Billy Sunday giving another rip-roaring performance. (1915)
Pope Francis criticized (some) Catholics in my country.
If I had any sense, and was trying to make A Catholic Citizen in America famous, influential, profitable or some combination of those qualities, I’d have long since picked an earnestly wacky political fringe position.
And, having picked my target demographic, I would now churn out a rant denouncing the pope for not being sufficiently American; for not supporting the civil rights of wombats — or whatever the Great Cause of the Month was.
I don’t, happily, have that sort of “sense”. But I do think this deserves a brief response:
“…Francis made his comments on Aug. 5 in a private meeting in Lisbon with members of the Jesuit order, of which he is a member, during his trip for World Youth Day. They were published on Monday by the Jesuit journal Civilta Cattolica.
“In a question-and-answer session, a Portuguese Jesuit said that during a sabbatical in the United States, he was saddened that many Catholics, including some bishops, were hostile to the pope’s leadership.
“‘You have seen that in the United States the situation is not easy: there is a very strong reactionary attitude. It is organised and shapes the way people belong, even emotionally,’ the pope responded.
“Religious conservatives in the United States often have aligned with politically conservative media outlets to criticise the pope over a host of issues such as climate change, immigration, social justice, his calls for gun control and his opposition to the death penalty….”
Being Catholic, and American
Political cartoons of yesteryear: 1896, 1912.
To begin with, I’m “A Catholic Citizen in America”, like the blog title says.
In other words, I’m a Catholic.
I live in America. I’m a citizen.
But I am not a [liberal/conservative/libertarian/whatever] Catholic Citizen.
I’m a Catholic, and I take my faith seriously.
Since no political party reflects the values and behaviors that come with being Catholic, I can’t reasonably give unyielding, unwavering, unthinking allegiance to any political party.
I probably wouldn’t, even if by some miracle there was a political clique that was a good match, and that’s another topic.
I’m not utterly apathetic, so I do have views that correspond to political platforms.
[Not] Fitting a Political Pigeonhole
A few years back, I took a few of those ‘what are your political beliefs’ online (and free) questionnaires.
I learned that I was conservative, liberal, and — in one case — libertarian.
Results depended on what questions the questionnaire asked.
Now, about what Pope Francis said.
I think the Pope is Catholic, and that he’s right: some folks in this country who say they’re Catholic, and may sincerely believe that they’re the only ‘real’ Catholics left, act a great deal like the wacked-out and very Calivinist-Protestant radio ranters of my youth.
There may be loony left Catholics who are convinced that the Church oughta be more firmly supportive of voting rights for pigeons, or whatever the current cause is.
My guess is that the ‘Jesus was a liberal’ faction doesn’t make much noise, at least not in a religious context. And that’s yet another topic. Topics.
There. I’ve talked about Pope Francis and making sense.
India’s Vikram lander successful descent and touchdown near Lunar South Pole. (August 23, 2023)
India became the fourth nation to land on Earth’s Moon this week. And the first to land near the Lunar south pole. This is a very big deal.
So, in a different way, was the “abnormal situation” that turned Russia’s Luna-25 lander into an impactor.
Humanity is returning to the Moon. I think this is a good thing.
I woke up in time to watch ISRO’s coverage of Wednesday’s historic touchdown near Manzinus crater. Folks in mission control showed more enthusiasm than I did, here in central Minnesota. But they’re all younger than I am: so that’s no surprise.
I was and am delighted at ISRO’s successful Lunar landing. And even more pleased about the Indian Prime Minister’s upbeat words.
The degree to which today’s “Russia” is distinct from the old “Soviet Union” is — another topic.
The Soviet space program was rebranded as Roscosmos in the early 1990s, and is an organization I’m profoundly glad isn’t part of my personal experience.
“… ‘Russia’s Cold War legacy will be just that — a legacy — unless they can actually do this themselves,’ said Victoria Samson, the Washington office director for Secure World Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes the peaceful exploration of outer space….”
