I just haven't had any time to post in here or anywhere. It's almost midnight right now and I need to be in bed but I wanted to say hello and let you all know I am reading all your blogs but just don't have any leftover time to do my own! I guess I could stop reading and start typing instead.
I have been so busy with work, which is a very good thing, that I don't get the time to edit my images that I want to post either. I never did get the March,and May walks and flowers done. OH well.
As those of you who do watch or follow hockey know, the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup on June 4th. It was really amazing to watch the 6th and final game at the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh.
I was so happy, jumping up and down while the dog looked at me like I had lost a few marbles. I don't care. It's the first cup we have won since 2002 and I was HAPPY!!
Here are some shots from the celebration on the ice and during the parade that followed on Friday:
Lindstrom gets the cup from Bettman. Nick Lindstrom is the first European Captain in the NHL to win the Stanley Cup.
Head Coach Mike Babcock hoists his first cup ever.
Dallas Drake holds the Cup for the first time in his 16 yr career.
I think this is Dan Cleary's first Cup ever also.
Veteran player Chris Chelios lifts the Cup.
Darren McCarty and Cup. Mac was a Wing when they won the Cup in 2002 and he just came back.
Hank Zetterberg's first Cup ever. A lot of firsts on this team!
Chris Osgood (Ozzie) and the Cup. One happy Goalie!
Captain Nick Lindstrom skates with the Cup.
Hank Zetterberg and the Con Smythe Trophy he won.
Nick and the sign that says it all-Hockeytown.
This is during the parade that Detroit puts on for the team and the Cup.
Team photo on the ice with the Cup. Nick is holding it up.
Well that is about all I have time for tonight. It was a great accomplishment for this team and they are truly a dynasty now.
So says most of the online reads.
I can only say that I was hoarse from yelling and have never doubted that they would win this year.
It makes the summer interim almost bearable to be without hockey. I am not thanks to DrDog but I mean new games.
I said almost......
Until I have a few more minutes and it's not tomorrow, good night and I will be seeing you on your blogs!
Someone will most likely put a damper on this with some random factoid for me but for now this makes me very happy! This guy has invented a way to, well, watch the video and find out for yourself!
Totally amazing!
Yes that is a lot of exclamation points but this is very exciting. I still haven't had time to mess with my other photos but soon, very soon.
In the meantime, the RED WINGS won their first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs and are on to ROUND TWO!! WAHOOOOO!!!
To let everyone know I am alive and buried up to my eyebrows in projects and web sites that are SCREAMING to get done before the end of the semester here at the college. I have taken a pile of pictures of the redbuds in bloom here and other stuff but have NO time to resize and upload to photobucket to post in here.
So on that note,,, just be informed that some awesomely beautiful (the images not my photography) are on their way as soon as I get some breathing space.
Soon... The last day of school is April 25 and I have math online until May 7th but it won't be as tough for just the one class. So that is the latest news and I am reading all posts but not responding to all of them. Part of the reason is I read them at school and cannot log in all the time there.
Just so you know...
Love and huggggsssssssss to all!!!!!
This is a link to a very short video of a homeless guy in Santa Barbara,
California, and his pets. You can see these guys every week working State St. for donations.
The animals are pretty well fed and mellow. They are a family.
The man who owns them rigged a harness up for his cat so she wouldn't have to walk so much (as the dog and he do). At some juncture the rat came
along, and as no one wanted to eat anyone else, the rat started riding
with the cat—and often, on the cat!
The dog will stand all day and let you talk to him and admire his
altruistic "we are one" personality for a few chin scratches.
The Mayor of Santa Barbara filmed this clip and sent it out as a
Christmas card.
Pretty amazing isn't it? Especially since the rat just 'showed up'? Since it's not a street (wharf) rat it looks like someone's lost pet to me...The music is pretty cheesy but oh well...
I'm just sayin'...
Obviously the Zenn, with all its good intentions, was a flop due to its very limited range.
