Cape Canaveral Thirty Years Ago Yesterday

Mast Poles Sing

Wind generated song

Thirty years has passed like it was yesterday. In fact, at that time, with cargo on the ground at Port Canaveral, my telephone conversation with the port director was interrupted when he said, "I'll call you back, I think the shuttle just blew up!" He was looking out his window at Cape Canaveral as the shuttle lifted off. 

That got me to remembering 9-11 and being at the mail box when the maintenance guy said that the first tower had just collapsed. Rushing back to the apartment, turning on the television just in time to see the updates on the television and then, the collapse of the second tower happened.

On November 22,1963, found me in my high school senior history class when from the principals office, the school PA system started broadcasting the live radio coverage from Dallas of the assassination of President Kennedy with no precursor announcements--just the sound of the broadcast coming into every classroom over all three floors of classes.  My history teacher, lived around the corner of where my first house was purchased twelve years later.

The irony is that if I was not in Dallas, the days event came from Dallas. The Port Canaveral  Port Authority is within eye-sight of what is now called, The Kennedy Space Center, and if that wasn't enough, the link of world trade was also in the mix, so in someway, the three main events in history were tied to either Dallas or world trade, or both, collectively for me. But even more weird was  the fact that when the another shuttle broke up on reentry, it happened right over me here in Dallas with parts landing to the east and slightly south.

Trying to figure out how all this fits together in some logical way still has a piece missing to make it all fit together. Maybe, even a couple of pieces are missing. But, I have worked out odd dreams before. Able to make sense of them, sometimes maybe as much as a year later is an awesome experience within itself. The point is, your brain is wired to answer some of these questions that life ask, but you have to be patient and let you brain work on its own. Then, when you least expect it, you have what I call, "a Eureka Point" and it comes to you as clear as day.

The main point being this: Never give up on learning. Always try to learn something new every day. Look for things that generate new learning, but listen well. Today, I heard song being generated by the wind. I had forgotten that wind could do that. Although, when the Margaret Hunt Hill bridge was under construction, it was pointed out that on super windy days, the cable stays would vibrate from the wind causing sound to be generated. I have listened before but at the size of those bridge cables, it does take a very strong wind to produce any sound at the bridge. Yet, today, the wind was generating song with the vibrating of the stays and between the mast at the marinas at White Rock. I leaned on the hood of the car and listened to the hissing and singing of song coming from every sailboat in dry dock. Over an hour passed when the trance was finally broken and I realized it was time to go start dinner.

On the Great Lakes, it was not so uncommon, but here in Dallas, things had to come together to get that sound and today was the day that nature produced song. I recorded it on my phone. Now, I must find a way to put that recording into a audio file and see if I can upload it here. This might be my new thing to learn for the day. In the meanwhile, here are a couple of shots of the mast at the marinas.