Labor Day Ramblings

In retirement, I decided I would share my experiences in this BLOG. My top subjects have been: dining, travel, family, photography, social events, sports and launches. I am approaching three hundred posts in the past eight years. Sometimes I just like to ramble about multiple subjects. Like this post.

First, the county I live in has been crowded lately with people hoping to see the Artemis I launch. This is NASA's rocket to take man back to the moon. It is a big rocket and the mission is a big deal. Probably more so in the local area as many people are employed by NASA and contractors.

My cousin Patti and I made the effort to fight the crowds and drive to Jetty Park for the morning launch. We got there before 5 am and were into Jetty Park by 5:15. The launch was scrubbed but I did get this beautiful sunrise photograph.

A few days later there would be a second attempt. The day before this attempt I drove to Titusville to get a shot of the Artemis I on the launchpad. I was amazed how many people were camped out along the roads up there, a lot of them between the signs saying "No Overnight Camping!" I guess the local police were being kind, or they realized there was not enough jail space for the thousands camped out.

I did get my rocket shot, unlaunched.

August is also the time for many Birthday celebrations including mine. My friend Ken and I shared a Birthday and I had asked for a cake at Lou's Blues. The servers Jenn & Jess provided a nice chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. The Guinness stout matched the dark brown décor. In the reflection of turning 65, no, in the reflection of the window you can see the beautiful ocean view I get to enjoyed while drinking beers at my favorite hangout.

I should mention that Madonna also shares August 16 as her Birthday, but she is one year younger than me at 64. It is also the date in 1977 when Elvis died. I happened to watch a documentary on Elvis and his life and death. He was only 42. I have been reading a book by Mary Roach called Gulp. It is a non-fiction book that details the alimentary canal, an old name for our digestive system. She mentions that Elvis may have had problems with constipation and that is why he spent so much time in the bathroom that he installed a TV and phone. I also saw on HBO the Baz Luhrmann's hit film Elvis. The guy playing Elvis did a fantastic job.

Speaking of single name movies. one of my favorites is Paul. The comedy about an alien which starred Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. They have a whole trilogy of movies called the Three Flavours Cornetto, consisting of Shaun of the Dead (2004), Hot Fuzz (2007), and The World's End (2013). I just happened to be channel surfing and saw the last one playing. In this film, five friends return to their hometown to reattempt a pub crawl they failed twenty-three years earlier, only to discover the town is in the midst of an alien invasion. Of course two of the five are Pegg and Frost, and the remaining three are Martin Freeman (plays Bilbo in the Hobbit movies), Eddie Marsan, and Paddy Considine.

Well, I had seen the movie before, and realized that Paddy was familiar from a series I am currently watching. That is the House of Dragons, the HBO Game of Thrones prequel series. I thought I recognized the character of King Viserys I Targaryen, but was not sure. It happens that the king is played by Paddy Considine. The same guy who was in two of the three Pegg-Frost trilogy movies.

My camera is starting to get old and I am thinking of getting a new one. I bought this one, a Canon 70D, in 2015 for my Galapagos trip. It is time to upgrade so I can continue my wildlife photography. Sometimes the animals just show up at my house. Like this great blue heron in my backyard along Elbow Creek.

Or this red-shouldered hawk in my front yard...

Sometimes I take pictures of dead things..

Or live things at the Zoo. This is a bobcat named Eco...

Of course, I like to photograph plants too. These flowers (next 4 photos) were all taken at Brevard Zoo.

Of course, my love for animals and for humor sometimes cross...

I also like to eat out and take pictures of my food. Of course, it is not as cheap as it was when this children menu came out...

Sometimes I hit local places like Squid Lips, which is on the water so sometimes I can get a wildlife shot, like this shark ready to attack me...

As long as he does not eat my mahi Reuben with mixed vegetables.

When I was coming back from Titusville I stopped in Cocoa Village for lunch. My intent was to try Tin Whiskey for the first time, not realizing they do not open until 4 pm. It was 11:30 am. I thought about Café Margaux, but finally went to Pub Americana and ordered a Stella Artois. My mom was named Stella so I like to order it and tell the server it is in honor of my mother.

I did see a tap right in front of me that said Motorwork's Brewery Mango Habanero Pale Ale. I asked the server for a taste. She said it was hot. She was right. Hottest beer I have ever tasted. I told her it needed more Mango...

My lunch was a Half Pound Burger which is served with seasoned parmesan fries. My burger choice was the Swiss which included caramelized mushrooms sautéed in A1 steak sauce, topped with Swiss cheese and a red pepper aioli. They have ten sauce orders for the fries, I got the Cajun ketchup. I ordered the hamburger medium-rare.

With my Math background, I have always liked puzzles and such. But in retirement, I have forced myself to start doing more word puzzles and crosswords. Each day, I do a few word games in the paper, and also online. Of course, I know a lot of people play Wordle. I also do Nerdle, Quordle, Heardle, and Worldle. Wordle and Quordle are words, Nerdle is Math, Heardle is Music, and Worldle is Geography.

I have used Worldle to learn more about the world we live in. Each day, it gives an outline of a new country or territory and you make a guess of the location. If you get it wrong, it will tell you how many miles you are off and the general direction you need to head to get to the right place. Since I am trying to learn, I use Google Earth after two misses. Some are so easy because there are some very distinctive countries (USA, Cuba), but there are lots of similar shaped ones too.

For some reason, I have gotten a McDonalds Obsession. In Google Earth, like Google Maps, I can explore down to street level in a lot of countries. I like to see if they have a McDonalds.

Can you guess where this McDonald's is located?