Fall sky

Last night we were driving back from the recycling center when we noticed this beautiful sky over Keagy Road.  The colors aren't ones that you would expect in an August sky.

The blues were a little deeper blue than the ones we've been seeing.  This morning I took a good look down in the ravine behind the house and detected a number of yellow leaves.

It's pretty hard to believe that we're on the downward slope of summer already.  We've had plenty of heat, but it just doesn't seem like there have been enough days to get us this close to September. 

In driving around Roanoke, it's hard to miss the construction at the Ukrops on Franklin Road and the Keagy Village site.  Then of course there is the Slate Hill project that was profiled in the Roanoke Times today.  The new Panera at Tanglewood Mall is obviously a hit.  It's great to see some new things come to Roanoke.  Yet  I would be even happier if we were making some progress here in the Valley on the job front.

If we want the best and the brightest to stay here, we really need a breakthrough.  I was surprised today to see an announcement that Cape Breton Island, a coal mining region of Nova Scotia in Canada, just landed an amazing development.  The story, "Company planning to build space centre in Cape Breton," is a ray of hope in an area that has battled chronic unemployment.

The report in Wednesday's paper says the project will involve industry giants and could eventually be on scale with huge NASA operations.

Nova Scotia, which confirmed the agreement late Tuesday, could not be happier.

Like New Mexico, which is making a huge investment in a spaceport for commercial use, it envisions virtually unlimited economic spinoffs as private enterprise goes to space.

The company behind the project is PlanetSpace, a partnership between Ontario's Geoff Sheerin and American space and technology entrepreneur Dr. Chirinjeev Kathuria of Chicago.

``We're basically building a private manned space program for Canada,'' Kathuria told the Star. ``The facility will see orbital flights, similar to the Kennedy Space Center.''

Now obviously this project is a long way from creating any jobs.  Yet I wonder how a small Canadian province can reach for the stars while we're fighting over additional grocery stores.  It could be that the Canadians, who are operating with budget surpluses, just have more money to throw at future opportunity.

Now that I think of it, Canada also has universal health care.  Well I guess they know how to spend their dollars better than we do.  Well at least we have a more temperate climate with less snow.

Comments

[Sean Pecor]

Cape Breton is the heart and soul of celtic fiddle music within the Americas. On that island folks still speak with a strong Scottish accent. It's one of the places I plan on visiting before I die.

Sean

[ocracokewaves]

Plan on making more than one visit if you want to actually see it. I know some folks who think it doesn't really exist because everytime they've gone to see it, all they see is a fog bank.

It is truly one of the one most beautiful and rugged spots in North America. The mountains come right down to the sea. Many of the mountain valleys have a very short growing season.

Don't miss the Bras d'Or Lakes.

http://scenicdrive.capebretonisland.com/