“… More than a dozen other countries also have plans for moon missions in the coming years, including the United States’ ambitious Artemis III, which could land astronauts on the lunar surface as soon as 2025.
“‘I think it … speaks to how much the cost of space exploration has dropped,’ Samson said. ‘It’s still not cheap by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s gotten a little more reasonable. … I think that’s why more countries are able to (attempt) it.’…”
Folks working for Roscosmos have not been having a good time. The outfit has been re-organized and underfunded several times since the Soviet Union fizzled.
Having someone decide that both restarting the defunct Luna program and aiming for a south polar landing did not help.
“…Because orbital dynamics make the south pole difficult to reach, it hasn’t been as deeply explored as other areas. That gives Russia and every other nation with lunar ambitions a key reason to go: There is clear scientific — and strategic — interest.
“…But [Duke University’s Space Diplomacy Lab founding member, Robert] Pearson questioned why Russia chose to head straight for the south pole for its first lunar mission in nearly 50 years.
“‘All they had to do was land (somewhere on the moon) and they would have shown the world that they were in the space race,’ Pearson said of Russia. ‘They took a desperate measure — in my opinion — when they should have picked a safer option.’…” Jackie Wattles, CNN (August 22, 2023)
There’s quite a bit going on in that CNN article. For one thing, the “experts” had names. It’s been quite a while since anonymous “experts” became a news media embarrassment, which isn’t what I was talking about.
One point I wanted to make is that landing on the Moon is anything but easy, particularly when the spacecraft has to pass safely over the polar regions.
Another, and this is why I dragged the Russian effort into my look at Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram landing, is that we’re living in the early 21st century. Not the decades between World War II and 1991.1 Things have changed. A lot.
But not everything.
“…The Sky is Not the Limit”
Chandrayaan-3’s path to the Moon. ISRO via Sky & Telescope, used w/o permission.
I’d planned on talking about Chandrayaan-3’s design, particularly the systems that piloted it down to a safe landing.
But I didn’t find descriptions with the sort of detail I like. I did find pictures that show what’s where on the propulsion module, lander, and rover.
Problem is, ISRO is part of India’s government: and someone decided that their intellectual property rights required detailed discussions. I’m pretty sure that what I had in mind comes under “fair use” definitions, but I’m not sure.
So I’ll put links to resources on the ISRO and Wikipedia websites, and leave it at that.2
If I knew more about Indian law, culture and customs, then maybe I’d realize that using those ISRO illustrations was okay. But I don’t. So I’m playing it safe. Moving along.
“…This Success Belongs to All of Humanity”
First image Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram, after safe landing. (August 23, 2023) ISRO via Sky and Telescope.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined the ISRO team via video conference in time to watch Chandrayaan-3’s successful landing.
I’m pretty sure he had remarks prepared for an unsuccessful event. But Vikram touched down, safely and smoothly. So here’s part of what Modi said:
“Our moon mission is based on human-centric approach. Therefore, this success belongs to all of humanity” “PM joins ISRO team via VC to witness landing of Chandrayaan 3“, Prime Minister’s Office, Press Information Bureau, Government of India (August 23, 2023)
“Time is not far when the children would say ‘Chanda Mama ek tour ke’ i.e. the moon is only a tour away” “India is proving again and again that the sky is not the limit” “PM joins ISRO team via VC to witness landing of Chandrayaan 3“, Admin, Narendra Modi (August 23, 2023)
I know: both sources have the same title. I don’t know why, but that’s how it was on the government of India website, so that’s what I’m showing here. There’s more, by the way, particularly on Narendra Modi’s page.
My notes from the video conference have different words for that “…belongs to all of humanity” quote.
Probably because I’m an American, and remember what’s on the Apollo 11 plaque: “…We came in peace for all mankind”.
Apollo 11’s slogan echoes part of the 1958 National Aeronautics and Space Act:3
Sec. 102. (a) The Congress hereby declares that it is the policy of the United States that activities in space should be devoted to peaceful purposes for the benefit of all mankind….”
I’m not virtue signalling for my country’s self-described best and brightest, so I’ll skip the conventional bitter self-recriminations.
I don’t know where Prime Minister Modi’s “…this success belongs to all of humanity” phrase comes from. Maybe there’s something in India’s history that parallels that 1958 U.S. federal statute.
But it’s nice, hearing echoes from one of my country’s better moments.
“… ‘The Moon is Only a Tour Away'”
Successful Lunar landings: NASA map showing Moon’s near side, mentioning a successful farside landing.
I’ll say it again. India’s successful Lunar landing was and is a very big deal.
Just getting a spacecraft to the moon is a noteworthy accomplishment. Although not as much as it was, back in the 1950s.
Back then, just hitting the Moon with an impactor probe was a big deal. Take my country’s Ranger program, for example. The first two didn’t get off Earth. Of the next four, all had mission-ending equipment failures and two missed the Moon entirely.
I haven’t heard news about Roscosmos since Luna-25’s alternatively-successful landing. And I hope that Yury Borisov doesn’t experience a fatal accident, like another Russian whose behavior was inconvenient for the powers that be. Which is yet another topic.
Anyway, exploration of the Moon peaked in the 1960s, went off the radar in the 1980s, and got its second wind in the 1990s.
Decade
Lunar Missions Launched
Sponsors
1950s
13
USA, USSR
1960s
63
USA, USSR
1970s
23
Japan, USA, USSR
1980s
0
—
1990s
7
Japan, USA
2000s
12
China, ESA, India, USA
2010s
12
China, private, USA
2020s
19
China, Italy, Japan, Korea, private, Russia, UAE, USA
The 1980s weren’t exactly a “lost decade”, since we’d collected massive quantities of data by that time. And I am not going to get distracted by a history of Lunar research.
One thing that’s new about the current wave of Lunar missions is both the number of different countries involved and an increasing number of private-sector outfits.4
Robert Goddard, Opel-RAK, and Missed Opportunities: Another Digression
Urukami Roman Catholic Cathedral, Nagasaki, Memorial service. (November 23, 1945)
Private-sector spaceflight is another rabbit hole I’ll (mostly) leave for another time, but here’s a twenty-five cent tour.
Which I see is now a fifty-cent tour. Huh. Inflation, I suppose. In my father’s day it would have been a nickel tour, and I’m wandering off-topic. Again.
In an ideal world, the decades leading up to 1914 would have seen European leaders accept that the 18th century was over: and not setting up interlocking treaties which pretty much guaranteed something like the First World War.
But this is not an ideal world.
One assassination triggered a global war. When it was over, upwards of 17,000,000 folks had been killed; and rulers of the winning side decided that punishing the losers, particularly Germany, was a good idea. Which it was, if they wanted to go through the same thing again.
Anyway, a professor on one side of the Atlantic flew the first liquid-fueled rocket in 1926 and was roundly ridiculed for imagining that rockets could work in space.
Meanwhile, on the other side, a division of Opel, Opel-RAK, was experimenting with rocket-propelled land and air vehicles.
Then the Great Depression started, Americans got fed up with Prohibition, Germans got fed up with reparations, and a few years later survivors were digging out from occasionally-radioactive debris.
Somewhere along the line we forgot that individuals and businesses had been doing basic research and development for first-generation spacecraft.
Then outfits like Scaled Composites and SpaceX started making headlines:5 giving some serious thinkers conniptions.
I don’t see a problem with folks who aren’t government employees developing new technologies and services. And that’s — you guessed it — yet again more topics.
LVM3, Chandrayaan-3 —
Indian Space Research Organization illustration: LVM3 launch vehicle and Chandrayaan-3.
“India’s space agency has released images of the far side of the Moon as its third lunar mission attempts to locate a safe landing spot on the little-explored south pole.
“The pictures have been taken by Vikram, Chandrayaan-3’s lander, which began the last phase of its mission on Thursday.
“Vikram, which carries a rover in its belly, is due to land on 23 August….”
