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(Still more extra stuff from Brussels.)
There we were, sitting outside the beautiful St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral.
People have been worshipping perhaps as far back as the ninth century. This building went up between the 13th and 16th centuries. The stained glass windows and confessionals are that old. Just think of it. That place was old when the U.S. was new.
Don’t worry. We went inside. I produced a little video. You can see it here.
We read in the paper yesterday and then watched the news where people were discussing the current Venus-Jupiter planetary conjunction.
(It is highly likely that sitting there on the sofa against the wall dividing living room from kitchen is where I first became a news junky — the news was always on and there was always a big stack of newsprint sitting around. It somehow feels now as though I can’t get enough news there. I think because you’re watching the local and evening news and reading this morning’s newspaper, but that’s just a part of my regular information diet these days. But I digress.)
So my grandfather and I walked outside on the family compound last night and we looked up into the appropriate part of the sky.
There’s Venus! And, just there! Giant Jupiter!
I pulled out my phone, powered up one of my sky apps (I have three, and no, I don’t have a problem.) and started identifying stars and constellations and twirled around in the yard like a fool until I found the space station. It was below us and to the west.
My grandfather enjoyed this.
Today, he mentioned all of this to a coworker. (Because he’s the kind of guy who retired five or six years ago and still goes to work almost every day and laughs at how the rest of us talk about our hard days.) That coworker was intrigued and wanted to know more. So my grandfather came home I heard him put together a string of words I wouldn’t have imagined coming from him that morning.
“Oh, what was the name of that app you showed me with … ”
My grandfather: digital native.
So I turned it on again. This time we looked at things in the sky from inside the house, which might have been even more interesting. Look just behind the fireplace there and you’ll see …
When I went outside I took a few screen captures from the SkyView app, because these were just fun.
The constellation Cancer because this is basically my personal crest. He looks like he’s pinching the planets:
And look, Leo the lion is playing with two beach balls!
Silly weather, hampering my bike riding. Just look at that temperature, in the fourth photo down — hence the short, 16-mile ride.
Had a meeting and a few things to take care of on campus today.
The landscaping is still lovely as ever:
And those banners will probably fly for a long time, too. Deservedly so. Top-ranked school in the state is no small thing. Go Bulldogs.
Pretty campus we have there, no?
Thomas Carvel was a Greek immigrant. The story goes he wanted to make his customers smile and bought an ice cream truck. Somehow a flat tire figures into the legend because he built his first ice cream store where the truck broke down.
Now, 81 years and countless stores later, here I am, learning about clown cakes.
Seems that Wednesdays are also buy one sundae get another one at a pl;easing consumer price point. So that’s what we did.
Good promotion. There was a line out of the door at one point while we were there. But no one was buying clown cakes.
