You'll have to start at the bottom and go up to view these photos in order. We went to a tree farm a few miles away and cut a Leyland Cypress tree down. We got the next to cheapest one for $30. It still galls me to have to buy a Christmas tree. Growing up in Tennessee, every year we would go out into the woods and cut our tree down. In the first years of our marriage we did the same thing. Then we moved to South Georgia where white pines or cedar trees don't grow like weeds on the side of the road. Our land is either open fields, pecan trees, or thick woods. So we have to go to a store and BUY a tree. Going to a tree farm is a better choice to me. At least we get to be involved in the cutting down process, and it's as fresh as it can possibly be. And here's the real question of the day....does this jacket make me look fat? Yes it does, so don't answer that question!
I got up kind of early and did a road ride yesterday. I figured I should start getting up early and practicing some early morning riding. It was hot. I did a little loop around here that we call the pinehurst loop. It's a favorite during hot weather. You're down in the canyon with all the pretty trees and it's nice and cool. It wasn't early, early. It was an 8:30 a.m. ride. But that's early for me nowadays. Lately I don't get going on the bike till 11 a.m. or noon, after working on my part time gig. I forgot how many more people are out riding in the morning. Aha, I thought, here they all are. And then I spent the rest of the day at school, listening to a poetry slam, eating potlucked lunches, having cake, watching balloon tossing, saying goodbyes and so on. At the end of the day, we went home with a years worth of papers and stuff - it being the last day of school and all. It's officially summer vacation here. So in celebration of summer vacation, I decided to cook dinner. I'm not one of those who really likes to cook a lot. I will and I do because that's what moms do - but if I can get out of it I will. But I did, since it's now summer and all. And I drank a can of budweiser while I was making dinner, because that's all we had down in the garage fridge. And then the oven caught on fire. And I realized I might be terrible in an emergency situation. Much like how I often stare at the toilet overflowing (i say often, because it's an event that occurs often in a household with children) in disbelief, I did the same with the oven while on fire. At first I thought the oven light was on. And I looked in to see if the stuff I was cooking was cooking ok. And it took a few seconds to register that what I was seeing was fire. So I opened the oven and stared some more. And I was on the phone at the time, and had to tell the person I was talking to that I had to go and then I put the phone on the cradle. And after staring some more and still seeing flames, I called Morgan. Who was in the shower having just arrived home from his bike ride. And he came out and put it out. And then I said that I think we need to clean the oven. At least I was calm. That would probably help in an emergency.
Extension agents probably hear it a lot this time of year: What the heck is that alien orange thingy in my cedar tree?! Check out those gelatinous telial spore horns (noodly appendages). It's Cedar-apple rust, and it's caused by the fungus Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae. If yours doesn't look quite like this, it might be one of the similar (related) rusts: Cedar-hawthorne rust or Cedar-quince rust. Check the chart of rust differences. Basically, the Cedar-hawthorne rust's noodly appendages are short and stubby (as opposed to the long and thin ones on the Cedar-apple rust gall shown here). And Cedar-quince rust is mainly just orange goo on bark and twigs. You can see pictures of the latter on my previous posts on the subject here and here. The photos at the first link also show how the rusts appear when they're not quite so wet. I can't seem to stop writing about these rusts when they make themselves so obvious in the spring. The way they alternate hosts, and of course their appearance, is so unusual. Fungi expert Tom Volk has written about Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae too, in a much more scientific fashion, here.
When you open the door to a changing room in a clothes shop the last thing you expect to see is a fully made-up bed.
In a fully furnished bedroom.
This haven for weary shoppers is Jack Wills, in Edinburgh's George Street. In the British class system which still seems alive and well, the clothes of this brand are associated with well-off, upper class university students, not least by the company's own advertising. Think rowing sweatpants, padded gilets, checked shirts, retro woolies. While there is a certain clumping of the brand in this sector of the population, the appeal seems broader than that. My daughter is now a university student, but I wouldn't put us in the well-off, upper-class bracket. How comforting it is in Britain to know exactly where you come in the social scale. (Should I have a little pop-up here to say 'irony intended'?) It should be said that well-off and upper-class don't always go together, so it's less of a scale than a complex matrix.
I know that the price of the clothes (ouch!) is paying for the sumptuous changing rooms, but there is a certain relief to encounter a bed while accompanying an about-to-be student on a big pre-university shopping expedition. And yes, of course I lay down on it. Apart from the price tag at the end, I wish all retail experiences could be like this.
Today California is being hit by the first storm of the season. After five months without rain, the wet season has finally begun. The powerful storm impacting the state today has the potential to drop up to eight inches of rain in spots. Here in San Luis Obispo, the rain is falling in drenching, wind-blown sheets. The photos here show colorful poison oak leaves in Poly Canyon and the now-flowing Brizzolara Creek.
So I'm now at the bottom of the country and looking to make a jump to the next. Somebody looking to do this the easy or quick way would have been on a plane already. I on the other hand am floundering about looking/ waiting for a sailboat to Central or South America. Having a pretty good time in this lull but am more than excited about plowing on. The Supply box for the next leg has arrived! Replacement parts, emergency supplies and things to get shipped further ahead. Somebody has some damn awesome friends! Paul and Lynne have just been amazing. We started out as strangers with a common interest/ obsession with bikes and riding but have grown to feel like old friends. Their niceness is truly unbelievable. Davie Hogan at the end of boot camp. He came through his probation and shake down with flying colors. This bike is a man now. A culmination of years of touring and the want of something more has been funneled into this dude. I have enjoyed every pedal stroke of our first 2500 miles together.
I plan on heaving us into some seriously rugged country around the world, and I feel he and every main component of him is up to the test. Tire wear is my biggest concern. But after 2500 miles (rotated front to back in North Carolina) These Origin8 (VeeRubber) "ultra light" series with 120tpi/ folding bead have held up fantastically. With a whole sale hook up these are stupid affordable. I won't be carrying spares with me but I will be sending replacements ahead. That said. You my see from the pics that I'm running the old school Large Marge rims (65mm wide). Man, I had to search high and low for them in the discontinued 36 holes. Anyways I can seat any 26x2.2 and up. So in an emergency case like a sidewall gutting, I can throw on any basic 26" tire and keep rolling towards myreplacements. My hand-made (by me) racks and bags have been awesome. No peeps, mumbles or wiggles. Totally rock solid. My lucky number is four billion. That doesn't come in real handy when you're gambling. Come on, four billion! F*k, seven. Not even close. I need more dice! Four billion divided by six. At least. -MHB
The unplanted bulbs and falling leaves will keep for another day! Last year I wrote a Christmas song for Roots In Austin, using my power as the author to break up the character Caroline's romance shortly before a Christmas season began. That may not have been kind of me, but the breakup let Caroline sing a holiday song as the approach of Christmas reminded her of what's been lost rather than what she expected. The song was recently finished and I think it will work well for her lovelorn situation in the play. But undertones in the lyrics told me they had deeper meanings, for other situations. Over this long Thanksgiving weekend Philo and I added photos and turned the song into a video for our Station Kaefka on YouTube. So far the reception for our latest musical child has been very kind - thank you to all who have already watched it. To the rest of you - get out your handkerchiefs!
"Can I Recover Christmas" music & lyrics copyrighted. If the screen won't play, try this Link to YouTube. Although "Can I Recover Christmas?" wasn't ready last year, another of our copyrighted songs was finished by the beginning of December ... It's a happy song about the lovely annual tradition of Spinning Under the Tree of Lights at Zilker Park in Austin. This year the tree will be lit at 6 PM on Sunday December 7th, with the rest of the Trail of Lights festival beginning on Sunday December 14th, running nightly through December 23rd. The Trail hours are 7 PM to 10 PM. A few days ago I had a conversation with Laura Esparza from the Cultural Affairs Division of the Austin Parks Department. Laura told me that the Trail of Lights festival will be more environmentally friendly this year. The change over to LED lights is in progress and food service now emphasizes recycling. She also noted that the power for the lights comes from wind farms. I loved the tree and like having another reason to think Austin is cool! You can go to the Austin Parks Department if you'd like to find out more about Spinning under the Tree, or Walking the Trail of Lights. Now here's an encore of our Spinning Under the Tree song to get you in the mood. Either click the screen or try this link to YouTube.
