Artemis 1 Launch

Launch of NASA’s Artemis 1, first uncrewed flight of the full SLS/Orion stack around the moon.

This launch gives me *feelings* because back when I worked with NASA OHCM, a big part of my job was editing internal video interviews with engineers and other staff working on, among other things, SLS and Orion. I got really familiar with 3D animated B-roll of SLS as it evolved to its current form, and over time I built myself up a little collection of SLS preview videos to watch how the plans for the rocket changed over the years.

Three views of the Space Launch System in various stages of its conceptual evolution, first with the plain painted first stage, then in shuttle orange with SRB racing stripes, then with the NASA worm logo and SRB motion tracking markings

Feels good to now cap off that playlist with a real-life SLS launch video — bit later than scheduled. I still remember walking along Playalinda Beach in 2014 and thinking “I should come back here when SLS is ready to launch in 2017.” That, uh, didn’t happen in 2017.

(Some of those video interviews I worked on, not all SLS-related, eventually made their way to the public as a recruitment series called “#NASAProud”. I had to re-edit those with public domain music — with help from FreePD — and make sure they were ITAR and Sec508 compliant.)

If you want to see more (and don’t mind hearing the NASA PAO announcer flub “ignition” repeatedly): Isolated Artemis 1 Launch Views from various cameras on the pad and around KSC.

Now onward to Artemis II, first crewed lunar flyby.

Apple Butt, Colours

Hey, one of the apples we picked at Noggins has a butt.

This apple has a butt

Also one never really appreciates how different the insides of different kinds of apples are until one sees three different varieties sliced onto one plate.

Apple colours

I think these were Kestrel (greenest), Paula Red (white), and Cox Orange Pippin (yellow) varieties.

Golden Light on the Trail

A late November weekend afternoon on the Old Lawrencetown Road Trail bridge, low sunlight painting the marsh golden.

View from the Old Lawrencetown Road Trail Bridge

Through the roots of a fallen tree.

Fallen Tree on the Old Lawrencetown Road Trail

My son is a trail ninja.

Ezra is a Trail Ninja

More photos from this trail and others around the area.

Unhappy Amelia Cat at the Vet

After Martha died I got her sister Amelia checked at the vet to make sure she didn’t have similar kidney problems. This involved a blood draw, which made her extremely unhappy and bitey, necessitating a cone:

Amelia #cat at the vet

The good news: her bloodwork came back clean, so she’s a healthy cat — except for her teeth, which had plaque, and a few teeth have died and will need a later extraction.

Amelia #cat

Poor kitty won’t like that, but I’m glad she’s otherwise healthy. I need to start brushing her teeth.

Stony, Sandy

I really like this photo Amy got of me and Ezra walking along MacCormacks Beach on a cold, moodily lit afternoon in Eastern Passage.

McCormacks Beach, Eastern Passage, NS

The beach is much more stony on the southeast side facing the Atlantic, where ceaseless crashing waves have scoured away the sand.

McCormacks Beach, Eastern Passage, NS

Contrast with the much sandier lee side of the beach facing inwards and northwest towards Halifax Harbour.

McCormacks Beach, Eastern Passage, NS

More photos from around Eastern Passage.

Autumnal Again

More autumn sunrises.

Autumnal Sunrise
Some leaves left

Maple leaves turn orange and red and brown, and fall to the ground.

Autumn Leaves Autumn Leaves

We rake leaves into piles for the kid to jump into.

Leafy Guy

And suddenly, the trees are bare and the season turns to winter once again.

Bare Trees
Bare Trees

Another autumn.

Carrier and Cruise Ship

Aircraft Carrier and other ships in Halifax Harbour

Four notable vessels in this photo I took of Halifax Harbour from Woodside in Dartmouth yesterday, from left to right: aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford (CVN 78), a Halifax Transit ferry, the destroyer USS Ramage (DDG 61), and the NCL cruise ship Norwegian Breakaway

USS Gerald R Ford

As with most ships, it’s still customary to refer to an aircraft carrier as a “she,” even if it’s named for Gerald Ford.

NCL Norwegian Breakaway

On the side of the Norwegian Breakaway you can see a bit of her distinctive Peter Max hull art, partially obscured by Georges Island.

More photos from Saltwire and Halifax Shipping News.

“Salad”

Ezra put a bowl in front of me at the table and said “I made you a salad.”

“I made you a salad, dad”

Thanks, kid. Ooh it’s got 2 scoops of ice cream and a cinnamon roll. Previously.

Apple Picking at Noggins

Summer was for strawberries, Fall was for apples.

Returned to the Annapolis Valley to go apple picking with church friends at Noggins Corner, first time I’ve ever gone apple picking. There were huge orchards with rows and rows of different varieties of apple trees, thousands of apples overhead and underfoot.

Apple Picking at Noggins Corner

I learned that I like Cox Orange Pippin apples, and do not like Kestrel apples. Ezra’s trying a Gala:

Apple Picking at Noggins Corner

There was also a pumpkin picking field, an expansive playground of hay bales and farm equipment, and a giant corn maze, which changes every year. This year’s theme was “dinosaurs.”

Noggins Corner Corn Maze

We didn’t actually navigate the entire maze but instead wandered the “mini-maze” tucked into a corner, which gives you an immersive corn maze experience without being an all-day adventure.

Noggins Corner Corn Maze

Came home with a nice big bag of assorted apples to last for weeks after.

Bag of Apples Picked from Noggins Corner

Video of our apple picking day, and more pictures in the Flickr photo album.