India’s LVM3, Launch Vehicle Mark-3, used to be called GSLV Mk III: Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III. It’s a higher-payload version of the older GSLV.
It can lift 22,000 pounds, 10,000 kilograms, to Low Earth orbit; or 8,800 pounds, 4,000 kilograms, to a Geostationary transfer orbit. That makes it a medium-lift launch vehicle, at least by NASA standards.
ISRO’s LVM3’s main job is putting communications satellites in geosynchronous orbit; but it’s been used for the Chandrayaan-2 and -3 missions, and is slated for a crewed version of their Gaganyaan space station.
One more item. ISRO says that “Chandrayaan” means Moon (Chandra) and yaan (vehicle) in Sanskrit and Hindi.6
I checked with Google Translate — which says Moon in Hindi is चंद्रमा, chandrama, and vehicle is वाहन, vaahan; in Sanskrit शशांक and वाहनं.
I figure folks who actually speak a language are more reliable translators than an online auto-translate function, so I’ll go with ISRO’s version.
Which, finally, gets me to “Vikram”, the Chandrayaan lander’s name.
— and Vikram Sarabhai
Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad.
Folks at ISRO named their moon mission’s lander after Vikram Sarabhai.
He’s from a family that figured in India’s independence movement, became a physicist and astronomer, got India’s space research and nuclear power started — those, I gather, are the main points.
It’s as if one of Thomas Jefferson’s kids founded Fermilab, jump-started NASA — and I knew I forgot something — Vikram Sarabhai also founded India’s Physical Research Laboratory. That was in 1947.
Small wonder folks in India and elsewhere think highly of him. So far, his name’s on a lunar crater (Sarabhai), a rocket engine (Vikas), a privately-built rocket (Vikram S) and the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre. Maybe more: those are just examples I found.
And, of course, the Vikram Lunar lander. Which, last I checked, has sent back video of the mission’s Pragyan rover “moonwalking” onto the surface.7
Chandrayaan-3 and Smart Robots
PTI illustration: ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 after Landing Module reduced its orbit to 25 km x 134 km.
“ISRO on Monday said a two-way communication between the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter and Chandrayaan-3’s Lunar Module has been established.
“‘ “Welcome, buddy!” Ch-2 orbiter formally welcomed Ch-3 LM. Two-way communication between the two is established. MOX has now more routes to reach the LM,’ the national space agency said in a post on ‘X’.
“ISRO said on Sunday the lander module of Chandrayaan-3, the third lunar mission of India, is expected to touch down on the surface of the Moon around 6.04 pm on August 23….”
This is where I was going to talk about Chandrayaan-3’s control system. But it’s been one of those weeks: topped off by a power outage Friday afternoon. My taking more time than I maybe should have, trying to find detailed information, didn’t help.
So here’s a very abbreviated version.
Chandrayaan-3 includes upgrades from the Chandryaan-2 lander. It’s got four variable-thrust steerable thrusters, but not Chandryaan-2’s fifth constant-thrust unit. The Chandryaan-3 lander’s four legs are beefier than Chandrayaan-2’s.
Maybe the Chandrayaan-3 lander’s Laser Doppler Velocimeter (LDV) is something new, maybe not. I wasn’t able to pin down that detail.
In any case, the LDV tells the lander’s AI which way it’s pointed on all three axes. “Velocimeter” in the name strongly suggests that it tells the AI how fast it’s going, too.8
Calling Home
AFP photo: a Hindu priest performs a special prayer for the success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission next to a model of the spacecraft LVM3-M4. (August 20, 2023)
“The distance between the Earth and Moon is more than 238,855 miles (384,400 km), it could take approximately 2.6 seconds for two-way radio communication to travel that far. That’s the kind of lag that the ISRO Mission Operations team at the Mission Operations Complex (MOX) at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC), Bengaluru, would be facing while transmitting and receiving signals to and from the Chandrayaan-3 lander that’s circling the Moon.
