The strife is o’er, the battle done. With all traces of abdominal distress having vanished, we ventured out to the Arizona Science Center today – a six-mile round-trip walk. Just finding the entrance to the building seemed to be an IQ test – which I nearly failed. It’s an ugly, odd, concrete building with a variety of concrete mazes inside and out and sidewalks that lead to nowhere. Laurel said, “It looks like it was designed by a freshman architecture student who was trying to be edgy and…failed.” After a delightful lunch in the Lab Cafe (hmmm), the kids rode a large bike that was attached to a cable and suspended over netting. I was afraid Charlie would get part way out and panic and wouldn’t be able to get back in, but he was fine. Then we went to a show at the planetarium called Arizona Skies. I haven’t been to a planetarium in many years, but my memory is that the seats recline and a celestial movie plays on the ceiling. These seats barely reclined and there was just a photograph (no video) on the ceiling with narration by a museum staff member and a very chatty 6-year-old in the row in front of us. But if I’m ever away from light pollution again, I should be better equipped to identify the constellations. Then we saw exhibits about photovoltaic cells, extreme weather, rock formation, and brain waves. Tomorrow we’ll do a sunset horseback ride at South Mountain Park, the largest urban park in the world. Thursday or Friday we’ll probably go to the Heard Museum of Native American art and culture.
Did anyone see 60 Minutes Sunday? There were segments on both the recycled orchestra from Paraguay as well as Gitmo – both of which recently appeared in my blog. It seemed a strange coincidence.

our neighborhood