Back to my cocoon, also known as apartment 1212 at 15 Craigside.  Looking forward to doing essentially nothing until our next potentially monumental journey: We fly to Iceland to see some geo-cold sites, then board the Azamara Journey for 18-nights from Rekjavik to Greenland, ending up in Montreal.  Of course, there is one primary reason we will be on this cruise.  The next total solar eclipse.  Sun will stay dark for 2 minutes and 18 seconds on August 12. Will you see this event from where you live?  Google AI says: Upcoming Total Solar Eclipses: August 12, 2026: Greenland, Iceland, Spain. August 2, 2027: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Somalia. July 22, 2028: Australia, New Zealand. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ] For those in the United States, the next total solar eclipse visible from the contiguous U.S. will be on August 22, 2044 . [ 1 ]   How old will you be in 18 years? Some reviews of the Azamara Journey. Google AI says: The Azamara Journey is hi...

Some good news.   Artemis II astronauts returnd home.   Remember  Suni Williams and Butch Whitmore?   They were on a 10-day NASA mission in 2024, but it took 9 months for them to finally return on March of 2025. I guess  another positive sign  is that there was a pre-peace talk meeting today between the Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Iranian officials.  Veep J.D. Vance, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner also separately met with Sharif. Both sides continue their bluffing, angling for a better negotiating position.  One in particular is Iran seeking release of $120 billion in frozen assets to occur before peace talks can begin. I've stayed at Ritz-Carltons throughout the USA, but never at the Club Level.  We upgraded in New Orleans, and similar to the Ritz-Carlton Yacht cruise we took earlier this year, I don't think the luxury was worth the cost.  Mind you, our Ritz-Carlton Club Level experience in the Orient was even more...

I was born and lived in Hawaii for most of my life, but additionally spent four years or more in California, Louisiana and the Washington, DC area, plus two six month sabbaticals in Tokyo.  I graduated from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge in 1972, so more than half a century has passed since I last lived in this state.  What has changed in Louisiana during this period?                                                  1972                         2026 Population:     3.76 million          4.62 million Black %                 31%                     29.5% Asian %                0.1...