The Pear Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree

Lately, Heidi has been crazy about pears. After I bought a bag with a half dozen pretty pears, she's been enjoying one every night after dinner, and we're on our 4th bag. Coincidentally, she received what seemed like a spam email message from her late dad, with the subject line "Pear Season." 

It turned out to be an annual reminder that Gary set for himself to start eating pears in September. Her brother still manages their dad's email account, and he forwarded the message with affection. 

"Pears are definitely like that," Heidi laughed. "You never think you want them until you have a good one. I guess my dad didn't want to forget that!"

Local Color

We wanted to walk somewhere new, but we didn't want to drive too far, which is a pretty big challenge when you've lived in the same area since 1989. 

I hemmed and hawed about it all day, until finally, around 4:30, it occurred to me that despite seeing them scores of times while whizzing by in cars, I'd never actually walked around the Marine Corps Monument and the Netherlands Carillon, so off we went. 

I didn't think parking would be a challenge at that time of day, and I was right, but our plan to add a loop through Arlington Cemetery was a no-go since they closed at 5. Even so, we put together a couple of miles, spent some time admiring both landmarks and the view, and enjoying the crisp fall weather. 

And we even got a carillon concert!

The Scoop

I assumed it was clickbait when I saw the social media caption this morning: "Is the Mystery of Amelia Earhart Solved?" Rather than feed that wolf, I opened my browser and searched for myself to see if there was any recent news about the pilot who disappeared nearly 90 years ago. 

To my surprise? There was! 

A joint expedition from Purdue University, Purdue Research Foundation, and the Archaeological Legacy Institute was, at that very moment, aboard a ship anchored off Nikumaroro Atoll in Kiribati to investigate the "Taraia Object." Someone spotted the object in Apple Maps in 2020, and subsequent research has shown images of it in the lagoon of this uninhabited island, on and off, since 1938. According to Purdue News, the team will be ready to announce tomorrow whether it is an airplane. 

My interest was piqued, and further investigation revealed that this atoll has long been considered a likely place where Earhart's round-the-world attempt ended. Over the last nine decades, people have found many artifacts there that can be circumstantially linked to Amelia and her navigator, Fred Noonan, including freckle cream, shoes, a U.S. medicine vial, a 1930s jackknife, glassware, aviation parts, and human bones, but nothing conclusive. 

So, heads up, reader! Tomorrow could be a day like September 1, 1985, when Robert Ballard found the Titanic, and one of the most enduring mysteries of our lifetimes could be solved.

Whatever it Takes

Heidi was home a little early today so that we could take Lucy to the vet. Once our dog got a [relatively] clean bill of health, I suggested going to the gym.

"But what about my baby?" Heidi asked in alarm.

"Lucy will be fine," I shrugged. "We won't be gone that long."

"No!" Heidi said. "What about my other baby?"

I thought for a minute. "Pebbles?" I asked, and she nodded. "I guess we can stop to see her on our way home."

"Fine!" Heidi replied. "But I'm only going because I get to hold the baby after."

A Hot Day in October

90 degrees on October 14 is a record-breaking phenomenon, surpassing the 1919 record of 86 degrees for the hottest day this late in the year. And yet, 90 degrees in October is nothing like 90 degrees in summer: the air was warm, but the sun was much weaker. The punishing rays of the blinding white summer sun gave way to a gentler, golden light, and even at high noon, there was plenty of shade. This 90 degrees was, dare I say? Almost as pleasant as it was unexpected.

Friendly Adversaries

It's never fun to win at bowling when someone else is having a bad day, but that's what happened today. We were competing against one of the teams tied for first place, and their first bit of bad luck came when their best bowler called to say she couldn't make it. That means her score was "blind" or preset at her average minus 10 percent.

The team member with the second-highest average bowled 30 pins below her average in the first game and was very upset when she didn't even break 100. She felt terrible, but her teammate consoled her. "We're just here for the fellowship!" 

Even so, when we got to the tenth frame in the next game, that player had a tough but not impossible split. "You can do it!" I cheered, and then, looking at the scoreboard, added, "If you do, you can break 100!"

She smiled ruefully, then took a deep breath and knocked those pins to Murgatroyd. "Thank you!" she said.

"You have to get at least 6 on your extra ball, though," I informed her.

She threw her ball down the lane and took out exactly 6, and the rest of us celebrated like it was a turkey.

"You knew just what I needed to hear!" she told me.

I winked. "Next game you'll probably bowl average. You're just building up to it."

"Wouldn't that be nice?" she sighed.

Our team ended up winning 3 of the 4 points and knocking them out of first place. She did bowl her best game in the third, though, and saved them from a sweep.

No Remorse

Occasionally, when I read about this or that local crime, my snoopy curiosity gets the best of me, and I look up the mugshots of those involved. More than a few times, I've recognized the people involved, usually former students, and that's always sad, if not entirely surprising. Sometimes, I just want to lay eyes on the people who refused to leave the restaurant, resisted arrest, spit on the police, or behaved in some other way that seems outrageous to me. 

That's what I was doing this afternoon when I came across this booking photo:

"She doesn't look upset at all!" I said to Heidi as I turned the computer around so she could see it. 

"She does look pretty pleased with herself," Heidi agreed. "It must have seemed like a very good idea at the time."