My partner’s new instability walking means that I either have to tie her down (won’t happen) or stand beside her providing stability (impossible to accomplish for all the hours we are together.) Third option, nursing home placement, is also not an option at present. So hyper vigilance is the name of the game. So what can I do while I’m being hyper vigilant? Can’t read a novel because I get “too involved in it”. Can’t cook because my partner becomes “too involved in it”, bringing me the waste basket, or pouring root beer into the cheese pudding. If I’m stacking the dishwasher, she’s emptying it at the same time. Clean laundry gets mixed with dirty laundry in the blink of an eye.
I tried coloring those adult coloring books. Boring, boring, at least to me. I tried knitting, something I’ve never done before. It requires too much concentration. Then I came up with a new idea. I’m calling it “virtual travel”.
My partner and I have a little Aliner trailer parked in the back yard. Closed it looks like a pop-up, open it looks like an A-frame house. It is easy as pie to open and close. Easy as pie to pull. Backing up is a bit of a challenge, but manageable. My partner and I spent three summers vacationing in it before her dementia became severe enough to preclude traveling at all. Its still sitting in the yard because I dream of vacationing in it again one day.
So be hyper vigilant and dream at the same time, I told myself. So what I am doing is taking a state a month, may also include a provence or two as well. And I research the state on computer. One day I start looking at National Parks, another day gardens. . A third day it might be “tacky” tourist traps (why not see the world’s biggest ball of string and take my picture there?). Another day it might be museums, or state capitals. Then I might look up state parks, or waterfalls, or light houses. I am doing nothing that prevents me from always knowing where or what my partner is doing, since with the help of some chairs I have cut the size of our home in half. At the end of the month, while my partner is at day care, I take a bit of time and make an itinerary. And if I want to I have enough stuff to do even if I chose to go that state for a month’s vacation.
The first state I chose was Michigan. I researched it all of November. I found Islands (Mackinac Island and Isle Royale), museums (especially in Dearborn), light houses, and waterfalls. The Upper Peninsula sounds fantastic. And out of that research, I found a bucket list item. I really want to see the Aurora Borealis. (You got any information on the Northern Lights, Wolf?)
You all are welcome to invite me virtually to your state or provence. It might take me a while to get there, but I’ll try.
I travel virtually all the time. A couple of years ago I landed on every bridge on US1 using Google. There are two of them of course and I mean the west coast one. Zoomed in to street view and looked around and then went to the next one.
I don't just know about stuff up here like the northern lights, I know tons of stuff about tons of stuff everywhere. For example did you know over 2,000 buses a day park at the fountain in Florence? That palm trees grow in Ireland? Where the Sargasso Sea is? That Yellowstone is a supervolcano? That the average dog understands over 120 words? That the Greeks could predict solar eclipses centuries out 2500 years ago while europeans quacked that their god was mad at them just a few hundred years ago? Do you know the last US president to fight in a duel? What was really going on with Mary Todd? When women stopped being property in the USA? How we know birds are dinosaurs? How to make pasta fazool?
I just finished watching a long series of documentaries on Geology. I shared some of those links on George's off topic thread. Right now I'm listening to a series of Noam Chomsky lectures. Before that I watched Neil DeGrasse programs and interviews which branched me off on Nicolas Tesla in electricity. I'm also watching selected programs teaching painting where I'm learning how to make more interesting greens and how some people use complimentary colors to darken or lighten.
Some time ago Meghan Kelly said Jesus and santa clause were white which caused me to read about the ethnicity of the middle east where I learned the only white guys were the Romans and their legions where it was the habit of Romans to station captured converts in foreign countries so they had no fifth columns. So there were some white guys but they were all Roman in the middle east back in year zero. That also caused me to study the history of christmas seriously some of which I posted on my off topic thread called the Christmas Lodge.
You could study the history of the Appalachian Trail and look at both pictures (images) and videos to get a visceral understanding. You could study medieval recipes. You could look up the history of the four faces carved in the mountain and go there virtually. You could sign up to NASA or follow the ISS or see how the Okefenokee Swamp is doing. I like typing a year like 1879 into the images browser and seeing where that takes me (after photography is more interesting). You could listen to Gregorian chants or watch someone teach how to play Beethoven's Ninth on the kazoo.
The earth has a molten iron core. That churns because of our spinning. That creates an electromagnetic field. An electromagnetic field pulls most of the sun's streaming particles into it's field. That field originates in the poles in a form of convection so the sun's particles can penetrate our atmosphere at the poles much more easily. When those charged particles enter our atmosphere they react with it setting off the northern (and southern) lights.
You're going to be evolving your own interests anyway. This time is an opportunity to nose around those interests and find which ones have some legs for you.
Lindylou, I love the idea of virtual travel and would invite you to visit my western Canadian province of British Columbia, an area blessed with an abundance of natural beauty. In particular, I think you would enjoy the nature lover's paradise of Tofino, on the west side of Vancouver Island and really the western edge of the continent. The beautiful beaches are legendary and there is much to do - hiking, kayaking, surfing, whale watching, storm watching, etc. etc. The area also includes Clayoquot Sound, a pristine area that is environmentally and ecologically protected. Take a look when you have a minute.
For me, I think I will return to your part of the world - New England and especially Cape Cod. Decades ago, before I was married, I took a trip there with girlfriends and I loved the sand dunes, beaches and the very tip of Provincetown. At the time, I lived in eastern Canada in New Brunswick (borders Maine). Having just seen the movie "Manchester by the Sea", it reminded me of the very typical New England landscape and architecture. At some point, I would like to revisit the area for real, but for now 'virtual' will have to do. Thanks again.
