Zima and I watched the fireworks from a mountaintop last night. I did a lot of
oohing and ahhing, she did a lot of yipping and yowling.

Lesson: Beauty is in the ear of the beholder.

P.S. Plenty of earthquake fireworks over the past several days too. The Mw 6.5
in the Northern Mariana Isl. appears to have triggered a strong swarm in the
region south of Honshu, Japan. This is exactly what happened when the last
large earthquake hit the Northern Marianas in March 2000 (Mw 7.6). It was
followed by a swarm of earthquakes at the same location as those currently
occurring south of Honshu. These led to some volcanism in the area and evacuations.
The swarm and volcanism gradually died out. It appears there is a strong connection
between these two points on the western Pacific Subduction zone.
A Mw 6.6 also occurred this morning as an aftershock in Peru and a Mw 6.5
in the Fiji Islands yesterday. Quite an active period right now.