Well here is the most realistically futuristic car I have ever seen.
It is the future I will surmise...What do you think?
You guys probably know that I am not a political person, but when I watched this just now on Eclectablog's blog, well, I was blown away. All I could think of was how proud my Mom would have been. She hated Bush with a passion and was a pretty outspoken Democrat.
So I am going to re-post this so the word gets out.
I got this video from a Canadian friend of mine via facebook.
I am quite fascinated with this car and would buy one if I had the money to do so.
This video is pretty funny in a tongue and cheek sort of way.
Tell me what you think of a car like this for $12,000. The closest one to it I have seen is the Tesla which is a gorgeous car but costs over $100K.. This is actually an affordable, if not pretty looking, alternative.
And they are made in Canada but illegal to sell and drive there. Something is wrong with this picture....
Last NHL player to play without a helmet:
Craig MacTavish, St. Louis 1996-1997
First NHL player to play with a helmet:
George Owen, Boston 1929
wore his leather football helmet
First NHL team to all play with helmets:
Boston Bruins, 4 January 1934
After seeing their defenseman, Eddie Shore fracture Ace Bailey's skull in a simple bodycheck gone wrong. They wore their leather helmets for the first time in a game where they were defeated by the Ottawa Senatore 9-2.
First goalie to wear a mask:
Clint Benedict, Montreal Maroons, January 1930
wore a leather mask for several games after a broken cheekbone but stopped wearing one due to obstructed vision on low shots.
First NHL goalie to play with a helmet regularly:
Jacques Plante, Montreal, 1959-1960
Made his own fibreglass mask
Last NHL goalie to play without a helmet:
Andy Brown, Pittsburgh, 7 April 1974
First NHL goalie to decorate his mask:
Gerry Cheevers, Boston, 1967-1968
Cheevers painted his mask with black stitch marks as a joke after Fred Stanfield scratched his mask in practice.
****************************************************'
I just watched a game with Craig MacTavish playing without a helmet. It was the last season he played with the Blues and he looked pretty funny out there without a helmet in a sea of helmeted hockey players.
Here is another TED talk I watched tonight. I really enjoyed this and just might have to buy myself this game when it finally debuts.
This guy is pretty amazing, He is the creator of the Sims series, Sim City and then the Sims.
Let me know what you think of this game after you watch this.
When are we going to get some smilies for our own posts?
:@
Not much to report around here at the moment. School is out for three weeks and I am going to get some much needed rest, walking and web work done.
In the meantime, since I am tired, are some cool quotes I found.
Carl Jung
Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol, morphine or idealism.
Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to a better understanding of ourselves.
The healthy man does not torture others - generally it is the tortured who turn into torturers.
We cannot change anything unless we accept it. Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses.
The least of things with a meaning is worth more in life than the greatest of things without it.
Where love rules, there is no will to power, and where power predominates, love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other.
====================
I used to think that the brain was the most wonderful organ in my body. Then I realized who was telling me this.
Emo Phillips
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The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear.
Aung San Suu Kyi (1945 - )
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Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.
Redd Foxx (1922 - 1991)
===================
The best defense against the atom bomb is not to be there when it goes off.
Anonymous
Absence sharpens love, presence strengthens it.
English Proverb
From the errors of others a wise man corrects his own.
Pubilius Syrus
==================
OK that's enough for now. I am tired and still have a project to finish.
Enjoy!
Hey my photo of the Red Wings that I took in San Jose back in 2003 was officially included into Scmaps Detroit Guide. This widget at the right hand bottom of the page is a link to it. Scroll through the photos on the Red Wings link and you can see my photo with the credit of 'photo by hockeyblades' on it.
I am in a bit of a hurry but I saw this and had to share it.
It is the unlikely friendship between a crow and a kitten.
Yes you read that right, a crow and a kitten.
Watch it and you will see what I mean..
Amazing isn't it? There are still wonders in our world left to behold....
I apologize for my absence but school and work has got me by the nose and I am just swamped.
So in the interim, until I can post a decent post that is,
here is a reminder of something special and magical in the world~ The transformation and goose-pimple raising sweet, sweet voice of Paul Potts.
You might be wondering what that tall, white, animated gif is to the left of my blog, or you might not care either. Either way you knew I would tell you eventually.
I had a friend send me a link to a web site where Yoko Ono, you know, John Lennon's widow, has created a tower of light for the good people of Iceland.
Now I am all in favor of light, but I was curious how something that is supposed to be promoting peace and ecology can be energy saving when it's given off tons of light. Well the answer is that they (the good people of Iceland) are using water to harness as their energy source to create light,etc. That is about all they have, is water. It surrounds them. It falls off of hills and sprays into the sky.
Apparently Yoko decided to finally build this tower of light to commemorate John's 67th (would have been) birthday on October 9th, which just-so-happens to also be his son Sean's birthday too.
Ringo, Olivia Harrison (George's widow) and some other famously famous people were there for the unveiling.
So they build this tower- that John wanted Yoko to build in his garden back in 1967- In Iceland because the Icelanders said yes and because they run mostly on water power. I never did read what is powering the 63 or however many lights are illuminating this thing, but hopefully it is water power. It is Quite Amazing, however, shooting up into the sky and converging with the clouds where the light then bends and takes on a form all its own.
In that respect alone, I consider this a beautiful piece of art. In the respect of what energy it takes to run it, the jury is still out. It is supposed to be on every year on John's BD and on the day of his death, Dec 8th. Yoko said the Icelanders like that because it gets dark in Iceland in the winter. Ya ok. If that was the case, why didn't THEY build a tower of light? Ah, it was Yoko's money that was the green source I am sure.....But the tower and her purpose is not the light but the message of Imagining Peace. So Image Peace is written in 24 languages around the base of the light and there is room for about 12 more she said in an interview with Democracy Now!. Here is the video with the tower.
I am glad that Yoko is still campaigning for John's heart and peace.
Namaste and Shanti to you Yoko!
Well on another note:
I went over to my beautiful daughter's house to show her how to use my Mom's sewing machine. My Dad shipped it down here from Salem Ore. for Jemma to learn to sew. Now back when I was in 7th grade (yes a long time ago!! 1967!!) we had a two part 'home economics class'. I don't know why it was called that, but it was nonetheless. In the first part of the semester we learned how to cook. (I already knew how having been a latch-key kid since I was 8 yrs old or younger) and the second half was how to sew. I learned how to make a skirt, put in a zipper, etc.
It was quite an intense class for me since my Mom used to tell us she didn't know how to thread a needle. (Not true)
So nowadays, being how HomeEc has been gone for many years, you have to learn to sew on a machine by taking a class somewhere, or by osmosis or by having a friend/relative teach you.
In this busy world today of working mothers and single mothers, it is hard to teach your kids these things sometimes. When I got home from wrestling with and lifting about 30 dogs, 25 cats, prepping for 15 surgeries, doing blood work for about half of those and taking xrays of 5 uncooperative, 95 lb dogs and two hissing cats, sewing or teaching someone to sew or cook was the last thing on my mind, believe me. And that was on a good day!!
So my daughter never even has seen my old, very, very, old, sewing machine.
She also never learned how to cook a lot of different things because once she was old enough to learn, she wasn't interested. Then.
Now she wants to learn- which means there are times I have to schlep my self all the way back to her house which is right by the college and a good 25 minute drive from my house.
Anyway, I did go over there about 6 months ago and taught her to make our family recipe Banana Chocolate Chip cake. Today,she handed me a little mini-loaf wrapped in blue cellophane. I opened it up and smelled it, then cut myself a piece.
It was divine!! I said "Jemma, you not only did the family proud with this cake, but you surpassed even mine!" She was pretty happy with that. She made the most delicious, moist, tender and delectable BCC cake I have yet to eat.
And that was her first one ever!
So in honor of my daughter's first wonderful cake, here is the recipe for all of you:
Ingredients
2 1/2 flour-I use half gluten free and half oat or rye.
1 cup honey (can use less)
2 eggs
4-5 RIPE bananas (all-brown peels means they are ripe and ready)
1/4 cup olive oil (instead of shortening)
1/2 c. yogurt (vanilla low fat is best)
1 teas. vanilla extract
1 teas. cinnamon (optional)
1/2 teas salt
1 1/4 teas. baking powder
1 teas. baking soda.
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cups chopped walnuts (optional)
1/2 cup mint chocolate chips (my favorite but optional)
Procedure
Preheat oven to 350 degrees while making. Oil and flour a bundt pan or any deep pan. Mix all dry ingredients (except chips and nuts) together first, then add the wet. Blend on low (or by hand) for about 4 minutes until well mixed. Add chips and walnuts and fold in. Pour into pan and bake for 30- 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Enjoy!! (this cake will freeze pretty well)
Serving Information
* Serves: 6-10 depending on the piece cut!
* Fat: 2.0 g
* Calories: 230/serving
********************************************
So with that, I am off to lie on some ice since I hurt my back again somehow yesterday. Bad enough that I need my cane and that is BAD.
Enjoy your Sunday and let me know if any of you try the cake what you think of it.
Ciao!
This is a medium sulphur crested Eleanora cockatoo named Snowball. I was sent this from a friend and it was posted on a bird rescue site. Well it has made its way to youtube (of course) so I wanted to share it with everyone. This bird really has some leg moves. I often wonder if they truly like to dance or if this is a reaction to the music in a not so good way? That's a lot of noise for those tiny ears.
Just a vet tech's worries I guess. Anyway, check him out, he is really cute.
The original post is here on blogger:
http://birdloversonly.blogspot.com/2...dance.html
This video is really amazing. I have seen these images and read this before, but the video brings it closer to 'home' and makes it more awe-inspiring.
Look at this then look at it again and think about it.
Keith I love you for making this entry box so much like our old one! You are the ultimate DUDE!!
On other fronts I had my algebra class switched till next March which gives me time to learn algebra instead of crying through a class having no clue what to do.
I am now in American Art History instead which is awesome.
Hockey season is in full swing and I am a happy camper!
Need I say more?
TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.
This is a quote from the TED page to let you all know what TED is. IT is basically a meeting of some of the most brilliant minds in our world, from all over our world. These are the ones that have been out there-places we have not. They have seen what we have not(most of us anyway).
They bring to us the wider , bigger picture, which-although it may not be pretty, or comfortable in viewing, is the REALITY of the world right now.
Is there hope for us? Is there hope for our planet?
I spent over 20 years of my life in a religion based on neutrality. Neutrality of politics, of societal ills, of many things that we looked to "God" for the fixing of. Now I am here to tell you some things no one else knows about me. Why am I making this public? Why not. It doesn't really matter in the long run.
Here is what I believe today. I still believe that mankind will not solve most of the major problems we are facing on a global scale. Why? Because of greed, personal gain and the fact that it will always battle the good in others. I do believe, however, that for the most part, mankind has a lot of good in them still, and that people in general, are good inside.
I believe that even if the odds of us getting rid of poverty, homelessness, anger, pain, crime, and the worst to me, the destruction of the environment and the animal world, is very slim by ourselves, I still think that we should all do our part and maybe even someone else's- in making a difference, in trying to live with as Jane Goodall put it, "the lightest imprint on the planet" that we can. I still believe we should recycle everything we can, even if it's not going to pay you.( I do!) I believe that we should also not be quiet about it but that we should be letting others know, in a nice way if possible, that what we see them doing might be harmful to the planet. I think we should encourage with love the betterment of our homes, our neighborhoods, our towns, our cities and our states. We should care. If we don't care, then what right do we have to bring children into our filth, our pollution, our indifference?
