The Desert Botanical Garden

Do you know how sometimes when you travel you see new and different things? And some of the different things are insects? And some of the insects are large? Gigantic?
That is what happened to us when we played tourist today at the Desert Botanical garden in Phoenix. We saw some of the largest bugs ever. They seemed to be everywhere in the park. A dragonfly that made me glad that I was too old and tough to eat, a spider with a web big enough to cover a house and ants as big as a Hummer.
I'll be sleeping with both eyes open tonight and I bet the GlassStacker will not even come to the bedroom.
There were a lot of desert plants there too.

A Trip to Las Vegas

The GlassStacker and I spent a couple of very interesting and relaxing days visiting our friend Sue in Las Vegas, Nevada. I know some of you think we went to Vegas for the gambling but that is definitely not the case. Yeah, I know the Boss did borrow a buck from me and lose it right away in the slots at the Bellagio but I think she just had to get a little of that out of her system. In truth we went for the geology, the art, and to spend some quality time with a friend. Along the way we saw Joshua Trees, the low water at Hoover Dam, lots of rocks and the new O'Callaghan-Tillman bridge.

The Bellagio has an installation of Chihuly glass, something that really interested all of us. While the slot machine was digesting my dollar, the three of us roamed around gawking and soaking in the glass art. To see that much beautiful glass in such an impressive setting without having to pay admission was amazing. The Bellagio also has a conservatory which was in the midst of a switchover from Christmas to the Chinese New Year. There was a crane in operation inside the building so I was thoroughly engrossed. I almost forgot about the lost buck.

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area is a must do for the Las Vegas visitor. There are trails of varying difficulty for the more adventurous and a 13 mile car ride with stops at several points of interest. With Sue as our guide we toured the park by car and on foot. The visitor center has numerous and very informative displays on rocks, plants, animals, wind, water, sunlight and all the other things that are part of the park. The geology is interesting with several rock layers and types visible as well as a thrust fault right out there where all the park goers can see it. Only in Vegas would a thrust fault be so uncovered and on public display. We saw three wild burros, a coyote, and a red fox, they all reminded me of the lost buck. Moon rise in Red Rock Canyon was memorable.

On the way to Nevada, and on the way back, we drove the Joshua Forest Parkway which is Arizona Highway 93. The parkway goes through the Joshua Tree forest of Arizona, one of the few, very specific, habitats for these yucca plants. The oldest "trees" were probably well established while our ancestors were living in cold, northern European farmhuts some 30 generations ago. Moonrise over the Joshua Forest with the Weaver Mountains in the background was very memorable.

We took Highway 74 as a short-cut to I17 on the way back. This was a straight shot across the desert just southeast of Wickenburg. Nightfall found us on the seemingly endless freeways of Phoenix, but before long we were in Chandler and back at our home away from home in Mirage Park.

Thank you Sue, for your insights on Las Vegas, your hospitality and for letting us share your home for a couple of days. I know that you and the Boss go back a long way and that the two of you can share first grader jokes, but I really appreciate the time the three of us spent talking and just being together. You are a true friend.

The lost buck?? What happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas.

As always,

The GlassStacker's Assistant

St. Anthony's Greek Orthodox Monastery

The GlassStacker and I were out driving the other day and we happened on a Greek Orthodox Monastery. Let me back up a little bit... Leaving Red Wing we went west to I35, then south on I35 to I40, then west on I40 to I17, south on I17 to I10, then east on I-10 to exit 185 for Coolidge, then continue on toward Florence, bear right and take Route 79 south. At mile marker 124 turn left onto Piasano Drive. Follow this to the monastery parking lot.

We thought, "Wow, All this in the middle of the desert." The first thing we noticed as we exited the car was a sign that said "Modest clothing required" For me, long sleeves, long pants, for the GlassStacker, long sleeves, modest blouse, skirt, headcovering. We looked at each other... Fortunately the temperature was in the 60s so I was covered, but the boss had to borrow a skirt and babushka. She rolled up her pants, put on the borrowed skirt and scarf and we went on a tour.

A young priest/monk met us as we came in the gate. He was very eager to welcome us to the monastery and to get us started on the tour. He provided the requisite headgear and skirt as well as a tasty Greek cookie for each of us. I will say that the cookie was good, but it had a liberal dose of coconut, so I don't really know. The GlassStacker ate mine with a smile on her face.

