Musings

Google Earth image of Abbotsbury Swannery lagoon, with mute swan-dots.

These days I often explore the world using Google Earth (free free free!), spurred by something I read somewhere—cheap trips, no?

Today I noticed mention of the Abbotsbury Swannery in a NYTimes article by Donald G. McNeil Jr. on the global avian flu virus situation (check the sidebar graphic, too). First, on the flu, yup, it’s still a problem, and is now endemic in parts of Egypt, Indonesia, and Nigeria, and probably also in China, Vietnam and Bangladesh—that’s two continents, and multiple flyways. The virus is adept at mutating, and scientists have already identified “10 clades and hundreds of variants”—makes you look a bit warily at those migrating birds overhead….

I’d never heard of a swannery before, and that the Abbotsbury (Dorset, UK) one dated back to the 11th century, well, geeze, my hand was instantly conflicted about whether to google the Swannery or search out the Google Earth icon first! Cleverly, I set GE app to opening while googling for info…. I found a tourist listing, including a photo of a recoverd bomb (looks like a huge black round, well, egg, given its display location at the Swannery!), and, no surprise, a Wikipedia entry, which has a lovely picture of downy mute swan cygnets.

The Google Earth picture is from the green season, and white swan-dots are along the shoreline and floating on the lagoon, and while there are a few swan and beach pictures from Panoramio, most of the nearby Google Earth Community links are to shoreline and bluff “pillbox” fortifications, I assume from WWII.

And, yup, the Wiki-people are alert; there’s mention of the avian flu showing up at the Swannery less than ago….

I love that this travel contributes nothing to my carbon footprint and removes nothing from my savings account….

Posted at 1:57 PM | Comments Off on Green “travel”

BTW, I’ve added a couple of new, winter-appropriate recipes….

You might enjoy James’ Borscht Stew, if you’re up for spending more time cooking, or a fast-meal of soup—with myriad variations—I just developed.

Posted at 4:33 PM | 1 Comment »

Lots of MLK Day events around this town, and around the country…. This is one of my all-time favorite statues, especially when viewed against a black-night sky…. The sculptor is Xavier Medina-Campeny, and he calls the piece “Homage to King” (lower left image on his website).

Posted at 2:33 PM | Comments Off on Public art

Sometimes the best food comes in unassuming packages. Tonight we ventured into the cold (for here) and had the Family Style Dinner (and more) at Nicola’s, a Lebanese restaurant not far from here. Excellent.

And the best part was when Nicola himself came out and danced, first with this youngster, then with me, then with the belly dancers! Nicola is so smooth on his feet that he can balance a glass of wine, or, here, a kid-cup, on his head without it moving one bit as he gyrates!

Nicola came out first with a tray with a lit birthday cakelet for this kid’s table, and danced a bit, then danced down to his knees, still balancing the burning cake-and-candles, then gestured to the adult b-day celebrant to blow out the candle. As the guest bent forward to do so, Nicola bent backward, more and more, until the guy finally had to get up to blow out the candles! What fun!

Posted at 10:22 PM | 2 Comments »

All the way into ATL, the light-up signs warned of snow-terror!

Today found us on the road, making the final trek into ATL, mostly avoiding I-75, instead following routes that took us west of Lake Cumberland and east of Chattanooga (oh, darn, we missed Chattanooga). Awaiting us in the northern suburbs of ATL: snow on the ground (and dry roads). Yup, a few airborne flakes, too!

Right now it’s bitterly cold in Michigan, so homebound seems great (wise, even!), although already we can anticipate the irrational “city paralyzed!” situation common to the South under these weather conditions…. Trust me, many churches will cancel services tomorrow, while the sun will blaze and almost all roads will be passable, even at 6 am (long before parishioners will be on the road)….

Posted at 10:02 PM | 2 Comments »

Sorree, low light (and all that)….

Today we finally had the opportunity to watch a leetle kid spend some time with the XO, and she explored, particularly enjoying the Turtle drawing app. I have to admit that our test subject also switched back to a handy Mac laptop after a while….

Once again, great times in Lexington KY….

Posted at 10:22 PM | 2 Comments »

As the link mentions, the bookstore is in the former Advance Gloves building….

My bonus for forgetting my passport (which meant I couldn’t travel with JCB to Windsor to do errands, including snagging a case of Tanqueray in a lower proof than available in the US of A for my FIL) was several hours browsing in John King Books, the (almost) original downtown Detroit location. I wandered the first and second floors, skipped the third floor (looked like all fiction), and climbed to the fourth. I had my heavy coat. Ya gotta love a bookstore with limited heating and lights over each aisle that you turn on while you’re there and off when you leave.

I behaved myself and only snagged seven volumes; that’s restraint!

And, no, I didn’t see Jay Leno or Teller in the stacks….

Posted at 10:22 PM | 6 Comments »

If the tree is just a tree…

…then the predawn sky highlights the asymmetry of this aged sentinel, perhaps spurring a desire to compose a haiku….

[FYI, some time ago my BIL, James Burns, posted a fun haiku widget….]

If the tree is a metaphor…

…then look how much tree-ness survives even when the main trunk is decimated…and, similarly, arthritis may slow me down, but I’m still me.

[Aw, heck, I had an idea for this when I started, but somehow I ended up with a lame finish here, no pun intended!]

And, by the way, beam B-day wishes toward Planet A-Squared!

Posted at 4:48 PM | Comments Off on Tree-ness

I keep saying that the thing I am most happy I don’t have to experience about Northern winters is the slush/ice that piles up behind the tires on your vehicle and on your footwear. I think that’s still true.

Fortunately, the sun came out for a bit this morning to light up the new-fallen solid precip, and I could ignore the slush now hanging from the Prius, fresh from it’s 10K visit to the local Toy___ dealer….

By the way, that odd layer of branches in the right foreground is the Botanist slyly working against Mother Nature to retain extra moisture in the strawberry bed.

Posted at 5:04 PM | 2 Comments »

If you don’t like the weather in [insert placename here], wait [insert duration here] minutes.

In this case, East Lansing’s afternoon rotated through overcast, almost sun, and snow flurries several times, while gusts sometimes unfurled the flag completely.

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Weather flip-flops