Sunday Day Off

Deborah and I had breakfast late, for us, together at the hotel. It was the usual industrial afair, but still ‘free’ is still a good flavor. Deborah had the oatmeal, and I always remember the IHG in Georgia that had a sign taped over the oatmeal and brand that said simply, ‘Grits.’ With butter available to add. Excellent. And I also remember the older building in New Hampshire that did not serve breakfast potatoes but had NYC-like bagels. And while I only, despite all my visits, Gold, IHG hotels are comfortable enough for me. Though a balcony on the Le Richelieu in New Orleans cannot be beat (but no breakfast), and there is no IHG in the Quarter.

We headed out later to catch a movie, going slow as I wanted a ‘day off’ from rushing and traveling, but Wicked 2 was sold out, surprising as it has been out for a while. Instead, we went to Deborah’s house, where Trixie was happy to receive hours of pets as we watched Elsbeth’s second season (the show is on season three). Elsbeth is Columbo-style, with the murderer known to the watcher and the story being how the police and Elsbeth finally crack the case. Nathan Lane was a murderous opera goer in the first show. Excellent.

We played Loud Librians, a new game that Deborah received for Christmas. We call out words that start with a letter in a chain, and according to a card like ‘Mexican Food,’ for example. It was hard to think of some words with three letters on the chain to the topic. Deborah won with my score half of her’s or less. Still, it was fun and got your brain working after being drowned in drink and holiday food. The dark and gray weather, which rained most of the day, sometimes heavily, made it a slow and sleepy day.

Pizza (mushrooms with meat) was delivered for dinner on a thin crust, and it was excellent. More Elsbeth, while Deborah’s boys stirred; they had a holiday party and then picked up the house after (it looked good) and had little, if any sleep (plus the effects of booze and holiday foods).

Deborah returned me to my hotel in the evening and then got a note about seeing, after the New Year, a display on the creatures (monsters) before the dinosaurs. I then spent an hour on the Permian and the Great Dying, the worst of the five great extinction events, 251.8 million years ago (we have exact dating, an update I did not know).

Utah shows some of the remains of the supercontinent Pangea (it has weathered to that level in places), and the Great Dying is evident in rock layers above a Permian coal seam. Not sure, I could find it on a pile of dirt in Utah, but I suspect it is pointed out in some parks there with signs. We expect to be in Utah in April-March on Deborah’s biz trip (though, like most biz trips, it is always speculative), so maybe we can walk some of Permian and Pangea when we are there. Something to watch for if we get there.

I read more on Wikipedia and remembered to make my annual donation, which includes many theories and discusses their acceptance and disputes. Generally, it is accepted that volcanic flows in what is now Russia lasted for a million years and destroyed most of Earth’s life. It is not known whether something caused the flows (e.g., a meteor hit) or whether another related runaway process poisoned the earth, possibly triggered by the metals released into the lava seas that covered the land. Rich deposits of iron and nickel in Russia are found in the lava flows.

I had not returned to this topic in years, and I was fascinated by the new work and the theories.

It was after 10 before I put on my PJs and curled up, and was going to think about some Dungeons and Dragons design, but fell right to sleep. I woke once and fell back asleep. I woke to my alarm, all my dreams forgotten, but I imagine I walked Pangea as a tourist in my dreams.

Thanks for reading!