The safe and general antidote against sorrow is employment. Samuel Johnson, The Rambler
Nothing going on today needing my attention with the Adams Park work. After treatment, stopped for some shopping. Then attended my fraternity alumni luncheon. Brought my bike (Fuel EX7) on the car and my change of clothes for a ride. Windy day for a bike ride. Decided it was a good afternoon to see how things are going at Lake Manawa. Well, the river level is down. But still lots of standing water in the trail area. West Sidewinder is bone dry. Word is Longs Loop is rideable. Woodchopper is under water yet (see Photo). Ended up putting on only 3 miles surveying the situation. Trail work planned Sunday and Tuesday. I was not making the Sunday work day, too much activity from the weekend.
Poor Sick Chick died last night. She was a lovely old ex-battery hen, the most vocal, and gentle, of the original four. She liked nothing better than to scratch around and chatter to us as we worked. We shall miss her, so will Little Red Hen. She lies buried in the middle of Owl Wood. I realise that to non-hen people this is a fuss about nothing. Our rescued, rescue hens were great little characters who showed us that big personalities can also come in small, feathery packages.A hen is not 'just a hen'.
Fallen Sycamore leaf. (Platanus occidentalis.) They seem to take the drought stress worse than most other trees here. I walked out of a meeting last night and felt like I was stepping into a sauna. It's hot, it's been hot, it will be hot... but you really don't expect 90°F at 9:00 PM. (That's 32°C, for those of you in the metric world.)
Walk through Eden's Garden and then Wonder as you go.... -- Midnight Oil. I awoke this morning to the sound of rain and buffeting wind. I decided to ride anyway, and just wear a spray jacket for some reason. The strength of the wind at dawn (when it's normally at it's weakest) surprised me, but this is where it becomes liberating. When the wind is so strong that attaining a decent average speed is just about impossible, one tends not to focus on such things, and instead concentrates on just enjoying the ride. It was in the vicinity of 50-60km/h on that early stretch down the coast, so I just accepted what it was doing to my speed, and enjoyed the scenery. With the showers still falling lightly, it was over Bilambil and onto Urliup road, in the mud! This actually wasn't so bad, again, once covered in the mud to the point of no longer caring about it. The scenery was already warming up. Winding through the rainforest on the dirt, almost totally encased in mud, over the "summit", down into the Tweed Valley briefly, before the climb of Tomewin, where I would follow "the track" along the NSW/Qld border. This promised to be interesting, with the rocky sections wet, and probably slippery. First, however, there was the small matter of a detour that I hadn't taken in three years, Garden of Eden road, a western detour along the southern side of the ridge. This was one of those "why did I wait so long?" rides. The scenery here is stunning. It's a short detour, and a dead end, meaning a return on the same route, but it's definitely worth it. After the return, and more covering in mud, it was over to Glengarrie "road", the track I'd come here to follow. It really is an entrancing ride, through the dense forest, the occasional mountain views, the old shacks on the mountain that have been here for years and somehow survived the wild weather these parts get occasionally. Today I'm focused on the wildflowers that are blooming up right now, and the shapes being thrown around by the clouds. The slippery rocks provide some interesting moments early, but I soon find my rhythm here. It's a matter of timing one's bursts, putting in a huge effort on the uphill slippery parts, then relaxing on the in between parts in order to recover for the next huge effort. The top is reached soon, and it's a muddy descent toward Bilambil punctuated by a couple of climbs and some really nastily positioned intersections, before the final screaming descent into Bilambil and back into suburbia. At least I'll have a tailwind for the ride home. There is a final tale to tell here. After an extremely invigorating ride, I'm pedalling through suburbia pondering the task of somehow cleaning the mud and dirt off the bike, figuring that the occasional light rain that's falling is having no effect on this whatsoever. Then at Burleigh Heads, some 7km from home, the heavens open up and a huge downpour makes it's presence felt. Now most of the mud and dirt has been washed away, and the rain was just beautiful. A fitting end to a memorable morning!
