I came to Niagara Falls for the 2024 total solar eclipse with the idea of spectacular images of the eclipse above the falls. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate. I was really lucky with clear skies for the 2017 eclipse, so the overcast skies was really disappointing. I got a couple of glimpses of the partial eclipse. Totality did not disappoint. It’s been seven years since I last experienced totality, but I feel like totality was more dramatic this time. It was so overcast that it was already cool and not bright, so when totality hit, it felt very much like night and was very dark. Vi ..read more

Surgery for scoliosis was two months ago now, and I am still recovering. My ability to walk is improving slowly as my body adjusts to the new spinal arrangement. I have a limp that is going to take time to fix. I can climb and descend stairs, but I have to hold onto the railing with one hand, and it is really better if my other hand is at least touching the other side. The main part of my house is on the second floor, so I have had to figure out how to get things up and down the stairs if I want to live on my own. There are a couple of solutions, but I am engineer, so naturally I installed a s ..read more

Four weeks ago today, I was in the hospital having had surgery to correct my scoliosis the day before. My neurosurgeon said the surgery lasted about six hours, but I was sedated for about 12 hours. They sedated me at about 7:30 a.m., but my neurosurgeon said surgery did not begin until about 9. I woke up after 7 p.m., but my neurosurgeon said surgery ended around 3. I had warned the anesthesiologist before that I was a slow metabolizer. My guess is that they did not give me a reversal, but they just let me sleep after surgery, which was probably a good idea. I have no idea how many people were ..read more

At the age of 49 I was diagnosed with scoliosis. Scoliosis is normally diagnosed far earlier in life. My scoliosis is not some sort of weird adult onset type. In fact my neurosurgeon pointed out evidence on some of my spinal images that showed how long it had been there, but I am getting ahead of myself. I can remember in junior high when everyone had to go to the gym in shifts, separating the girls and the boys, to be checked for scoliosis. My maternal grandmother had scoliosis, so I was at increased risk, yet it was not caught when I was young. I have never had good posture, but now I look b ..read more

I have been in old Quebec City for three full days, and it has been a lovely visit. Old Quebec is compact and walkable with the exception of the fact that old Quebec is really just a series of stairs and slopes. Thus something may be just four blocks away, but it is also the equivalent of eight stories higher, so plan accordingly. The old town is surrounded by its original fortification walls, with a citadel at the highest point. Many of the streets are cobblestone, and most of the buildings are clearly original ..read more

Québec City (Ville de Québec) sits on the St. Lawrence River, which is (surprisingly to me) a huge river. A company offers short sightseeing cruises along the river that go as far as the bridge to Orleans Island (l’Ile d’Orleans). Right where the boat turns around, you can get pretty good views of Montmorency Falls (la chute Montmorency). [My knowledge of French is pretty much limited to words from ballet and Louisiana and words that are similar to my rudimentary Spanish and Latin knowledge. I am starting to enjoy specific French words like “chute.”] The cruise also provided lovely views of th ..read more

I have noted before that I want to see all the U.S. state capitols. I am in Quebec, so I decided to see its provincial capitol and add that to my list. They call their capitol the National Assembly of Quebec. It consists of one chamber. They used to also have the Legislature Council, which was akin to the British House of Lords. I am sure it was explained on the tour why and when they got rid of it, but I missed it. In any event, the current capitol is the fourth one. I have noticed a theme with U.S. state capitols that they are not in the original buildings. In many cases, they need a bigger ..read more

I am currently in Montreal for the second time. The first trip was short, but I visited the Montreal Museum of Archaeology and History, and I really liked it. This trip is also short, but I had time to visit the museum again. Most of the museum is underground in an archeological site of old Montreal. You can walk around the stone walls of buildings that used to stand on the site. The museum does a really nice job of projecting onto the ruins lines and text, so you can understand at what you are looking. They also have stairs, so you can climb on top of ruins and look down onto them without dam ..read more

Powerhouse Arts is a new arts and fabrication studio and rental venue housed in a renovated power station in Brooklyn, New York, and they hosted an open house today through Open House New York.The building has been completed renovated, but they have left some of the graffiti on the walls from when the place was essentially abandoned, and squatters lived there. The facility now houses several different art studio areas like a ceramics area and print shop. It also has huge spaces that can be rented. The facility is right on the Gowanus Canal, and it has wonderful views of Brooklyn and Manhattan ..read more

Last week, I went for a guided walk with NYC H2O of historic Richmond Town, Staten Island to hear about the history there, in particular how the water affected the history. Historic Richmond Town is a neat little area as it is a park of historic buildings. If I read the information correctly, some of them were moved there to be part of the preservation area. There is a mill there that operated off the creek that runs by the area. Nearby and also part of our walk is Brookfield Park, which is a former landfill. From an environmental engineering perspective, it is nice to see what the landfill ha ..read more