I’m off to Chicago today. My plane leaves around 3 pm, and I should get there about 6:30 pm. I plan to have a nice dinner then settle in for the night and get ready for my interview Tuesday morning. I’ve got everything packed except a few Little last minute items, and then I’m ready to go.

Stellafane. Your first question is probably: what the hell is Stellafane? Stellafane (Latin for shrine to the stars) is the name of the clubhouse built by the Springfield Telescope Makers club of Springfield, Vermont in the early 1920s, and has since come to refer to the club’s land and buildings on the summit of Breezy Hill. It also refers to the Stellafane Convention, a gathering of amateur telescope makers and amateur astronomers (star party) held every year at that location. The Springfield Telescope Makers grew out of a class on how to make telescopes that was started by Russell W. Porter in Springfield, Vermont in August 12, 1920. The members of this small group decided to form a club and held their first meeting on December 7, 1923.

The reason I mention Stellafane is because I am going to the convention today. Porter was an alumni of the university that I work for. They are the curators of some Porter material that my Museum would like to borrow. Porter built some great telescopes such as the Hale Telescope at the Palomar Observatory in California. Porter was a pretty fascinating guy as an artist, an Artic explorer, and a telescope builder. So I’m going to Stellafane to help borrow some of the artifacts they have about Porter. It should be an interesting day. 

Today will be a day of research. Thankfully, I won’t have to drive far. Traffic was horrible yesterday. At one point I had two cars merging into my lane where I was occupying said lane. Luckily, I squeezed on through and managed to avoid a wreck. With so much traffic plus the rain, and accident would have been a major disaster. All I have to do today is drive into Providence (11 minutes from the hotel). Hopefully traffic will be better.

Unless something changes in the morning, I will be spending the next few days in Rhode Island. It seems that my boss needs an extra pair of eyes to help with research at the historical society in Providence. So, I will be spending the next two days plowing through old letters and documents, and essentially looking for a needle in a haystack.

I finally made it back to my apartment around 12:30 am. Isabella sure was happy to see me.

I fly back to Vermont today. It’s been good to be home, and to be honest, I’m not looking forward to returning to Vermont. However, I am looking forward to seeing Isabella. I’ve had a coworker taking care of her, but I’m ready to have her back. Otherwise, it will be back to the same old routine at work. 

Yesterday, Daddy and I were out riding on the boat when we came across a kid, he was probably 18, whose jet ski had broken down. Daddy offered to pull him back to his friends. There’s a sandbar where they all congregate. The kid was tall, very tan, with dark hair and very handsome. He had a nice butt too. Anyway, his friends showed up to help pull him back so we didn’t take him very far. His friends were cute too.

Happy Fourth of July!

By the time this blog posts this morning, I will in the air on my way home. My parents know I am coming home, but the rest of my family doesn’t know. It’s going to be a big surprise. July 4th has always been a big holiday for my family and we will have a big BBQ on that day. I’m really looking forward to it.

Being home also means that I have limited internet access. I will do my best to post,  but if I don’t, don’t worry. It just means that I didn’t have internet access.

My parents are leaving Saturday on a cruise of the Gulf of Mexico. They are sailing to a couple of ports on the Mexican Riviera. I wish I was going on a cruise, really it wouldn’t matter to where. I’d just like to be on a boat for a few days. But no cruise is in sight for me. I’d at least like to go to the beach. The closest beach is Cape Cod and that might not be too bad. It looks like, however, that the only trip I’ll be making any time soon is down to Worcester, Mass. for a workshop. I go down on Tuesday and it hasn’t been decided yet if I will spend the night or go and come in the same day. It’s a three hour trip down and back, so that would be having me in car for 6 hours, not something I relish. Anyway, I’d rather go to the beach.

A coworker and I had to drive down to Cape Cod yesterday for museum business. I would have taken a nighttime walk on the beach, but it started raining, so I just turned in for the night. I did watch part of the Patriots game, but the NFL doesn’t really hold my interest. What did good my interest was the beautiful waiter at the restaurant where we ate. He was tall, dark, and handsome, just my kind of man. I’d have loved to have had him for dessert, but instead I had to settle for a toffee cake which was as delicious as I assume the waiter would have been.