Lindylou and Wolf...........What a great idea ....... "Virtual Travel" Now you've give me some ideas. I'm going to try it. And your posts are great reading for me. I thank you both for this........
The flashes are lightning storms on the earth seen from above.
And, Aurora Borealis from the ground:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVsONlc3OUY
Watch that second video please before you read the rest.
Understand how quickly we can learn. Remember what I said that these are particles streaming from the sun. Understand they have come 93 million miles and are in almost perfectly straight flight. They are almost stationary next to each other like cars on an interstate and while the sun streams particles out in all directions, millions of miles later what hits our atmosphere may as well be coming in a straight line.
They come in extremely fast and extremely straight and right next to each other. If you watch you will see the individual straight lines fly in and burn up. If you watch you will notice those individual lines make up the patterns. If you remember they come in best closest to the pole you may even notice the apparent angles of the patterns of absolutely straight zooming particles. Let those angles penetrate you and you will know where the line is coming through the center of the earth projecting the north pole line out into space.
You're not watching a line. You're watching the apparent angles of the straight charged particles showing you where the electromagnetic pole is. Watch the second one again and follow the painters quick strokes this time. The strokes seem to be going up. But they are really stopping before they go overhead. Don't forget that on the other side of the planet in Russia the same thing is likely going on from exactly the same stream of particles. This is big and you're just seeing one part.
Understand the curvature of the pattern is the curvature of the earth itself.
Now watch the second one again and I bet you see it differently.
I love the idea of virtual travel, but I'm much lazier than you all are! My favorite virtual travel is called "Escape to the Country", which I watch on YouTube. The shows are shot all over the British Isles, and each show looks at several houses and several points of interest in the area where the houses are. I can just sit and watch, and they do all the work for me of traveling and finding interesting places--and I don't have to worry about driving on the wrong side of the road. The scenery is stunning, and the houses range from idyllic to historic to...well, strange. I know there is absolutely no possibility of me flying across the ocean to go to any of these places, which kind of makes watching them more fun. It's so far removed from the day-to-day caregiver life that I really feel like I've been away.
My brother turned me on to google earth a few years ago. He traveled to the great pyramids, canals of Venice, etc. When we were traveling from Fernley, NV to Richland almost 4 years ago and had to decide on a route, I 'drove' the routes to see elevations, scenery and road conditions (how wide mainly) before actually driving it.
Via the internet there is a whole world out there that majority of us will never have the opportunity to travel to or even go visit.
Wolf, I followed your instructions about how to read your input. I watched the video from outer space, and believe it or not after a while my partner began to watch the second video of the aurora borealis from earth with me. I will watch it a second time soon looking for the curvature and magnetic lines. What I want to do is watch it one night out on the back stoop, facing north, feeling New England’s biting cold on my face at the same time. So, should my partner choose to fall asleep earlyish one evening that is what I will do.
My son has encouraged me to choose to virtually go to Iceland this month. His point of view is that, while it is a winter vacation if I want to see the Northern Lights, it is comparatively inexpensive to go there and what better place to see them. And virtual vacations are free anyway.
NBGirl, I have accepted your invitation to virtually travel to British Columbia in January. Any special places I should check out first?
Jan K, once upon a time, a long time ago, I went to the British Isles. One of my most lovely vacations, seeing the manors and great houses, the cathedrals and churches, the Lake Country and the Cotswolds, London and Edinburg. I will travel again to these places via YouTube when I can. Thanks.
P.S. Wolf, Hiking through on the Appalachian Mountain Trail was on my bucket list until I realized old age had struck. But to do it virtually? Maybe. Also, while I do know that Yellowstone is a super volcano, you did intrigue me about Mary Todd Lincoln. Thought it was grief and depression. Like maybe we all know about that. Is there anything else I should know? When I choose to visit Illinois, maybe I can visit where she and Abe lived and learn some more.
About Mary Todd, that's what I meant - she wrestled with depression during their marriage. Married to someone who looks like Abe there, I can sympathize.
About northern lights, look at the second picture in the link below. It proves that that image is a time lapse picture because you can see the stars rotating. They are rotating around the earth's axis. It's easy to tell where the north pole is in that picture. Now look at the green aurora and follow along the top of it. Notice the curvature is the opposite of the stars. It's like a shallow bowl upside down. You could draw that arc and mathematically drop the perpendicular and you would have the same information about the magnetic north pole as you do from the stars about the physical north pole.
The third picture shows that sometimes the streams come down in concentrations much like they left the surface of the sun, and then those streams dance all over the place. I'm not sure what causes the lights. Particles are coming in through the poles all the time. It must have something to do with intensity or something. I've never looked that up.
BTW - that picture is taken of Lake Leberge up in the Yukon. That's where Robert Service wrote his Cremation Of Sam McGee.
I did look up the Appalachian Trail and watched a couple of videos about it. I wrote a post I didn't put up about virtual touring and as part of writing that I went on a hot air balloon ride, scuba dived on the great barrier reef, went on the bullet train through France, and went for a walk in Paris. I've also watched a documentary on the limits of human perception which I might put up for George.
It's all input. It might be virtual but it creates visceral input and that input is real. The perception actually happened in your real world and that input really does enter your mind and your thoughts and the experiences of all that are also real.