St. Andrew's was established in 1995 by 6 monks from the Holy Mountain, Athos, Greece. The monastery has several chapels, each dedicated to a particular saint, gardens, pathways, orchards, vineyards, living quarters and guest facilities.

The monastery itself is dedicated to St. Anthony the Great, 251-356, and the main chapel is dedicated to St. Andrew and St. Nectarios the Wonder Worker. Other chapels are named for St. John the Baptist, Seraphim of Sarov, Demetrios of Thessalonica, George the Great Martyr, Nicholas the Wonder Worker, Panteleimon the Healer and the Prophet Elijah.

Incidentally, George The Great Martyr is none other than George the Dragon Slayer. If I have to have a favorite saint, this would be the one. There were several depictions of George with his sword stuck well into a dragon.

Each chapel is well adorned with chandeliers and many icons. There are no pews, worship is standing. There is a separate area for non-orthodox contemplation in each chapel and a very private area behind the altar for clergy.

The grounds are stellar. There are many plants from the desert, fountains, walkways and areas that invite meditation and contemplation. Stone and tile work abound. It is a magnificent oasis in the Sonoran Desert.

When we finished our tour we were at the gift shop. Since we had heard about the bread that is baked on the grounds each day, I headed right into the shop with a loaf on my mind. I got the last one for the day. We have been eating on it for a couple days now and I will say that it is pretty good. (Way too many carbs for an old man with blood sugar issues.)

While we were in the shop I eavesdropped on a conversation about "the Great Separation". Here is my take on it. The Roman patriarch (pope) in the 9th century made some changes in the church that were unacceptable to the other 4 patriarchs of the time. Rome went its own way, Roman Catholicism, and the others, Eastern Orthodox, continued in their traditional way. The schism became official when the Roman church severed itself from the Eastern Orthodox Church in 1054.

Just another beautiful day in the life.

The GlassStacker's Assistant

The Earth's Orbit

We are at a point in the earth's orbit that is closest to the sun.
The autumn and spring equinoxes are separated by approximately 1/2 year. In fact, there are three more days in the period from the spring equinox, about March 20,21, to the fall equinox, about September 20,21, than there are in the September to March time. This discrepancy was probably known to the ancients, as all calendars marked these times as important for migrations, agriculture and other cultural needs. The actual explanation for the differing day count came from Johannes Kepler, 1571-1630. Kepler realized that the orbit of the earth was not a perfect circle but an ellipse with the sun at one focal point. This meant that we were closer to the sun at certain times of the year and orbiting faster during those periods. He did not fully realize that gravity was the cause of our orbital motion so only could hypothesize rules based on observations that would describe the orbital motions of the planets. The physics community would have to wait for Isaac Newton, 1642-1727, for the idea of "action at a distance" and a quantifying rule for gravity.
In a modern introductory Celestial Mechanics course, Kepler's three laws form the basis for that course. The laws are:

1. The orbits of the planets are ellipses with the sun at one focus.
2. The equal area rule which states that if you connect a line from a planet to the sun, that line will sweep out a certain unit of area for a given time at any point in the orbit.
3. The Harmonic Law, K = R cubed/T squared. Please excuse the non-mathematical notation, I'll get the format figured out eventually. This law states that for any object orbiting another object, the ratio of the radius of the orbit cubed to the period of the orbit squared is a constant value. To calculate the value of K for the sun we can use the earth's orbital parameters. Therefore K for the sun = 1 astronomical unit cubed/year squared. Mars is about 1.5 times further from the sun and takes 687 earth days to complete an orbit. The K value calculated from this data is 0.97 au cubed/ yr squared. The other planets return values very close to these numbers. Kepler did not know about Neptune, Uranus and Pluto, but we can calculate their K values and we find that they are also very close to 1.

There we are. We orbit the sun in an elliptical path and we happen to be nearest the sun on about 4 January each year. Our ellipse is very nearly a circle so we stay at nearly the same distance from the sun all year.

The Kepler Museum in Regensburg, Germany has a very informative and interesting display regarding Kepler's life and work.

This is not an official federal paid holiday, but I hope that you will celebrate anyway.

The GlassStacker in a babushka

The GlassStacker wore a babushka and a skirt today. Wonders will never cease.

As always, The GlassStacker's Assistant