Tuesday, 1 May 2018

Cat activates dog's turbo mode

Monday, 30 April 2018

Take a closer look...

Things are not always what they seem!











Italian photographer Angelo Musco gathered thousands of people to create the feather photos. 

[Link to article and video - in Spanish]

Sunday, 29 April 2018

Luxury for frequent flyers

These palaces in Turkey were built during the Ottoman Empire, between the 15th and 19th centuries, to house... birds!











[All photos by Caner Cangül]

Saturday, 28 April 2018

Road Trip!

We all got along so well on our trip to Paris I thought you might like to join Mike and me for a Canadian road trip into Northern Ontario.

Grab your bags and hop in. Sweet Pea is making room for all of you.





Anyone for a 'double double' from Tim Horton's? No road trip is complete without a stop at Timmy's.





 I have some Canadian road trip music downloaded. Open the windows we are going to sing!

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Let's hear you now! Don't be shy!



We head west on the Trans Canada Highway and then turn north, away from the traffic and the big cities toward Muskoka. Bracebridge is a town in the Muskoka region. The name comes from a First Nations chief of the 1850's. Apparently the area was the hunting grounds of a band led by Chief Yellowhead or Mesqua Ukie. As you can see, this is not farm land!



Finally we are here! There is still some snow on the ground but it is a lovely day for a walk around the town of Bracebridge. Muskoka was named one of National Geographic Traveler's 20 "Must See" destinations.

Can you see the deer on the lawn across the street from my sister's house? He greeted us when we arrived. Then four of them pranced down the lawn and across the street.


 This is the view from down the street.


Heading downtown... In a couple of months you wont be able to move on the main street. There will be so many summer people.




At the bottom of the street we can stop off and take a look at the power plant. My sister took this little video clip for Pallottine.




The water powered generating plant was bought by the town in 1894 making Bracebridge the pioneer in municipal hydro electric generation in Ontario.



Last spot on the tour is to Huckleberry Rock Lookout Trail. Best to wear your hiking boots. You will be standing on the oldest surface rocks on the planet. They are well over a billion years old. A sign carved into the rock tells us that "(a)s part of the Precambrian Shield these rocks have been encased in glaciers, buried under mountains, submerged beneath oceans, and scraped and eroded clean again."

It is a incredible feeling to stand atop these rocks. Mike managed to get to the top last summer.




Anyone want to head back into town? I know where we can get some  yummy homemade carrot cake. We can kick back and leave the rest of the world behind for a little while.

Friday, 27 April 2018

How do they do that?

Producers in France, Switzerland, and Germany sell their signature Poire Williams eau de vie (Williams pear-flavored clear brandy) with full-sized fruit accompanying the alcohol inside each bottle. (They call it Poire William Prisonnière)







Farmers simply surround a blossom in glass and tie the container to the tree. As the fruit continues to develop and mature, attendants pump in fresh air and nip other pears from the branch in order to ensure maximal nutrients reach the enclosed targets.






The old-fashioned drink is expectedly sweet and fruity, which makes it an ideal palate cleanser or pairing for cheese. Europeans craft this iconic beverage from the fruit North Americans know as the Bartlett pear, which often stars in cans of fruit cocktail.


Interesting, eh? It seems less complicated than building a ship inside a bottle...