"A Brief History of Time" By Stephen W. Hawking

Tam recommended this book as a very readable, layman's, explanation of some of this century's theoretical physics. Maureen's Joe was askance; he is a Hawking fan and assured me that "A Brief History of Time" is not the layman's version, but that "The Universe in a Nutshell" is the one. Joe's comments came at a good time, as I walked in to the kitchen to ask Maureen to explain one of the diagrams.

Actually, I brought this book along on the kayak trip to Vermont. That was the trip in which I could not keep up with Tam paddling, although she would announce that she was going to "take it easy" and so forth. And I veritably trotted up Mount Ascutney behind her! Alak! The kids reminded me that she was a physics major before going over to the Dark Side (english!). Good thing she's so lovable!

Even so, Hawking is a delight.

I had actually made a foray into Brian Greene's "The Elegant Universe" a couple summers ago, and read a biography on Einstein last summer. But I do actually think the Hawking rendition of relativity and quantum mechanics is the . . . er . . . most cohesive, or shall I say, friendly.

There are moments when I feel as if it's all hocus pocus, and that these people are proving their hocus pocus with more hocus pocus. Then again, people such as Einstein, and Hawking, come along who are not only very credible, but reassuring. I mean, these things in science - all of it - blow my mind. But if you have someone sensible who seems to understand it, I guess our world really is marvelous.

Anyway, after such a reading, the night sky, resplendent in stars, is even more awesome.

Don't Try This at Home!

This summer I have taken to my bicycle once again, in a desire to give my knees a break from running. Spending the Kayak Weekend with Tam, I learned all about a bike trek she will undertake next spring along a route from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. This intrigues me and I have a notion to set about to do the same on my own. Thus I have begun to take stock of myself and my bicycle with an eye to readying both.

My first line of inquiry was into toe clips. Toe clips are attached to the pedals and serve to hold the foot in place on the pedal to provide the ability to pull the pedal up as well as push it down for hill work. Hence, pedaling is easier.

I had been in the stores looking for toe clips for my bike and was not liking what I was finding. For quite a bit of money specially-made pedal and shoes are available that are made to hook up to each other. This set-up has a safety release, like ski bindings, to release the foot in case of a fall. The others do not.

Then one night last week Mark said, "I have a set of toe clips!" like a light bulb went off. And he found them! They're brand new and 30 years old and he managed to locate them amongst all his treasures! This is a simple aluminum "basket" that the front of the foot slides into. When you fall, you have to remember to slide your foot out so you can brace your fall. :>) Mark put them on for me that evening.

The next morning off I went on my maiden run with the toe clips. Getting the first foot in was easy because you do it while you're standing still. Getting the 2nd one in takes . . . skill. Oiy!!! It's all uphill out of my driveway in the direction I am going. The basket is heavier than the pedal, so it wants to hang upside down and scrape the road on the downstroke. Meanwhile, as if pedaling up Keegan Road is not enough, I was pedaling right-footed while trying to catch and hold with the left pedal toe clip. I almost knocked myself over. Finally, after much flubbing around, I was in two-footed.

There are spots where I stop to catch my breath, but not this day! No siree! I was hoping for a green light at the busy intersection of South Street and Route 6 and stopping would necessitate dropping the toe clips, and then starting up again - with onlookers! Red light! Full stop. Drop toe clips. But, a little smoother start this time.

So up and down and up and down for several miles, then I was way up with a gorgeous view, then a little dip, picked up momentum and another big, long, up . . . street sweeper! at the bottom of the big long up! One-way traffic and someone directing it, stopping me and letting oncoming cars through!!! Mr. Traffic Man! My toe clips! My momentum! So, I slowed to a crawl but did not stop, then big smile between traffic man and me and I began my big up. Oy!

And somewhere along my trip I became adept at picking up the 2nd toe clip, just got the hang of it. Glorious ride!

Then there were a few days off because I was away at Cape Cod and now I am loathe to summon the nerve to go out again and have more toe clip adventures! I must get brave again!

Kayak-a-yak

This past weekend I went kayaking on the Connecticut River in Vermont with Pam and Tam. Mark was really insistent that I have this experience, to mirror the trip he has undertaken now for several years. His mode of flotation has evolved over the summers, from canoe to pontoon boat to kayak. This year he sailed his hand-crafted 16 foot beauty (see photo below). As for me, I went out in the Blast.

We based ourselves at Wilgus State Park in Ascutney,

Vermont. This is a beautiful campground with wonderful amenities. On Day One we took the truck laden with the kayaks about 12 miles north to Sumner Falls, where we put in. Due to our amazing paddling skills, we arrived at Wilgus three hours later. Some might argue that the current favored us exceptionally well.

On Day Two we paddled from Wilgus about ten miles south to Hoyt's Landing, where we had parked the truck. This was about 3 and a half hours of paddling, but we took a break every hour just to hang around.

For me there were two highlights of my experience on the water, if I do not count my

extremely tired, weak, little shoulders. One highlight is all the amazing birds to see along the riverbank and skimming along just above the surface of the river. I may become a birder yet. The other was the Path of Life Garden. Someone had taken a field along the Connecticut River and placed all sorts of contemplative areas and sculptures all around, but that web site will describe it much better. It was a hands-on, interactive, experience offered in a take-what-you-want-from-it sort of way. We lunched in a tee-pee.

After doing an astoundingly thorough job of securing the kayaks in to the truck at Hoyt's Landing for the ride back to Wilgus, some of us were loathe to take the boats off the truck for an excursion on Day Three. But anyway, Pam found herself nursing a headache.

Meanwhile, and not to be callous towards Pam, but she encouraged us anyway, Tam and I climbed Mount Ascutney. My poor, weak, little shoulders were happy because my legs are much more highly developed than they are.

Each of the three days was good for the soul.

"Moonwalk" by Michael Jackson

Pop culture circa 1982 (ish) existed only in my periphery. That was the year Michael Jackson released "Thriller." As revealed in an earlier post, I was pretty much out in the barn. But that was the year I graduated from high school.

My fascination with his dance has somehow been piqued since his untimely death this June. Again, I reference my very first post on this blog. It was the famous Moonwalk that I was searching on You Tube, wondering weather my mother ever secretly attempted it while I was in school, or out in the barn. That lead to my discovery of Jackson's autobiography, "Moonwalk," written in 1988 when Jackson was 29 years old. I have it on interlibrary loan and just completed it.

Jackie Onassis worked for Doubleday when she coaxed Jackson into penning his autobiography, and I am so grateful that she did!

This book is a quick read, although I savored it over several days. It is chock full of photographs of not only Michael but lots of interesting people. His voice in telling his story in print has a child-like quality in the awe and wonder he shares about his early life, the things and people he saw, places he went, and, ultimately, the successes. I realized that this "voice" was going to remain unchanged as he progressed in the chronology of the story of his life. That is the quintessential Michael Jackson, at least the one presented publicly.

He answers all the big questions and is wholly credible. The book pre-dates the sensational child molestation cases.

Additionally, he talks about the making of each of his music videos, which he calls "films" and the debut of the Moonwalk as he performed "Billie Jean" at the Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, and Forever on March 25, 1983.

I enjoyed the time I spent with Michael Jackson while I read his autobiography. I am loathe to part yet with the book, but I'll dutifully return it to the library.