The demon guarding the moat outside the walled city - Angkor
Angkor, also known as Angkor Wat from the name of its most famous temple, is the biggest and most interesting archeological site in Cambodia. It is the best preserved architectural complex of the Khmer Age and of the Khmer culture. It is situated near the Cambodian town of Siem Reap, two hours away from the Thai border.
After visiting Ayutthaya, Chiang Mai amazing temples and the beautiful island of Kho Tao in Thailand we thought was time to visit Angkor. If you are visiting Thailand you should absolutely plan at least four days to visit Angkor.
Angkor is distant only 10 hours from Bangkok by train or bus or an hour and a half away by plane with a daily flight Bangkok - Siem Reap.
You will be amazed by the size and the beauty of this complex of temples and imperial buildings, once the capital of the Khmer Empire.
When you visit Angkor you visit the largest preindustrial city in the world, with an elaborate system of infrastructure connecting an urban sprawl of at least 1,000 square kilometres that you can still visit today. Surrounded by the jungle and by large rice fields Angkor is an archeological area with around 1000 buildings including temples and ruins.
Female figures in the South-West corner pavillion of Angkor Wat
Every temple has wonderful decorations, statues and sculptures.
Historical Angkor was more than a site for religious art and architecture. It was the site of vast cities that served all the needs of the Khmer people. Aside from a few old bridges, however, all of the remaining monuments are religious edifices. In Angkorian times, all non-religious buildings, including the residence of the king himself, were constructed of perishable materials, such as wood, "because only the gods had a right to residences made of stone."
Life in Cambodia - Tuk Tuk driver resting in front of a mountain of art! - Angkor
Indigenous religious cults a royal cult of personality, identifying the king with the deity, Hinduism, especially Shaivism, but also Vaishnavism, the form of Hinduism focussed on the worship of Vishnu and Buddhism, in both its Mahayana and Theravada varieties are represented.
Here some practical info you need to bear in mind before to visit Angkor:
1) It is impossible to see Angkor (and not even just Angkor Wat) in one day, so buy the three day ticket pass and save money.
2) It is impossible to visit Angkor walking so either you hire a tuk-tuk or you rent a motorbike or a bike (although with the bike it will be very tiring as the temples are quite far away one from the other!)
3)Only hire an official guide. If you hire a tuk-tuk contract the price before to start your tour, tuk-tuk drivers can ask extortionate rates!
4) Bring with you plenty of water as it will be incredibly hot! On the site many drinks are sold, but most of them well after the "best using before" date! Same is true for food unfortunately.
The 54 demons holding the tail of the multiheaded snake on the cause way towards the walled city, Angkor
5) Angkor is only an archeological area, there is no accommodation there. Base yourself in the nearest town: Siem Reap, possibly in the area of the night market that it is very interesting to visit after dinner!
6) Although the most famous temple is Angkor Wat, there are many more interesting temples to be seen at Angkor: don't miss at least Bayon and the walled city and Bateay Den!
7) Try to buy a book about the Archeological Area of Angkor and particularly a map before to visit, it is worthwhile and it will help you to understand more.
Giants in the palace - Angkor
8)Don't rush but take time to visit the most important temples, they are so full of details that a quick visit will not be enough to enjoy them.
9) When you visit Angkor don't forget when these temples have been built (around the year 1000) and be impressed of the refinery of their details!
10) Keep in mind that most of the statues were originally painted and try to imagine how even more impressive the statues and the temples should have looked at the time with their original colours on (I tried, working on the photos, to show you how the statues should have looked with their original colours: see for example the picture above of the Female figures in the South-West corner pavillion of Angkor Wat to have an idea!).
11)Don't believe in all the stories you hear about crossing the border from Thailand to Cambodia. Buy your visa through internet on the official website of the cambodian governement and you will not have any problem. Don't trust anyone who want to sell you any kind of visa!
