In which I made it to Mars and back

Yes! I am at the back of the Landfill backyard. I took the compost out today. I did not have to wear Yaktrax or big rubber boots or carry a staff. I. just. walked. In Keen sandals. And dumped the compost. Getting to the back of the back yard the last few weeks was a feat just about equal to traveling to Mars. At least it felt that way. So much ice!

I did a lot of jumping around this morning but sometime in the afternoon, I settled in and finished reading “The Martian”. I shed tears throughout the end albeit mainly of stress. I don’t think Mark Watney would want me to cry over him. Am I ready to watch the mooooovie? Probably not tonight. I parlayed what I thought might be a book hangover into something different, which was to re-read Ray Bradbury’s “The Martian Chronicles”. Why not switch from hard science to poetry?

I read The Martian Chronicles when I was in high school. I remember almost nothing about it except that Martians have golden eyes…

The Martian is totally science. The Martian Chronicles, not so much. Atmosphere on Mars? In The Martian you can’t breathe outside. In the Chronicles, the atmosphere is thin but earthlings can breathe it. Also in the Chronicles, there is/was/whatever a civilization on Mars.

I love both books for what they are and I am having fun reading the chronicles in quick succession after The Martian.

Ray Bradbury represents one my few close encounters with a celebrity. Our YAG theatre group was producing Fahrenheit 451. I was taking community college classes and hanging out at the WCC library before class. I received an email from an friend/assistant of Ray. I was kinda like aaaaaahhhh whaddo I doo… Ray was interested in our production. I carefully replied that it would be best if Ray communicated with our executive director. They did connect to great success. I think Ray wanted to attend one of our performances but was not healthy enough to travel to The Planet Ann Arbor.

Ray is gone and so is YAG (alas) and I miss those days so much. Sometimes…

Love y’all, KW

One Response to “In which I made it to Mars and back”

  1. Margaret Says:

    Reading old sci-fi or watching films, I realize how much we’ve learned over the years. (and how much more there is to find out!) I don’t know if I’ve read very much Bradbury; I was more into Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke.