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Showing posts from July, 2013

Crater Lake National Park

This weekend we drove another 1,000 miles to seek out another natural wonder.  Crater Lake inside the Cascade Range in southeast Oregon. Deepest lake in the USofA at around 1,900 feet max depth is the cleanest and purest of freshwater lakes in the country.   Pictures will tell the tale, Fairly crowded for what is relatively a remote location in the middle of nowhere.... temps topped out in the high 80s so the ice cold water felt good when we got to the bottom - only one trail gets you there - at the north end of the lake. Looking north across the lake at the almost perfect circle which is the caldera formed of a now extinct volcano      Spotted few hummingbirds, local noise makers and some curious rodents including one marmot.  Below is a curious ground squirrel ..    can you share something with me? The waters around the island in the lake are amazing shades of aquamarine...   Some friends we made...     Plakini Falls to the south of

Cover to Cover

Right - that is what people refer to when they read though something word for word, cover to cover.  But think about what that really means?  It could simply mean that you read just the covers, both front and back - went right from the front to the back still on the cover.  What is inside is implied but not mandatory. Thusly there is born the concept of the Cover Up.  What did you actually read/say/do?  There is a big cover up.  Reporters try to cover the cover ups if you know what I mean.  Covering people, celebs mostly along with rituals and trials and tribulations they also sometimes uncover what someone was trying to cover up. Some uncover the fact that some were not covered up - like the recent epsiode with the royals.   Some members of that species were found quite without cover and that uncovering by the media made them want to cover it up.  The story not themselves. When I read about all the uncovering of new cover ups and the rush to make the cover of the respective maga

Fun with words

As we sat eating Ray's ice cream in a burb of Michigan, I realized that it was technically not Ray's ice cream since I just paid for it.  Now it was mine and I am not Ray.  But beyond that silly argument I also realized that Ray's - the sound itself - could mean completely opposite things. Razing a forest is quite different than raising a tree.  Raising trees could block some rays from reaching said ground.  A vine on the ground could be raised to yield grapes that could one day be raisin. So to raise raisins you need plenty of rays and no razing of said grounds.   Razor sharp focus on raising produce could raze hunger from the planet. Rampant grazing can cause razing of productive vines leading to loss of raisin. I will stop here before I lose my mind.

Kabhi bhi aao

When we live away from our native land we adapt.  Foods, languages, culture, idiosyncrasies the whole lot.  But when you end up clinging to food that is complex and unique to your upbringing either voluntarily or because of your family's desire to rely on it as a staple source of nutrition you seek out the needful. So recently we discovered a Roti ( a flatbread native to India) making outfit in the nearby burbs that sells them out of their home.  It was an odd advert in a local paper that caught my eye which mentioned freshly made Rotis at a competitive price of 30 cents a piece.  Get as many as you need. I called and knowing it would be a home maker with some English language skills to conduct basic transactions hopefully waited for the ph to be answered.  No luck after what seemed like infinite rings so hung up.  What - no voicemail? This was consistent with how these outfits operate - customer in need calls back when desperate.  So I did again and this time was rewarded by

With the Arches and Gates

Sort of a Wodehousian title but its not a couple of fogeys I invited for tea.  Instead its the summation of our five state Independence Day holiday break.  America celebrated its July 4th - its 237th birthday with fireworks everywhere you looked.   Including humanity everywhere you looked, looking at the fireworks. For us it was another 4,000 miles of flying coupled with 2,000 miles of interstate driving to gape at man made wonders - including amazing fireworks exploding all week long - the turbulent weather in the region made for cities firing up to keep ahead of the impending storms so we enjoyed the displays almost one a day - in different towns - I guess we knew how to chase off the storms (as opposed to chase them). The little one put a list together - this time wanting to check out a few sights in the midwest including the 'Saint Louis Gateway Arch' and the relatively recent addition to the Chicago skyline - in the form of a stainless steel sculpture that looks like