Evergreen

FOLLOW THE SUN: It was sunny and nearly 60 degrees - a glorious winter day, in other words.

It's the kids' one official school day of the week, but we spent as much time as possible outside today. The kids played on the playground outside their school and above is a shot of a great stand of trees behind it. 

It was so lovely to stand at the base of these grand evergreens and seen bright blue sky overhead.

After the kids' science and math classes, we ran a couple of errands and then met Christian and enjoyed the sunshine and a couple of board games. First we played Taboo, where CJ has gone from someone almost completely incapable of giving good clues to the guy who whats to be the full time clue giver, so that's an improvement. The game is a great exercise in adjective and adverb usage, really.

Next up was the somewhat silly 'The Worst Case Scenario Survival Game."   Below, CJ's contemplating something like how to drive across quicksand. ...

WE'VE GOT COMPANY:  News from the NASA folks today. The Milky Way just got a bit more crowded.

Actually, it's not really more crowded, it's just that, thanks to NASA planet-hunting telescope Kepler, we now know of 715 (!) newly-discovered planets circling stars other than our sun. Yowza!
                                       
Image: NASA handout

Further, NASA reports that four of the 'new' planets are in habitable zones (where it's not too hot or too cold to host life as we know it). Time to send the welcome wagon?

Just 20 years ago, astronomers had not found any planets outside our solar system. Today, we're at 1,700 plus, and counting. 

Want to know more about the Kepler mission: Check out this neat-o video ... (http://youtu.be/2zO5BdHMnZU)

EVERYWHERE A SIGN: Here's a fun little tool. Thanks to the Hollywood Sign Generator (http://hollywoodsigngenerator.com/), you can take any name or phrase and turn it into the Hollywood sign! 

The utility is run by a group called The Trust for Public Land, which has been campaigning to save Cahuenga Peak. 

MUSICAL: During dinner, we enjoyed music via "Live from the Artists' Den: Mumford and Sons." Really, really wonderful. We were lucky enough to see Mumford and Sons live shortly after their release "Sigh No More" absolutely exploded on the U.S. music scene. Here's a clip from that evening (via YouTube - http://youtu.be/pKVNr1OX3BM


LIGHTS OUT: Check out this image from the Expedition 38 crew on board the International Space Station. To the bottom right of the frame is South Korea. To the upper left is China. That black void in the middle? That's North Korea. 

While you can see some lights from the country's capital, Pyonyang, for the most part the country is kept literally in the dark. Wow.