my new NASA buddies today. I'd grown pretty fond of Colin Fries, the archivist. He'd been so supportive and insightful. I'd love to work there with the team again. I had to also bid farewell to my daily commute from Friendship Heights to Federal Center South West, [View Full Entry]

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Did you know that Buzz Aldrin took Communion/ Eucharist on the moon? Well, that's what one article I read today claims. And, also - one thought which has always puzzled me ... if Neil took the first steps, who was standing at the bottom of the ladder taking the pictures? Buzz - so he would've been the first ... Only, of course, they were in a TV studio, right? And Nixon pocketed the space billions himself. As one woman told the papers at the time, I can't even get pictures from NY, let alone the moon. Indeed. As you can tell, [View Full Entry]

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I was just 13 years old when Challenger exploded over Florida - the too cold temperatures causing a tank of fuel to rupture and taking with it seven astronauts, including the first and only Teacher-in-Space, S. Christa Mcauliffe. Today at NASA HQ, I read through some documents relating to Christa prior to the accident - they showed her immense passion for her profession (teaching is one of my loves too), her union activism, willingness to participate in her communiity and strident left-wing views. All things I admire. It was so poignant realising how much I liked this woman - looking atimages [View Full Entry]

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So it's Presidents Day here. Dunno what we're supposed to be celebrating - especially with this current administration - but hey ho. Still feeling kind of wobbly about my life, I plodded my way over to Arlington Cemetery where all the big wigs spend their deaths. Yes, JFK, Jackie O (how beautiful was she - I'm so jealous!) and even Bobby - although I somehow missed his grave. (Is it just me or was Bobby really quite handsome??) Anyway, the whole vastness of the place was awe-inspiring and so utterly captivating in the snow. So much whiteness with the stones like [View Full Entry]

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Well, we are lucky - two entries in a day! A blizzard has been billowing in DC since this afternoon and that, with my hangover and ongoing stuff, is making me blue and lonesome. I'm writing this to feel I can connect. I miss you all. It's - again - one of those days when I feel like coming home. It doesn't help that I'm once more out of money. I think/ hope I will be narrowly saved by the bell again somehow, but I'll have to live even more frugally. Part of me feels like giving up and packing my [View Full Entry]

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I really don't know how I'm ever coming home. I don't know how I'll re-adjust without so much amazingness in my life. Yesterday was, again, a terrific day - for all kinds of reasons. I've discovered I love walking by myself - I've discovered I like myself through every step too. Maybe I'm a sociopath to so enjoy my own company, but I have certainly found that I'm a good travel companion. When alone I absorb my experiences much better, I think - I read yesterday that Jefferson thought the same too. He also said that travel is wonderful (I paraphrase), [View Full Entry]

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Well, today was a good day. It started quite ominously - tired, achy and feverish, I thought I was fighting off the cold the Republican next to me on the plane had just got over. I feared that his politics might come with it - a plague of bigotry on both your houses. But I prevailed. I passed most of the day at NASA with my head in a file about Jerrie Cobb, the first woman to pass all the astronaut tests in the early 60s - someone I will hopefully meet in Houston. She's inspirational not only because of her [View Full Entry]

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Well, we thought we had enough reasons to hate Bush - but now we have another!! I got up at 5.45 this morning and trudged out through thick snow (up to my shins in some places), through the darkness, only to be told that the visit was off! Pah! Forget Iraq - now George really is done for! I am reminded of the Alan Carr joke about parading with banner saying "Gays against Bush" ... most people don't get that striaght off (just think dirty), but my pal, Lee, and I love it! Oh yeah, and I did one very classic [View Full Entry]

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So here I am in DC - snowstorms and the Senate. All in one day. Phew. DC is so different from Miami - another world and 50 degrees in temperature. I trudged out for groceries through the snow this morning, past beautiful clapboard houses up here in suburban Chevy Chase (yes, it's really called that!). I just cooked dinner for the first time in two weeks in this wonderful. huge house I'm sharing with three 25 year old guys (I feel like a grand dame!). Yes, it's only been two weeks!! It feels like I've been away forever! I've seen so [View Full Entry]

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