Eventful

             European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano on a Nov. 15 spacewalk - European Space Agency

WHAT A VIEW:  I've been meaning to share this image (above) for about a week now. It's a spectacular shot from last week's spacewalk to service the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS). It's spacewalker Luca Parmitano of the ESA hitching a ride on the International Space Station’s 16-meter robotic arm.  

According to the ESA, the four planned spacewalks to service the AMS are exceptionally difficult, because the bus-sized dark matter detector was not designed to be maintained in space. In order for it to keep operating, its cooling pumps need maintenance, and the first step was assessing if this was even possible. Fortunately, the first exercise went exceedingly well. Luca and NASA astronaut Drew Morgan were able to remove the debris shield covering AMS and install three handrails in the vicinity of AMS ahead of the next steps. In fact, the next spacewalk is scheduled for 22 November. You can view it live on ESA Web TV or NASA TV beginning at 2:30 a.m. Seattle time. 

BOWLED OVER: The last couple of days have been pretty much consumed with preparation for Empty Bowls, an annual community-building and fund-raising event we help host at the kids' former school.

We have been busily folding napkins, making centerpieces, tracking down table runners, putting together a PowerPoint, making posters, oh, and making soup. Lots and lots of soup. We took four different kidns to the event: Lasagna soup, bean with bacon soup, spicy beef and bison chili, and some fruit soup (always a hit with the kids - it's really just a smoothie in a bowl). 

We never really know how these events are going to go - how many people will show up and how many donations of soup, bread and $$ we'll be getting. Fortunately, somehow it always turns out, and yesterday was no exception. 

By the time the event started, there were more than two dozen pots lining the walls of the event room, and there were two mountains of bread of all shapes and types, as well. 

People picked out hand-crafted art bowls and sampled soup in cups while a playlist with songs about helping one another streamed from my phone and over the speakers in the room. 

Everything went well. There were so many tasty soups, and many guests enjoyed multiple samples. When the event was over, we collected the leftovers in Ziploc freezer bags and put them in an ice bath to cool down.

Then, we packaged them up for delivery to a nearby homeless encampment.

Our delivery person reported, "Drop off was great! They were very happy to get the delivery!" So, yay for that. 

Overall, the even was a ton of work.  The kids and I got to the school at 8 a.m. and didn't leave until 2 and worked our tails off during the time there. However, it was time and energy well spent. The final numbers aren't in, but it sounds like we raised about $1000. Those proceeds will be split between Birthday Dreams and Teen Feed.