12) And finally be adventurous and go off the beaten track! Visit also Koh Ker.
Koh Ker is the modern name for an important city of the Khmer empire. It is situated about two and half hours away from Siem Reap. It is not yet as famous as Angkor and only basic visitors facilities are now being built. This makes of Koh Ker a very interesting and adventurous destination for anyone who would like to experience lonely temples in a much more quiet enviroment. We publish below the teaser of a great project from Akasa Studio, raising raise awareness about this wonderful monument and seeking support for their feature documentary they are going to produce. We think this video is wonderful!
Hope you enjoyed this post and photos and you will enjoy visit Angkor.
Read below for more great destinations in Asia or use the index on the right column of this page!
Angkor Wat in its amazing magnificence! - Angkor, Siem Reap - Cambodia
The City Walls gates protected by the divinities - Angkor
--- SUGGESTED LINK Adventure Underwear created the most comfortable and practical solution to travel theftavailable:Adventure Underwear! Made of 100% ultra-thin, premium Merino Wool, these high quality briefs don’t hold odours like other underwear, andthey are built to last. Plus, they are softer than cotton, and better for your skin than synthetic materials.
Featuring two hidden, waterproof pockets to safely keep your valuables dry, I think you’ll really thwart the pickpockets!The problem with current solutions like money belts is they are uncomfortable, it’s something you have to remember to bring with you each day, you can’t access it without giving away the fact that you are wearing one.It is hands down better than traditional travel safety solutions like money belts. It’s not a separate item you have to wear, it doesn’t make you look like a dork, it’s more comfortable, more convenient, easily accessible, multi functional and waterproof!They are actually quite comfortable, you can barely notice when you have something in there unless it is quite large and rigid, in which case the only time you notice it is when you sit down. Under regular clothing you can’t tell that you are carrying anything. The only time you may notice is if you are wearing really tight, skinny leg jeans.Click onwww.adventureunderwear.comand you can see what I mean by yourself!---------
EXPLORE MORE OF ASIA ONwww.edwhatamidoinghere.blogspot.com: CHINA EXPLORATION #PROJECT IS STARTING NEXT WEEK! - YOU ARE GOING TO VISIT ONE OF THE MOST AMAZING COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD!
ARE YOU TIRED OF BANGKOK AND YOU WANT SOMEWHERE TO RELAX? KOH TAO (KO TAO) IS THE PERFECT DESTINATION! - 7 SIGHTS OF KHO TAO - THAILAND
THAILAND -7 SIGHTS OFAYUTTHAYA - AN AMAZING INSPIRATIONAL PLACE JUST 2 HRS FROM BANGKOK
THAILAND - 7 SIGHTS OF CHIANG MAI - THE HOLY CITY
------------------
VISIT MORE AMAZING PLACES IN EUROPE ONwww.edwhatamidoinghere.blogspot.com: A SECRET JEWEL IN THE ITALIAN REGION OF LIGURIA, 30 MINUTES AWAY FROM THE CINQUE TERRE - 7 SIGHTS OF PORTO VENERE
7 SIGHTS OF RHODES - GREECE - A MARVELLOUS ISLAND FULL OF INSPIRATION! ...AND GUARDED BY A GIANT!
7 SIGHTS OF CINQUE TERRE / ITALY - THE ENCHANTING 5 FISHERMEN VILLAGES PART OF THE UNESCO HERITAGE IN THE ITALIAN REGION OF LIGURIA
HUNGARY - EXPLORING BUDAPEST IN A COLD WINTER NIGHT WITH ANNE J LO PHOTOGRAPHER FROM CHICAGO - 7 SIGHTS OF BUDAPEST
You'll have to start at the bottom and go up to view these photos in order. 
Today California is being hit by the first storm of the season. After five months without rain, the wet season has finally begun. The powerful storm impacting the state today has the potential to drop up to eight inches of rain in spots. Here in San Luis Obispo, the rain is falling in drenching, wind-blown sheets.
