Desert Breath

Discover what this is here.  Makes my little labyrinth in the desert seem like child’s play.

Filed under: Achievement, Art, Culture, Earth, Inspiration, Travel , Art, Danae Stratou, Desert Breath, Egypt, Erosion, Geoglyphs, Greek, Satelite Photo

Name All 50 States in Five Minutes!

I did it with 1 minute and 48 seconds remaining!  Top that!

Filed under: Current Events, Travel, geography , 50 States, Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, quiz, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming

Pooh Sticks

I want in on the annual Pooh Stick’s Championship.  Maybe we should start a local league.

Filed under: Culture, Current Events, Inspiration, Travel , A. A. Milne, competition, England, Fun, Pooh Sticks, Winnie the Pooh

How’s Your Knowledge of North African and Middleastern Geography

Test yourself here.

Filed under: Current Events, Earth, Politics, Travel, geography , Afghanistan, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Chad, Cyprus, Egypt, geography, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Libya, Maili, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikstan, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, U.A.E., Uzbekistan, Western Sahara, Yemen

The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson, Arizona

If you’re ever in the Tucson area, don’t miss the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.  Part zoo, part botatical gardens, part hands on desert experience, the museum is dedicated to learning and teaching all there is to know about the vast Sornoran Desert.  I’ve never had a zoo or gardens experience like it.  The place is outstanding, beautiful, intimate and welcoming.

Filed under: Earth, Inspiration, Nature, Science, Travel , American Kestrel, Arizona, bobcat, botanical gardens, cactus, cardinal, cougar, desert, museum, raven, Saguaro Cactus, serenity, Sonoran Desert, Tucson, wildflowers, zoo

Shoe Tree

Just outside of Toquerville, Utah, on the way to Zion National Park, we discovered this tree full of shoes.  We got a kick out of it.  Hope you do to.  If you’d like to see more of our trip to Arizona, visit The Folks Aren’t Home.

Filed under: Culture, Humor, Travel , curiosity, dangling shoes, Funny, shoe tree, shoes, Toquerville, Travel, Utah

On The Road Again!

This is the scene outside our door this morning, 28 February 2008.  The temperature is 21 degrees farenheit and we’ve had it!  So, its on the road again.  This time we’re bound for Arizona.  Candleman has never been south of the Grand Canyon and we here it is pretty nice down there this time of year.

We expect to be gone six days and hope you’ll join us on our journey as we report in each day.  Unlike our trip to Newfoundland, Booklogged hasn’t had time to plan each day in much detail.  Candleman sprang this on her at short notice.  So if you have suggestions for things to do and places to EAT, please let us know in the comments.  We’re hoping a wet winter has produced abundant wildflowers.  Candleman hopes to extend his quest for the World’s Best Chicken Fried Steak.  We’d like to visit Candleman’s little Navajo sister in Surprise and Booklogged’s sister in Cedar City.  Booklogged’s mother is joining us, but will stay in Cedar while we’re in Arizona.  The birdwatching should be great and the scenery fantastic.  We’ll take lots of pictures.  Probably won’t rate with Arizona Highways magazine, but hey, we’ll try.  Mostly though, we’re looking for a little sunshine and some warmth to ease the rheumatism and gladden the heart.

Maybe, we can even thaw out the trusty Yukon. 

To follow our trip, visit The Folks Aren’t Home!

Filed under: Journal, Travel , Arizona, birding, Cold, Grand Canyon, Phoenix, sunshine, Travel, Tucson, Utah, Warm, wildflowers

A Great Little Geography Challenge

 

My, most geography minded brother-in-law, SpiderWings (aka SpiderTracks) has sent me this great little contest of the mind.  Try it here.  On my first attempt I managed to get 431,782 points, giving me and IQ of 117.  I was pretty pleased with that but was sure disappointed I didn’t get a shot at level 12.  I will try again, probably several times.

Filed under: Earth, Travel , Earth, Map, National Capitals, quiz, Test, Where is...., World, World Geography

How’s This For An Adventure?

 To see more amazing photos of this great pool on the edge of Victoria Falls go to Fogonazos.

Filed under: Culture, Earth, Nature, Outdooring, Travel , Africa, dare devil, Devil's Pool, swimming, Victoria Falls, Zambia, Zimbabwe

A Trip Down Memory Lane

Watch this great video of wonderful memorabilia.  Including several sets of Burma Shave Signs.  The only one I actually remember from my childhood went:  Darling, Dear, your photo came, but your doggone beard won’t fit the frame, Burma Shave.

