ENDeavor Forever

This sign is missing the "eavor"....'Twas a poignant end to an era today as a huge crowd gathered just across the arroyo from JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena).  We saw all the proud scientists and JPL workers out on their roofs and decks.  How proud they must have been.

Then it started to get slightly hilarious.  Several false alarms in the crowd "I SEEEEEE IT!"  Hundreds of us would then strain our eyes to see what that person saw.  Then when the crowd was at its most peaceful, nearly serene even in the nearly 100 degree heat, all of us dripping with sweat, a toddler screamed and pointed up into the face of the nearby mountain:  "Thewe it is!  It's wight thewe!!!!!!"  

Moments after the ensuing laughter in response to that perfectly delivered toddler wisdom died down, we resumed staring west toward the mountains behind JPL, because it's last "stop," aka fly-over, was Griffith Park, a point west of where we stood. 

Then, all of a sudden you heard a ripple of screams that sounded like fear.  We all whipped around to face the OPPOSITE direction.  As we turned I think we all became conscious of that inimitable deep roar of the engines.  Then suddenly there it was -- right over our heads!  It was so low it felt like we could almost touch it.  We saw the bulging belly of the plane and the little flipper-like wing tips of the Endeavor peaking out over the top of big 747.   It looked like a momma dolphin was taking it's baby dolphin for a test swim:  "This is how it's done, my dear."

We all screamed because of the element of surprise, but I will admit I was slightly terrified for a half a second.  My first thought was danger because it was coming from the "wrong" direction, the roar was so ominous and unexpected, and the screams sounded just like a horror movie.  Then upon seeing the big white steel monolith, the magic struck all of our hearts all at once.  It was quite moving. 

It circled around and climbed much, much higher.  We couldn't see it for several long seconds, though we heard it still, and that's when my camera finally started working.  I think very few got that first shot of it right over our heads because we were all so stunned.

This is it coming back around, after it climbed quite a bit to go overhead toward JPL:

And here they are, not momma and baby, but really, a great wise old grandmother, being gently escorted by a virile young buck to her elegant retirement museum home:

They say God abhors a vaccum....that one door closes, another opens.  What new space magic comes, I wonder....

MeTV = Lazy TV = Less Stress + More Joy

I may still be single because of the Mary Tyler Moore Show.  There wasn't anything shameful or needy about her singleness.  She had fun no matter what and never complained that anything was "missing" from her life. 

I love watching the old reruns of MTM, "The Bob Newhart Show," and my old fave "The Dick Van Dyke Show."  I am also digging one of my dad's favorites, which I wasn't really so addicted to as a kid: "The Rockford Files" where everything seems to be solved by a punch in the nose and a good car chase.  I love it, and I love that Rockford doesn't have the perfectly buff body, lives in a beat up trailer, and has very human fights with his dad.  Nothing too cringe-worthy or uncomfortable, but just enough humanity in everything to make it so I could relate or imagine relating.

Phone booths had telephone books in them.  People knocked at your door more because there were no cellphones, and it was often the simplest way to communicate.   Answering machines had tapes in them, and the color orange was super-hip.  Life was simple and good.

Everything was groovy.  I have to say even though I have my favorite modern comedies and dramas, I am finding MeTV to be Lazy TV.  I feel refreshed after a couple of back-to-back episodes of Mary and Bob.  

If you wanna get back to feelin' groovy, look for MeTV.    At the very least you can get some design or fashion tips, since it's all comin' back now.   But, I hope it helps you let go of some stress and bump up your joy factor.