June 15 20321 - Join jeff and Mark in Space

 

It's actually a "spare ticket" and it auctioned for $28 million.  It is an 11-minute trip into suborbital space alongside Jeff Bezos. Jeff will be with his brother Mark, so don't think you'll get some special treatment.  There were 7,600 people from 159 countries who registered to bid in the auction. The Blue Origin flight is expected to take off on July 20th.   Jeff is on the flight because Blue Origin is the rocket venture Bezos founded in 2000. It has spent almost a decade testing New Shepard, the 60-foot-tall rocket and capsule system. It will mark the first time humans have flown aboard the fully autonomous New Shepard vehicle after 15 uncrewed test flights carried out by the company since 2015.  The $28 million price point the ticket sold for is far more than what Blue Origin's direct competitor, Virgin Galactic, has sold its tickets for. Though Galactic has yet to fly paying customers, it has already sold roughly 600 tickets for between $200,000 and $250,000 each. Now I wonder what makes him want a rocket venture?  Shipping things from the Moon to Earth?  Here's a quote from when he was 18 and interviewed as the valedictorian of his high school class: The 18-year-old Bezos said he wanted "to build space hotels, amusement parks and colonies for 2 million or 3 million people who would be in orbit. 'The whole idea is to preserve the earth' he told the newspaper ... The goal was to be able to evacuate humans. The planet would become a park. A happy flower day - this is a Gazania - they open with the sun.

Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Continuing Flower Week with an Uber Ride

The Canada Blooms Show in Toronto is promoted as the largest garden and flower show in Canada - Philadelphia's is the largest in North America.  The trend, however, is that it continues to shrink each year. We toured it in less than an hour.  There were still a few 'Wows!' at the entrance.  The positive news is that the floral design section expands each year.  We saw some familiar faces in the judges' groups and got to say hello.   I wondered what others thought of the show - there are no reviews, just promotional articles explaining what to see.  Theresa Forte's article in the St. Catharines Standard on March 8th listed the workshops and speakers and avoided commenting on how small the show is.  There doesn't seem to be a major sponsor this year, and there were no garden centres represented in the marketplace.  I guess the show has decided to focus on workshops for the family as its main feature, rather than a showcase of garden design.  These are expensive ventures - pools and patios all created in a week and then taken apart after the two week show. We went searching for the Butchart Garden booth to say hello, but it was not present.   I wondered if they might bring news of the Victoria Flower Count.  It completed yesterday, but the total hasn't been announced yet. Our own excitement of the Canada Blooms show this  year was getting to and from the show.  We took Uber rather than driving.  We had three trips - a mix of people and vehicles - we were driven home in a huge Ford truck.  I had to 'fall out' to reach the ground. And the highlight was the amazing tiny restaurant at Spadina and Queen - Aloette - sitting at the bar, watching the chef organize each dish - often with tweezers.