Thursday, July 21, 2016

Craft Barn's latest challenge: alpha letter N


The latest Craft Barn alpha dictionary letter is N.  There are no twists which means we can use any word that begins with the letter N.

I want to begin by thanking everyone who visited last time.  I was unfortunately unable to visit due to 1) first being offline for six days because both my phone and internet (served by AT&T) were out due to a flood we had in the neighborhood, and 2) once I was back online, I was (and still am) cleaning up a flood that took out much of the paper and books that I had stored in the basement.  The clean-up became more important than anything else because of potential mold which would affect my breathing if it wasn't dealt with immediately.  It's ironic, too, that I won the random number challenge on the fortnight I couldn't visit everyone.

So now let's get to this fortnight's challenge.

I considered lots of words, but finally settled on NASA, the U.S.A.'s National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

This is a program that is very near and dear to me because like many young girls, I wanted to grab a ticket and take that same space flight as Sally Ride did twice in her career as a NASA astronaut.

When most of us think of NASA, we think of the space aspect of NASA.   But there is another area of NASA, which is the Jet Propulsion Laboratory or JPL.  Attached to CalTech (or California Institute of Technology), one of its many functions is robotics.  Another is receiving data from spacecraft.

Back in October, 2001, I was privy to seeing some of the first images that were being sent by the orbiting Mars Odyssey.  I have been told there are tours you can take, but I was there as a friend of one of the engineers who worked on the design of the Odyssey.  He and the rest of the group were celebrating the first successful mission photos.  I even got to meet the new director of JPL, Charles Elachi.  I understand he has just stepped down as director after 16 years.

My dictionary definition is really sparse, but since it's a legitimate word, I'm using it.  The special significance is very important to me.

Thank you for your visit and your continued support of my art.  And I promise to visit each participant this time, even though I have limited time to do so.  As a group, I have made several friends because of this challenge and I want you to know I am sorry I missed your entry last time.

18 thoughtful remarks:

Valerie-Jael said...

Wonderful page and a great choice of word, and it's always great to be able to choose something that has a special meaning for you. Have a lovely day, hugs, Valerie

Elaine said...

Fantastic page and story. I do hope you didn't lose too much stuff in your flood. Elaine x

hazel said...

A fabulous page and a great word to pick.
xxx Hazel.

Pen Sunshinepen said...

Wow what a great idea... love your page. x

Meggymay said...

Its a great word choice for your wonderful page and lucky you to have been able to visit the HQ.
Yvonne xx

My name is Erika. said...

Cool. I love your page and your story. I bet seeing those images was really exciting and probably not edited like the few that made it out onto the news. What a great story. :) Hugs-Erika

Sandra Cox said...

Nasa is a great N word!
I'm so sorry about the flooding. Hope it's all in the rear view mirror.

~*~Patty S said...

Very cool AND meaningful word for your N choice Elizabeth.
Very exciting for you to have an inside look at things.
oxo

Rita said...

I was there about 30 years ago when Dagan was 11 or 12. He loved it! Was very interesting. You don't hear much about us and space anymore.

Julia said...

Wow! What a great story. The page is great and how good was that to make a page with special significance. I loved this story.

Craftyfield said...

Great page Elizabeth, all the better for being personal.
Don't sweat the blog visits, we all have periods in life when time is short, quite frankly a flood is rather high on the list!
BTW the bird and foliage are from the paper (Prima) I used to create my page. It couldn't have been easier...

froebelsternchen said...

A great word and you made a perfect page !!!

gardenpinks said...

A fantastic word choice and page Elizabeth. So very sorry you have had to cope with floods, do hope you haven't lost anything irreplaceable. Not a nice thing to have to deal with. Hugs

Let's Art Journal said...

Spectacular page and a great way to capture all your fabulous memories! I love that it means so much to you and that you chose to share this with us, thank you! J :-)

Crafty Claire said...

A great page and a lovely personal story which makes it even more meaningful xxx

Crafty Claire said...

A great page and a lovely personal story which makes it even more meaningful xx

pearshapedcrafting said...

Wow Elizabeth - what great entry for you with so many memories attached! Oh! How I wish we could get together and chat!! Big Hugs, Chrisx

maggie said...

A great page recording memories of a special day.