Indifference is the worst. Apathy, looking the other way, whatever you want to call it. It is the "not my problem" attitude.
I still believe that the people that are elected are not going to do much more than what is being done now. In my country, the USA, the poeple that are making the most differences, are NOT the elected officials, but the smaller people that are doing the work, walking the walk not just spouting the talk. People like Robert Kennedy Jr who is legally fighting the worst polluters in our country. People like eclectablog who is a vegetarian which leaves a way smaller imprint on the earth. There are many others I do not know well that are doing what they can too, to make the world, our home, cleaner, healthier and sustainable.
The earth was made to grow food and feed us, mostly by means of vegetation. Now I am not going to scold others for their food choices, but after watching Earthlings, and being sick for days afterwards, I am now reducing even my chicken consumption to almost zero. I haven't eaten ANY red meat in over 35 years so no problem there, but I do love chicken and fish. Going even more vegetarian won't hurt me in the least.
My beliefs really mean nothing to anyone to me and that is fine. I am not involved in that religion for other reasons right now and haven't been for over 7 years but my love of God as I know him, my personal beliefs are still what they are, regardless of whether or not I go to a particular building.
So I am going to leave you with Jane Goodall's view of the future, complete with a greeting in Chimpanzee. I hope you will think about what she says. The very end of her talk is the most poignant part.
Thanks for watching and thanks even more for thinking about what you can do to make this earth a little better place.
Well, bored is what I feel, boring is what I am. I am one to never, ever get bored in life and the last two weeks of constant care of my daughter (she had foot surgery) and doing some web work,and homework- has left me housebound more than ever and it's driving me NUTS!!
On top of all of that, my little red car was crunched by some old geezer at the store who backed out and took out my two doors and part of my bumper and then just left!! HIT AND RUN!!
I was so hopping mad I wanted to clobber someone!! I was at the store at 7 am and there was all of 5 of us in there- and the other 4 were all elderly. I let this 85 + yr old man go ahead of me in line as he turns to me and says he is going first. Geesh! So he left before me and that's when he probably did the deed.
The good news is that the insurance company deemed me 0% at fault so it will get fixed with no increase in my rates.And it's going to cost a lot.
They have to replace both door panels and take off the bumper and repaint the whole thing-replace the rubber strips on the doors and repaint them.
Ya, the guy did a number on the car. Here are some shots.
full on side shot of both doors.
close up of dent.
the other pics are redundant however I didn't even see the bumper damage until the damage assessor showed it to me. Duh!
On a brighter note I did have a great visit with my Dad and my niece and her two girls came over for a day. We went to the craft fair in Twain Harte-where I hang out a lot. It was quite fun. Here are some shots of the family as we ate at the Rock and walked around.
some cool pottery we saw
My great-nieces got their little faces painted.
My beautiful niece and Poppa as we all call him (my Mom's husband of 35 years)
a gorgeous blue pottery vase. (I want it!!)
My son Josh at the Rock being himself.
A bitchin' cool Cobra at the little car show they have there.
the predecessor of my fave car.
This is my daughter Jemma and an old friend of mine named Zane Orr. Zane is kind of a legend around here. He started the first stage coach in Columbia State park when it was started in 1968 and also ran the stables. Then he sold it all and went back to being a farrier. (Horseshoer for you city folk)He started doing my horse's feet back in 1980 when I was still pregnant with my son Josh (see above).
I see Zane now and then at the local coffee shop. He is a wonderful and sweet man. Jemma is dressed in her "little house on the prairie" dress because she was working at the old time photo studio in Columbia State Park, one of the busiest attractions there. You dress up as a floozy, a Special lady or a gunslinger mama and if you are a guy you can be a soldier (Blue or Gray) or a gentleman, card shark or a cowboy. Then they help pose you and you get your picture taken and it's in sepia so it looks really old. I would post ours but I look so terrible in them I don't want anyone to see them.
