In case you need some quotes about creativity and letting go… thanks to Sandy D for the original quote that led me to a bit of rummaging:

Creativity can be described as letting go of certainties.
Gail Sheehy

There was an equally juicy quote just above this one:

Act without expectation.
Lao Tze

Nail them to your door.

Thanks to my hero,
Ashley, who saved my coffee
from atop my car!

Today my journey
to the Mars of Bradbury
ended with a sigh.

To be an earthling,
to strive and be a human:
the tale we each tell.

It was pure happenstance of the universe that I was reading and procrastinating about finishing The Martian Chronicles this week as we conspired to put a new Rover on the surface of Mars. What could be better than that?

I so loved this set of tales about waves of earth people coming over a long period of time to Mars and what happens to them and to earth and to mars. I must have read it long ago, but I remembered several of the stories in detail and then not much of the rest. If that’s a side benefit to getting older, it’s not a bad thing. Reading with new eyes is good!

Meanwhile the team at NASA came to the end of a decade of preparation and sat gathered in JPL while us space geeks joined them via live web feeds. We got the benefit of knowledgeable people asking questions and doing commentary (unlike those Olympics talking heads!) and seeing what was happening in real time. Everything went just as planned, a few seconds off of the simulation countdown clock and when there was a pause and then “we have confirmed landing and we’re in contact with Curiosity” the place and space geeks everywhere exploded with happiness. Why does this story grab us so much? So much more will be written of that story!

This morning I listened to the last couple stories of the Martian Chronicles as I walked into work, got ready to clock in and then just stood there for a few minutes as the story ended. Yes kids, you’re the Martians. I knew it was coming but that’s how we felt watching Curiosity send its first photos.

Hello Mars? We’re here! Anyone home?

hot summer weather
thirsty brown lawns go to seed
while I wilt from it.

I think it’s fun that a few of my pals will join in with haiku – it’s fun and gets your brain working.

give us a reason:
we’ll write haiku together
and spin syllables

Olympic haiku
extolling the excellence
and the team spirit

Olympic haiku
all about #nbcfail
on air silliness.

Old college gymnast •
Did your hands sweat while watching •
the still rings tonight?

This one’s for old gymnasts everywhere, their bodies still remember.