“Given that India has the advantage of having two crafts—Chandrayaan-2 orbiter and Chandrayaan-3 propulsion module—circling the Moon, ISRO would be using one of them as a backup/emergency communication link.
“ISRO has designed and developed the Chandrayaan-3 ‘Vikram’ lander in a way that permits the lander craft to directly communicate with the stations back on Earth. In fact, the 26-kg Pragyan rover would also be depending on the lander craft for all its communication with the ground stations back on Earth….”
That two-and-half-second delay is why having a smart lander matters.
Setting down, softly, on an unprepared field means that there’s no time for a controller with a joystick back on earth to see a hazard and steer away from it.
I talked a bit about that sort of thing a couple years back, in reference to NASA’s Mars 2020 mission.9
Again, I couldn’t find much detail on the Chandrayaan-3 mission’s control systems. Maybe I was looking in the wrong places. I’ve been rummaging through NASA and related websites long enough to know my way around. And that’s still another topic.
Space Missions, Prayer, and Being Catholic
Swaminarayan Temple in Kingsbury, London, had a hawan for successful landing of Chandrayaan-3.
I don’t remember reading about Americans getting together to pray for the success of Apollo 11, New Horizons, or other missions.
Maybe it’s due to my country’s odd attitudes about science and religion, a decision by mainstream news media that such events weren’t newsworthy, or something else.
In any case, folks in at least two places were praying for the success of Chandrayaan-3.10
So how come I, as an American and a Christian, am not having fits over a hawan in Kingsbury and a Hindu priest’s prayer next to a model of the spacecraft LVM3-M4?
Well, partly it’s because the rabid radio preachers of my youth encouraged a strong distaste for (self?)-righteous rage.
But mostly it’s because I’m a Catholic, and take my faith seriously.
I became a Catholic because I’m a Christian, and finally realized who currently holds the authority our Lord gave Peter. I’m a Christian because I’m convinced that Jesus is — who he said he is.
Now, about folks who prayed for the success of Chandrayaan-3? The ones I read about weren’t Christians, but like I said, I’m a Catholic.
Recognizing Divisions, Accepting “Us”
There are divisions within humanity.
But I do not see humanity as “us and them”.
Since I’m a Catholic, I recognize divisions, but see us as — us. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 839-845)
“…Nor is God far distant from those who in shadows and images seek the unknown God, for it is He who gives to all men life and breath and all things,[Acts 17:25–28]) and as Saviour wills that all men be saved.[1 Timothy 2:4]…” (“Lumen Gentium“, Pope Saint Paul VI (November 21, 1964))
And that’s all I have time for this week. Eventually, I’ll talk about why the Moon’s south polar region is so important. Maybe next week, but more likely later. I’ve got a few other items lined up that could go first.
SUCCESS! India is now the fourth nation to successfully land on the Moon, and the first to successfully land near the Moon’s south pole.
Humanity is returning to the Moon.
Vikram, the Chandrayaan-3 mission’s lander, will, if all goes well, touch down near the Moon’s south pole today: Wednesday, August 23, 2023.
A successful landing will make India one of four spacefaring nations with a presence on the Lunar surface.
The lander will start its powered descent —
This morning
Around noon
This afternoon
The time of day depends on where you are. For me, it’ll be early Wednesday morning.
That’s why I’ve embedded an ISRO YouTube video in this post: so I’ll have something queued up and ready to view. That’s assuming I wake up in time.
ISRO’s telecast starts, I gather, at 17:20 IST (India Standard Time). That’s 11:50 UTC, 6:50 a.m. here in central Minnesota: assuming I’ve done the time conversions right, which is a big assumption.
And in case the YouTube stream doesn’t work, ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) says their telecast will be available elsewhere.
Chandrayaan-3 is mostly a technology demonstration/test, but includes several science payloads.
ISRO has upgraded their Vikram lander since the Chandrayaan-2 mission, so there’s a good chance for a successful touch down near the Moon’s south pole. The next step will be deploying and testing ISRO’s Lunar rover, Pragyan.