And lastly, here are some bootiful zinnias that were at the restaurant where we ate the next morning before we had our oldtime photos done.
If I am feeling up to it I may post a couple of shots from the wedding I went to in Chico. I wish I had taken more pics of Chico but I was always the one driving. I did get a lot at the reception however.It was a lot of fun!
So until next time, don't get bored and enjoy the rest of summer (or whatever season you are in geographically)
Ciao!
Well my daughter is having foot surgery today so I will be sitting at a hospital all afternoon. Good time to catch up on my homework I guess.
I watched this video the other day and it really moved me. Not the images as much as what his man, Wade Davis, has to say about our world cultures that are becoming extinct. He says that 50% of the languages spoken will be gone soon.Forever.
Please watch this and feel free to re-post it. Let me know what you think of it after you view it.
Tomorrow I will post one about some amazing photography software that is gathering information on the web from photos all over the world and making them into a three dimensional image you can view from all angles.
I am going to collect and post links to many earth friendly places for you to get whole foods, organic foods, good-for-you drinks, and things like that.
I see these in magazines that I get and I thought how cool it would be to have a collection of them instead of them being scattered all over the place.
So I will start it in here and then I will make a menu and add them to the menu after I am done each time. The menu will have a link on the side bar somewhere.
So here is the first list I have compiled. It is a variety of things. In the bar will be including some sites where you can get gifts that help the rain forest and stuff like that too. I just bought some beautiful pendants from the Amazon. I have one already of Peruvian turquoise that is gorgeous. They are not expensive either.
Ok here you go:
That is all I have right now. I will be adding more all the time. Here is a picture of the pendants I bought today from theRainForestSite.com
On a sad note my son started smoking again and I am not a happy camper about it. I went ballistic this morning over it then realized I was being an idiot so I apologized to him but I am still really upset that he made this very BAD choice when he coughs all night long from smoking. I hate the smell and he was clean and free for 10 months. WHY WHY WHY would he go back to that??? I am reallyyy unhappy about it......
This is too funny! I stole this from Darkstar's blog. Congrats on the blog of the week David and I will spread the Trunk Monkey Love! Should be called Trunk Ape since Chimps are NOT monkeys...ya I know.. get over it Jana....lol...
Wow!
What happened to my blog?
I wanted to see what my new skin looked like live and here it is. {Picture of the robin's eggs compliments of DrDog}.
I hope you like it. I love the color turquoise and maybe because it's my birthstone but I wear a lot of it and have been drawn to anything with this color in it. It calls me. I love the sagey-lighter colors even of it. Seashells and skies, robins eggs and feathers are a few of the things that come to mind when I think of turquoise. All the rounded corners in here are done with CSS only, no images at all.
I also think of lazing in my hammock which is waiting for me outside but I have too much to do inside before I can get into it and read. I haven't been getting enough rest and have been really out of it for a few days because of it so I am under orders to get more sleep. No more midnight to 2:30 am nights. (compliments of my son:@ )
So let me know what you think of this style. I will be alternating it with the green one and am going to make a variation on this one that will look more like my blog before the switch to restyle. I really love everything Keith has done for us and continues to do. He is just the most awesome "Leader" a blogging community could have. I have abandoned all other blogs in favor of EFX2.
What more could I want? hrthrb
Well, here it is, my new design for my blog. It took me a week to get it done because of many issues, mostly learning the new system. I had help from both LB and Keith on certain things.
I can do regular CSS but got a bit mixed up with all the boxes and stuff. Which menu is this? What area is that?
Anyway, I made the banner and I made it for public sharing too. It comes with a plain banner that doesn't say indigomoonarts on it.
I hope you like it. I have more to say but it's late and I am tired. So I will close with this and a picture of the other logo.
