Somusing

Back in May we went on a long road trip to Oklahoma City to visit Erin's sister, Ivy Skinner, and her family. We had a great time with the Skinners, and also got to spend time with Brian Dunn and Ron & Crystal Phipps and their kids. At a used bookstore in Edmond, the suburb of Oklahoma City where the Skinners live, I came across several Bulgarian books from the 1970s and 1980s: The one on the left is Ray Bradbury's I Sing the Body Electric , and on the right is a collection called "Black Sun" with Karel Čapek's R.U.R. , Yevgeny Zamyatin's We , George Orwell's Animal Farm , and Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 . That's the title page of Ray Bradbury's I Sing the Body Electric . That one is The Trip of Icarus by Bulgarian science fiction author Lyuben Dilov. The Wikipedia page about him says the story adds a Fourth Law of Robotics, extending the original three laws proposed by Isaac Asimov: "A robot must establish its identi...

Last weekend Phin and I drove with friends down to the very southern edge of Utah east of Kanab, to hike a large slot canyon called Buckskin Gulch. We camped at White House the first night. The next day we backpacked through, starting at Wire Pass, hiking about 13 miles on the first day and camping near the Confluence which on the map appears to be within a few feet of the Arizona border. Then on the second day we hiked another 8 miles or so back out to White House. There were 7 people in our group, and having two vehicles allowed us to shuttle ourselves between the starting and ending point. It was a beautiful slot canyon with a huge variety of rock walls, and almost no way out, so we were glad no rain was forecast for days and the risk of flash flooding was very low. The temperature in the canyon varied quite a bit but was pleasant. Permits are required and a limited number of people are allowed in, so it was fairly quiet. We had to carry all our water, about 4-5 liters per day...

I've recently rediscovered this delightful piece commonly attributed to Rossini. According to the wikipedia page about it , it's actually a compilation by someone else, from a couple of pieces in Rossini's opera Otello and another piece. The Women's Choir at Teton High School sang a version of this several years ago, which is how I first heard it. Anyway, it's funny and there are lots of different interpretations on YouTube for your enjoyment, a few of which are below. If you watch a lot of them, your kids might make fun of you. Just FYI. This is my favorite, although the sound quality is not very good. Two choir boys: Two sopranos with attitude: A baritone and a countertenor, also with attitude: An a cappella arrangement for six men: You're welcome.

After visiting Montréal, Québec, Canada , Lillian and I took a train about 2 hours to Ottawa, Ontario, the capital of Canada. It was a beautiful train ride through mostly wide open farmland. We stayed in a hotel near the train station, and on the first evening walked a mile or two in the park alongside the Rideau River, where lots of people were out walking, biking, running, and playing: We came across a surprising church, the Melkite Catholic Church, labeled in Arabic and English: As the monument explains, they tie their history back to the establishment of Christianity in the Middle East in Antioch, then in Syria. We later looked it up on Wikipedia, and found an interesting history in the article Melkite Greek Catholic Church . An interesting first church to see in Ottawa! The next day we took the bus to see Parliament: Nearby was the American embassy: And down the street from that we visited the Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica: Across the street toward th...

After attending my company meeting in New York City at the beginning of October, Lillian and I took the Amtrak train "Adirondack" from New York Penn Station to Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was scheduled to be an 11-hour ride, but was delayed at several points (at least once, they said, due to stalled freight trains on the tracks), so it was about 3 hours late to arrive, making it a 14-hour ride total! It was a nice time to travel through upstate New York, especially along the west side of Lake Champlain. Here's one small town where we got to get out during a delay: In Montreal we stayed at the YWCA (Y des Femmes) hostel, which allows men to stay there too. It was a nice place, where we had a private 2-person room, and were able to use the shared kitchen for meals. We immediately liked the nearby Mont-Royal, the hill the Montreal is named after, which is very broad and has walking paths all over it. I read that it was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designe...