I think those are their names, but ISRO used the same names for its Chandrayaan-2 mission, back in 2019.
So it’s possible that Vikram and Pragyan are series names, like “Mustang” for a line of Ford sports cars. Or should that be nameplate? And I’ve long since drifted off-topic.
I plan on taking a longer look at the Chandrayaan-3 mission in Saturday’s post.
Including, if I can find more material, something about what ISRO calls the Lander Hazard Detection & Avoidance Camera and Processing Algorithm and an NGC (Navigation, Guidance & Control) system.
In non-geek-speak, the Chandrayaan-3 mission has a smart lander.
The Times of India has a pretty good article about what the Vikram lander will be doing during descent and landing.
I put a link to that, and other resources, in this post’s footnote.1
Whatever happens today, the Chandrayaan-3 mission has already had significant success. For one thing, Vikram contacted the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter.
“ISRO on Monday said a two-way communication between the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter and Chandrayaan-3’s Lunar Module has been established.
“‘Welcome, buddy!’ Ch-2 orbiter formally welcomed Ch-3 LM. Two-way communication between the two is established. MOX has now more routes to reach the LM, the national space agency said in a post on ‘X’.
“ISRO said on Sunday the lander module of Chandrayaan-3, the third lunar mission of India, is expected to touch down on the surface of the Moon around 6.04 pm on August 23….”
And that’s all I have today. Like I said, I’ll be back with more Saturday.
Meanwhile, here’s how I see humanity’s exploration of our neighborhood:
Canadian wildfires this weekend. (August 19, 2023)
Folks living in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, are not having a good time.
The last I checked, the Northwest Territories capital was being evacuated. Understandably, since there’s less than a mile of open water between Yellowknife and one of Canada’s wildfires.
Since Yellowknife has been in the news, and I knew next to nothing about the place, I did a little checking and took a quick virtual trip to the Northwest Territories’ capital.
I’ll be talking about something else for next week’s post, so what I found gets a once-over-lightly treatment. As the AI Assistant I’ve started consulting pointed out:
The post discusses the Canadian wildfires and their impact on Yellowknife, as well as the conspiracy theories surrounding them. The author also mentions climate change and the need for a better understanding of Earth’s climate before implementing drastic measures. The post ends with a description of a unique house in Yellowknife.
Overall, the post provides relevant information and personal insights. However, here are a few actions that could enhance it:
1. Consider adding more details about the Canadian wildfires, such as the causes, extent, and efforts being made to contain them.
2. Back up statements about conspiracy theories with examples or references to provide a more balanced viewpoint.
3. Explore the potential long-term effects of climate change on the region and its residents.
4. Provide a conclusion or summary that ties the various elements of the post together.
These suggestions will help improve the depth and coherence of the content. (Jetpack AI Assistant)
I think the suggestions made sense. Adopting them would “improve the depth and coherence of the content” — but I decided that I’m okay with a somewhat shallow and not quite coherent narrative. You have been warned. 😉
In the News
Glancing at the news, I see that Canada is ablaze, Maui’s a mess, and California is in peril. Oddly enough, though, California’s current looming doom is water, not fire.
All of the above are serious matters. I’m a bit more aware of the Canadian wildfires, since my home is downwind of them.
As I’m writing this, Saturday afternoon, our weather problem is a heat advisory: but we’re expecting Canadian haze again this evening.
A quick check told me that the Canadian fires have the usual attendant wacky rumors. Seems that they’re some sort of plot, caused by space lasers, and that the haze we’ve been experiencing is ammonium nitrate.
But nobody, as far as I can tell, has made the obvious connection between space lasers and space aliens. Sitting on the front stoop today, I saw a little sort-of-round cloud, which I could claim was a camouflaged flying saucer.
Getting Slightly Serious About Silliness
Hurricane Sable returned to the Atlantic coast after a weather modification experiment. (1947)
I figure there’s a little truth — not the space aliens thing, that’s silly — to at least a few conspiracy theories bouncing around social media.
