Dan and Tomoko came for a quick visit over the Labor Day weekend. Dan was eager to show her the family picnic spot on the Skykomish River in the North Cascade Mountains.
A Perfect Day on the Sky
We haven't picnicked there for many years, so we were curious how this rugged country has changed. It hasn't, although now it is Forks of the Sky State Park.
News & Notes
Also on the agenda for D & T was to learn the basics of home canning. We focused on blackberry jam and Old South sweet pickles. Both projects were a big success. Among the expert tips that they learned from the Canning Queen, "Laughing while you work keeps the pickles sweet!"
Avoid Sour Pickles By Laughing
We often see our friend Noelle Lamb in Vancouver, but this time she came south to Seattle for a few days. She and her twin sister Nancy visited Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) this summer. Unlike our visit there they took a float plane to the southern islands of the archipelago, where original totem poles still stand.
Jeamy (Jeanne-Marie) Cantereau -- the Tatin Chef Extraordinaire from last issue -- is also a recognized watercolor artist. She has a show on now called "From the Mountain to the Sea." It's at the Wallace Gallery in Morrinsville, New Zealand, so if you're in that area, don't miss it! Congratulations, Jeamy!
Ursula and Gaston Wolf from Herrliberg, Switzerland stopped by on their whirlwind tour of the US. It had been a decade since we'd seen them, so there was much catching up to do ... we did so over a marathon 5.5 hour lunch that was joined by Bob and Susi Frost!
Ursula and Gaston
L was honored with the Alumni Fellow Award from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences of the University of Iowa. There were meetings, receptions, dinners, ceremonies and other festivities, making it all tremendous fun.
Never Put This Guy In Front Of A Microphone
A charming feature of the University of Iowa campus is the exquisite original state capitol building. It is fully restored with original desks and dais. As an additional honor L delivered his 'science lecture' in the House of Representatives Chamber. It was the first time he'd lectured in a room with quill pens and spittoons!
Setting Up To Lecture In The Iowa House
In college in the 1960's L's job was to run an IBM 7040 computer to process data from James Van Allen's experiments on the Explorer satellites. So, when the chair of Iowa's Computer Science Department took him into the basement of their building where the data is still stored, he found tapes that he'd processed more than 45 years ago. It was exciting in a geeky sort of way!
September 1, 1965 Explorer Data
