note

last week of march
and
Passover in chicago!

Ella at work

 
 
 

Las Campanas Observatory, Chile

Chicago - Dallas - Santiago - La Serena
whoa! this is how the other end lives. i'm traveling with Mike, and he's such a super-duper-airline-mile-club-member (since he flies so much) that he got us access to the "Admirals Club" lounge. this is where the first-class passengers pass time when waiting for a flight, while the rest of us ordinary people wait at the gate looking for an outlet to plug into. i'm talking open bar (premium!), free food (shrimp cocktails, fruit, desserts...) and wifi.
cool.
i didn't get to sit in first class, but got pretty decent seats, with a full 3-seat row all to myself on the longest stretch. i actually got some sleep.


Santiago-Las Campanas


Las Campanas
i'm now at the Magellan telescope, at Las Campanas Observatory. a driver drove us from La Serena to the top of the mountain. the road isn't very safe (an evidence to that would be a bunch of little shrines scattered by the road, made for people who have died in accidents), and that's why they have a driver take us.
it's a 2 hour drive, going through pretty awesome landscape along the shoreline, turning into a snaky dirt road up the mountains.
it reminded me a lot of driving to the Wise Observatory in the israeli Negev Desert. only upscaled. by five thousand. you get to a small town in the middle of nowhere, then drive out of that town on a paved road for a while, that changes to a dirt road, and at some point you pass a turn in the road and see the telescope on the top of a hill. only Magellan is much larger, there are many telescopes on the summit, the roads are longer and higher... but the desert part is very similar, the plants are similar, even the colors of the dirt remind me of Ramon Crater.
The summit is also similarly tranquil to Wise. it's similarly windy. the main difference is that there are actually lots of people around... a handful of observers, and some 20-30 engineers, instrument guys, telescope operators, and other staff.
after we got here in the afternoon i spent a couple of hours winding down and enjoying the peaceful surrounding. i could get used to this, if it wasn't so far away from my family.


some clouds trying to climb over the mountain tops, somewhere between La Serena and Las Campanas.


desert hills


look at the colors of the dirt. orange, yellow and purple.


you can see the telescope domes if you squint!



At the observatory


other telescopes at LCO - Du Pont and Swope


Magellan telescopes: Clay (left) and Baade (right), named after the famous astronomers.



we are allocated the second half of the night for observing. i hope i have time to say something about that later. clear skies!

last week of march

A trip to the aquarium, March 23 2010


Brunch with the O'Brienim, March 27 2010



Black Scrooge's new bed.

Fast learner

i can't believe that my parents are half way through their visit. time goes by so fast! They spent the first half of their visit working hard - really hard: babysitting Ella every day while we go to work (on Ella's spring break) and then, instead of relaxing on the weekend, we made them help with preparations for passover dinner. no rest for the righteous!
today, very symbolically - on Passover, they escaped from slavery to freedom and went to the Art Institute while Ella is back at school. (i hope they don't miss her too much!)

Ella's been learning like crazy the last couple of weeks. she's walking all the time (still assisted), and getting very good at it. she climbs over obstacles (like someone's leg or a toy), and if she's not paying attention she may let go of your hands and stand on her own for a few seconds (because she needs to clap, or hold a toy). she's very determined and knows exactly where she wants to go, and gets really upset if you try to steer her in the "wrong" direction. still, the favorite place to go is follow a scrooge.

my mom is playing new games with her and she's picking up really fast
מחי מחי כפיים, לאלה יש ידיים, אחת שתיים שלוש, ידיים על הראש
"clap hands, clap hands, Ella has hands, one two three, hands on your head". it only took a couple of times practicing, and Ella plays along and puts her hands on her head!

i've heard about baby sign language a long time ago, and though it's controversial i decided to give it a try with some basic words. we're now doing "all done". ella understands and waves her hands every time i say "all done" now, but i think she doesn't yet understand that it means "i'm done doing something" and not "pick me up" :P

pointing: pointing at aba, safta, and noses. and at the red balloon in the book. and piggie.

and... the latest addition, waving bye bye like a pro.

generally speaking, i think she's getting really good at understanding words and connecting the sound of a word with a gesture.


i'm going on a work trip tomorrow - a few nights at a telescope in Chile. i can't imagine being away from Ella for the first time (i already know how much it sucks being away from ben...)

Goodnight Moon

In the great green room...



Every night we read a few books to Ella before bedtime. usually at least one in hebrew and one in english, and end with "goodnight moon".
she's laying back and relaxing and drinking her bottle, and after goodnight moon is done we turn the light off, wait for her to finish drinking, and put her in bed.

well

recently she's been very determined about NOT reading goodnight moon. as soon as i open the great green room, she slams the book shut and reaches for "watch me throw the ball" for a second read. ha!
i suspect that she knows that it's the last book, and wants some more reading time with ima and aba. it's so consistent, it doesn't matter if it's the last book or first book that we read.

on the same topic, "watch me throw the ball" by Mo Willems is absolutely adorable. we're planning to get more Elephant and Piggie books.

Gift ideas, hint hint

A is for Atom, B is for Binary code, and 3(.141593...) is for PI.

i think these room-decor ideas are pretty neat... does that make me a nerd? probably. not that we didn't already know that!

http://www.tiffanyard.com/



(thanks Karin O'Brien for the link and the photo which i totally stole without permission).