Of course politicos are using human suffering to get re-elected or push their pet projects. That’s what they do. But that doesn’t mean they’ve hired arsonists.
I also think that Canada, Maui and California are real places and that folks live there.
Granted, I’ve yet to run across a conspiracy theory buff who insists that, say, Massachusetts doesn’t exist, and that it’s really a movie set built by a clandestine movie studio in rural Texas. The Massachusetts Analog Deception “obviously” has been maintained to besmirch the Kennedy family’s good name.
And no, I do not believe that. Although with a little work, I could probably work in H. P. Lovecraft, the Great Old Ones and Apollo 13.
Moving along.
It’s my considered opinion that Earth’s climate has changed, is changing, and will continue changing.
We’ve almost certainly affected Earth’s climate by planting crops, raising livestock and — more recently — burning coal.
One reason I’m not demanding that the government outlaw electric toothbrushes, bioengineer non-gassy cows or otherwise “do something” —
Well, it’s because I think we can change Earth’s climate.
Knowing a great deal more than we do about what makes it work before fiddling with the controls seems prudent.
And that’s another topic.
Yellowknife, Northwest Territories: August 19, 2023
Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada; via Google Maps. (August 18, 2023)
I don’t envy either the essential workers left behind, or the 17,500 or so Yellowknifers who evacuated the city.
Who were evacuated, actually. The powers that be gave an evacuation order. Which makes sense, since there’s not quite a mile of open water between the city and what Google Maps calls the Yellowknife Fire, one of the Southern Fort Smith Region wildfires.
Again, getting as many folks as possible out of the way of wildfires makes sense. I hope that folks in Yellowknife and elsewhere won’t lose more than they already have.
And that brings me to what got me started writing today.
Well, That’s Different: A Glass-Capped House on Niven Drive
Houses on Niven Drive, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. (image from July 2009)
I do my traveling with Google Maps and Google Street View these days.
Friday, when I had most of the week’s ‘Saturday post’ finished, I took a very quick virtual jaunt through Yellowknife.
Not all the way through. Northwest Territories’ capital is (normally) very roughly four and a third times the size of Sauk Centre. My town’s a bit more compact, though; and I’m drifting off-topic.
One of the places I saw was Niven Drive, between Niven Lake and Josephine Walcer Park.1 Enough name dropping.
Yellowknife’s Niven Drive looks like a pleasant neighborhood. A bit shy on large trees and brimming with new-looking houses. Both of which I figure are due to Yellowknife’s climate and history.
Niven Drive houses lack the mass-produced look of 1950s American housing developments, but they’re not all that different from what I see in Sauk Centre’s newer neighborhoods.
With one exception.
Someone on Niven Drive lives in a round house. Not a roundhouse. A house that’s round: very roughly 40 feet in diameter, I’d say.
What first caught my eye was its conical glass cupola. I don’t know if it’s the ceiling/roof of a sunroom, an atrium’s skylight, or something else.
Other houses on Niven Drive look fine, and are probably very nice places to live. When there isn’t a wildfire headed their way, anyway.
But that remarkable home with the glass cap? I like it. It’s got character. I hope that it — and, more importantly, whoever lives there — weathers the current troubles.
Now, the usual lists.
I see connections with this post, your experience may vary:
Something new each Saturday.
Life, the universe and my circumstances permitting. I'm focusing on 'family stories' at the moment. ("A Change of Pace: Family Stories" (11/23/2024))
Blog - David Torkington
Spiritual theologian, author and speaker, specializing in prayer, Christian spirituality and mystical theology [the kind that makes sense-BHG]
I was born in 1951. I'm a husband, father and grandfather. One of the kids graduated from college in December, 2008, and is helping her husband run businesses and raise my granddaughter; another is a cartoonist and artist; #3 daughter is a writer; my son is developing a digital game with #3 and #1 daughters. I'm also a writer and artist.
To begin with, I’m “A Catholic Citizen in America”, like the blog title says.
