In aid of HaitiThere will be a fund-raising shindig for Haiti in the Plaza España of Santa Cruz on Saturday, from 10 am until 3pm. This includes a market, and a raffle. At least 6 local bands are turning out. The amateur astronomy group will set up telescopes for observing the sun (safely!), somebody’s bringing “children’s activities”, and there’s a “Recycle Art” workshop. (I wonder if that’s Ruben Armichi?) Anyway,…
I’ve been nominated for the BSFA (British Science Fiction Association) award for best non-fiction with “How to Burn a Chicken – Using Astronomy for Worldbuilding” (which appeared in Escape Velocity, vol 1 issue 2) The list of nominations is at http://www.bsfa.co.uk/Forum/tabid/61/forumid/109/threadid/17502/scope/posts/Default.aspx Of course this is just a nomination. I’m not even on the shortlist. But I’m still grinning.I just wish I knew who to thank.
M100 (NGC 4321), a barred galaxy in the Virgo cluster There’s a really simple reason why the Royal Greenwich Observatory moved their telescopes here. It’s one of the three best places in the world for astronomy. A modern telescope could see the equivalent of a candle on the moon, so obviously they want to be well away from city lights. Even more obviously, they want to be somewhere that doesn’t…
Almond blossom in Garafia The north-west of the island is home to great many almond trees, and at this time of the year, they’re all blossoming. The trees in El Paso and Garafía are beautiful, but the best display of all is at Puntagorda. In fact Puntagorda hosts an annual almond blossom fiesta. The date varies — the Town Hall sets it a couple of weeks in advance, to (hopefully)…
I have a bad habit of biting off more than I can chew. Then I find myself whirling around at warp speed nine, trying to write blogs and e-books, translate, teach, and still be a half-way decent housewife and mother. Of course this doesn’t work, because there are still only 24 hours in a day. I wind up stressed and snappy, and usually unproductive. Over the years, I’ve frequently sworn…
We moved into this house seven years ago. The previous house went with the observatory job, so we had to leave there, even though the builders hadn’t quite finished this one. So we moved in on new year’s day, 2003, with my husband constantly saying, “Don’t lean on the banisters, the glue’s still wet.” We didn’t have any heating either, which wasn’t a serious problem here. All the same, it’s…