wonderful laidley

cool little street above Noe Valley with lots of interesting homes. The architect who did this one had 4 or 5 houses all remarkable in their own ways.

the fog was also pouring in, which as ever, was amazing to watch. it moves in a way analagous to water, the body of water moves slowly as tides come and go, but the waves move much quicker. here, the fog particles are moving very fast, but they dissipate once they get outside of the body of fog, which moves much slower. wonder how that all works. water I feel I have an inkling of understanding, but not so with fog...

Noble act or political assassination?

Noble act or political assassination? from the International Herald Tribune. Good commentary on the death's of Saddam's sons.

Also a good editorial on the protests in Iran, and what they might mean.

trials and travels

I'm tired. Beat. In. Too tired to even look forward to the weekend, which must because, as always I have too much to do, too much I could do, too much I have to do, too much I should do, too much I want to do.

I'm mainly tired because I flew to Ireland for last friday, and got back on tuesday. My uncle had died, my dad's last remaining brother, Uncle Lawrence. My Mum and Dad, on vacation, were unreachable, so my little sister and I decided to go and represent. The flights there were grueling and long, but I am glad we went. Despite the circumstances, it was nice to be in Ireland again on the farm with my cousins and aunt.

Uncle Lawrence will be missed that is for sure. Not that I knew him all that well. Like most Cotter's I know he was on the quiet and reserved side of things, but like my Dad and their other brother Dennis, a sly twinkle in his eye. I think the loss had not fully sunk in to anyone but Auntie Nora. He had been in the hospital a while, and ill for a long time, but he had gone peacefully and without too much pain. He'd had plenty of it during his life, and had plugged on through diabetes, and two legs amputated.

Mostly, especially after visiting Ireland this past weekend, I just wish I had known him better.

looking out the window

Just got back, more or less, from 2 weeks on the East Coast. Been having trouble getting over the jet lag, and back into the swing of my life. Luckily my life is swinging a lot less this month.

Many highlights to come later, but the things sticking foremost in my mind are some of the sights outside the airplane window. I could be aloft for hours and be happy peering down at the ground trying to figure out what stuff is, where I could go, and just plain wondering about humanity.

There was an amazing sunset over Salt Lake City. Clouds were flat at some 10,000 feet, allowing plenty of the setting sunlight to come in. Everything was that warm red, the moutains and clouds practically glowing. The lake was still and reflecting the sky perfectly. So perfectly, that islands seemed to be floating in mid air.

Then there was flying out of Chicago on the day after the 4th. There were fireworks everywhere, popping off like mad all across the city and suburbs, big, small for miles and miles and miles. It was amazing. But then we flew over miles and miles of thunderstorms, not just one thunderhead but a great mass of clouds flashing first intermittently then nearly constantly with lightning, a beautiful soft white pulse, the brighter pulses exposing the structure of the clouds. The final cloud, a huge thunderhead trailing the pack, lit up like a lightbulb with the occassional bolt of lightning playing across the face of it, like some instrument of Dr Frankenstein. Never seen anything quite so amazing.