The Sky is Falling (Spoiler: It's Not!)

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

Is it a meteor or a meteorite?  Why, it is a meteor in the sky, of course! When it hits our good old Earth, it is a meteorite! (When it is floating in space before it comes into the Earth's atmosphere, it is a meteoroid.)  At first, we were told of a "fireball" in the sky at around noon yesterday. We had been walking with friends, and we didn't see it. There were photos online of people taking videos in South Carolina. When I get home, I see on the news that the meteor was in the sky over Newton County, Georgia! (Newton County is the next county to the east of us!) AND pieces of it fell through a roof on a house in Henry County, which is the county to the southwest of us! Gee whiz, all of this is just a bit too close to home for me.  On top of that, this past Saturday, Richard and I were walking at a local park. We were on a sidewalk, which is just beside the parking lot with the softball fields on the OTHER side of the sidewalk. Suddenly, I hear Richard say, "WATCH OUT!".  I quickly ducked and covered my head!  The softball whizzed past me and landed HARD on one car and then, bounced off and hit another one.  I am just glad it wasn't my head! (Or arm or elbow, you get the idea.)

You must all remember that story of Chicken Little. When I was a kid, I always felt sorry for her. I mean, I just remember thinking, "she's just a little chicken, what does she know?"  If she alarmed everyone, well, shouldn't someone else have known better? See, I started early trying to take up for the little guys!

It is just too hot for June!  I am sure you all must have heard of the record-breaking heat in the USA.  Sadly, it has caused deaths. On a happy note, the young man that I told you about that was torn from his house by a tornado has been released from the Shepherd Spinal Center and has gone home! And he is walking!  Good news is always welcome. And what about that woman in Florida who had her home flipped on its side, and then, it fell back HARD, right side up? And she survived! She called it her "Wizard of Oz" moment, and it truly looked so much like it.  I was amazed. (The video of it was on a door camera from next door.)

The Atlanta Braves just finished a series against the New York Mets. Before the beginning of each game, the TV camera would linger for a few moments on different scenes of New York City.  One of the shots was of a bridge with a tram running alongside of it.  (Richard reminded me that it had to be the one used in a Spiderman film!) I looked it up, it is officially called the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, but I think everyone must still call it the 59th Street Bridge. Hey! Isn't there a song called that? You bet there is! 

 Hope you are feeling groovy, my friends! (Look up 59th Street song by Simon & Garfunkel, in case you can't see my video.)

Oh! And I did want to show you some of Richard's photos....

     Remember the starry rosinweed that is a wildflower that blooms in our yard? Richard propped it up with some bits of a tomato cage!

A dragonfly is supposed to eat one hundred mosquitoes a day. Welcome to our yard, you gorgeous creature, eat them all!

Finally, I want to share a photo of ...you will laugh.. it is of Richard's TROUSERS!  Honestly, it doesn't take much to tickle us, we don't get out much! There, is it funny or scary?  I don't want to ALARM anyone!

Good Vibrations-Summer Tanager & Starry Rosinweed

 

Summer tanager and Starry Rosinweed! The bright red bird is the summer tanager, and starry rosinweed is the flower.  (We thought it was a whorled sunflower but a botanist friend identified it for me as a starry rosinweed, so I am happy with that.)  The flower is still blooming in our backyard but the Summer tanager visited our bird bath for water this morning.  We were THRILLED to see him! (And I say "him" because it is most certainly a male.  We think we have seen the female before, it is a solid yellow.)

Richard didn't have his camera with him at that exact moment, so I have gotten this photo for you off the internet.  Same thing for the starry rosinweed, but hopefully, R. will be able to get one of his great photos for you sometime in the future.

It has been a sad day to read all the tributes for Brian Wilson today. So many people loved him! He was a musical genius for sure but a very kind, gentle man who will be deeply missed.  I have spoken of my love for music and in particular, songwriters, so you know, this hits home for me.  Do you remember my post from 2023 when our son got married?  The Mother/Son song that we danced to was the music by Brian Wilson, he wrote "Surfer Girl", and it made for a great lullaby for my son, with "Surfer Girl" changed to "Chris-to-pher" and with the lyrics about loving my baby, with no mention about surfing!  Honestly, I think Brian Wilson would have approved. That's the great thing about music, it can be anything you want it to be! Many great melodies can be changed into lullabies, just don't try to make money off them!   Now, my son didn't tell me in advance this is what he wanted the DJ to do, wasn't that a sweet thing for him to think of doing? 

Hope you are all doing well, my friends! We continue to have stormy weather here, it seems that on our weather forecast we are shown a cloud every single day with the chance of rain. Remember I told you about the tornado that ripped a young man out of his house just in the next county over from us? He is recovering but it was very serious. I saw a video, let me see if I can get it on here for you...

There, I hope you can see that. What a nice family! Hope you all can either pray or send along positive vibes for him!  Oh, you know that makes me think of a great song.  Brian Wilson, may he rest in peace and music. 

"God Only Knows" - A great cover by Evan & James. Enjoy!