Filed under: Culture, History, Humor, Travel , advertising, Burma Shave, Humor, memorabilia, memories, nostalgia, road signs, Route 66, Travel

A Remarkable New Innovation – Cars Powered by Compressed Air!

I saw an advertisement for one of these and felt a bit of resentment when they claimed the car was 100% polution free. This is most certainly a false claim in that there is polution involved in the car’s production and also in producing the energy required to compress the air. Even so, it will clearly produce less polution combustion engines and represents some very imaginative thinking.

My Kudos go the the inventers and, as usual, not to the marketers, who like politicians, seem entirely unfettered by truth.

Filed under: Current Events, Earth, Health, Inspiration, Science, Travel , air powered car, economy, environment, future, honest, innovation, invention, polution, transportation

Nanook of the North

My brother has long begged me to watch this movie.  It was filmed in 1921.  The movie follows Nanook and his family as they live their lives in one of the harshest places on earth.  To me, the most remarkable thing is their obvious heartfelt joy!

This is just a bit of the movie. I found it in its entirety, at our local library. It is interesting, compelling, startling and at a fundamental level, inspiring.

Filed under: Architecture, Culture, Earth, Health, History, Inspiration, Relationships, Travel , Arctic Fox, Eskimo, Fishing, Harpooning, Hudson Bay, Husky, Igloo, Inuit, Inuksuk, Joy, Kayak, Pelts, Seal, Survival, Trading, Umiak, Walrus

Scoville Family Cemetery from Google Earth

This past summer, my sweetheart and I went ancestor hunting in Michigan, Ontario and Quebec where I found graves of many of my progenitors.  I just located some of those sites on Google Earth.  Here is a photo of the Scoville Family Cemetery on Scugog Island, near Port Perry, Ontario.  Google Earth Placemark ~GE1568.kmz

Filed under: Family History, History, Relationships, Travel , Ancestors, Canada, Cemetery, Google Earth, Graves, Head Stones, Michigan, Ontario, Quebec, Rebecca Scoville, Scoville, Scugog, Stephen Scoville

Photos Taken At Exactly the Right Angle

Here is a web site with 20 Pictures taken at exactly the right angle.  Very amusing.

Filed under: Art, Culture, Humor, Photography, Travel , Humor, perspective, Photography

Christmas Parols

A Parol is a Christmas Lantern.  They are fundamental to the celebration of Christmas in the Philippines.  Having spent a couple of Christmases in that great land, these were favorites of mine.  I still miss the festive decorations that surrounded the season in the islands. 

My first Christmas there was a bit of a shock.  There was no snow.  There were no evergreens for Christmas trees.  But there were many many things about a tropical Christmas that I will always miss.

In many homes an entire banana stalk was set by the door and banannas given to guests as they ripened through the season.   Back then most of the Christmas trees were abstract art in some variation of a cone shape, often made of string and covered with more traditional ornaments.

There, as here, Jesus Christ, was central to the season.  There, as here, the warmth of love, family, giving and peace.  And celebration of the birth of the King of Kings, brought joy and happiness.

See more about Parols here.

Learn to make a simple Parol here.

Filed under: Culture, Inspiration, Religion, Travel , Bananna, Christmas, Christmas Lantern, Parol, Philippines, Tradition

Everything You Wanted To Know About Your Local Community – and then some…

Have you ever wondered  how many rooms are in the average house in your community?  Me either.  But you can discover those statistics and a whole lot more at City Data.  Their data is so thorough and extensive that I suspect they know how many nose hair’s I’ve plucked in the past 24 hours.  For planning and investigative purposes I suppose this is useful information.  For me though, it seems a lot like Big Brother, or somebody, has his eyes on every little detail of my life.

Filed under: Culture, Politics, Travel

The Top Seven Weirdest Houses

 

These are very interesting and in most cases I think, not very desirable.  I would like to look inside most of them.  Especially the upside down house.  To be livable, it obviously has to be somehow reversed on the inside.  We saw an upside down building in Orlando, but wouldn’t spring for the fee to go inside.

Another nominee for weird houses is a set of condos we saw in Montreal this summer.  Here is a photo of that amazing piece of architecture.

Go to The Folks Aren’t Home to see more of our amazing trip to Newfoundland, the Maritimes, The Great Lakes and New England!

Filed under: Architecture, Culture, Travel , Architecture, Homes, Houses, Montreal, New England, Ontario, Quebec, The Great Lakes, The Maritimes, Travel, Weird