Nigardsbreen

Norway is such a beautiful place. Arthur and Elizabeth from Poland just sent us their video from a walk in Nigardsbreen glacier in 2004! What a happy surprise. Thanks, guys!



Where the sun never sets...reindeer everywhere. Pretty neat!

Oil spill, still going...

For how much longer...

video of the spill by BP/AP

Tiger Swallowtail

A beautiful yellow tiger swallowtail greeted me this morning as I did a short warm up run before a yoga class today. This is only the second time I see one of these butterflies in my runs. I spotted on for the first time about 2 weeks ago - I was delighted to see the large yellow and black butterfly fluttering around. It was definitely a male since it did not have the blue on top of the wings, just a small patch on the underside.

The black swallowtails are quite common by the reservoir and sometimes I'll run by one that will follow along with me for a while. It always makes my day a bit brighter!

The black swallowtails are apparently very common in Ohio also.

Spill

Approximate oil locations from May 1, 2010 to May 5, 2010 including forecast for May 6 based on trajectories and overflight information. Produced May 5, 2010.

From NOAA's website - daily updates and forecast of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill:
http://deepwaterhorizon.noaa.gov

Hopefully the weather will hold steady and not hinder on-going cleanup efforts and efforts towards stopping the leak.

Great Egret

We were back at High Island this past weekend. We saw many nests still with beautiful blue-green eggs. Parents were busy preparing for the arrival of their little ones. A couple of nests had chicks and the egrets were carefully feeding their chicks. Last year by this time most nests had chicks already and the egrets were busy feeding their young.

The roseate spoonbills seemed either to be a bit behind in breeding or they took great care in hiding their eggs in the nests. It looked like they were just hanging around with some happily playing courting games.

A great number of warblers were reported in the woods. Sam Wood's blog has great pictures of the birds migrating through the High Island Sanctuaries. Yesterday he posted gorgeous pictures of a Kentucky Warbler and an Indigo Bunting.

I'm yet to see an indigo bunting or a painted bunting that migrate through. The kids will need to be a bit older for that kind of birding. Daniel is good at spotting alligators, frogs and the big birds. As expected, not very patient or quiet to wait for the smaller birds. He hears them though and is quite excited about it. A couple of more years...

All Pink

I took this photo of my glamourous princess on the left a couple of days before receiving the postcard on the right from Melissa in Ottawa.

Too funny...

This is a really neat calendar by Nils Kjeldsen.

New camera anyone? New bag?

There is no such a thing as too many bags or too many shoes, right? Or too many cameras, by that matter.

Epiphanie is has a great giveaway of a Canon 5D Mark... check it out.

www.haveanepiphanie.com

Spelling?

“ I DN'OT GVIE
A DMAN FOR
A MAN WHO
CAN OLNY
SELPL A WROD
ONE WAY.”
- MRAK TIWAN

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid. Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer inwaht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas thought slpeling was ipmorantt.

I read this text at the San Francisco Exploratorium a few years ago. I was quite surprised and amazed that, yes, I could actually read it!

Spelling

Kaila is quite fluent in reading. Now she is working on her writing. It's fascinating to have a glimpse into how her mind works throught the learning process.

We played instant messaging this weekend. Here are some very nice messages I received from Kaila with interesting phonetic spelling.

flayurs aer byotufol.
you are byotyfol too.
theyc you mommy.
sh sh shark.
f f fesh.
w w wayel.
I now wat you are goweg too say.

Flowers are beautiful.
You are beautiful too.
Thank you, Mommy.
Shark.
Fish.
Whale.
I know what you are going to say.

I love you, too.

Happy Valentine's Day - Daniel. February 14, 2010.

Why are words so long....?

That seems to be the question on Daniel's mind this week. He has been experimenting with shortening the words as he talks. Tomorrow became "tomah", Lightning McQueen is "Light", guacamole is "guacamah".

- Can I watch Light tomah? I don't want guacamah today.

It's been a fun couple of days, deciphering his new shortened language.

I vaguely remember Kaila going through this same thing a couple of years ago. I wish I had made some notes of her expressions then.

Who are you??

The things you see on the road... minivan license plate: "IAMGOD".

I wish I had my camera ready for a snapshot...for real, as my 5-year old says. Who thinks of doing something like that!?

On the big screen

This was Kaila's first baseball game. She actually made it to the big screen on the stadium. Cheering and dancing on her seat!


More finds in my desk clean up.

Old notes

I'm in the process of cleaning my desk and as always I have many small bits of paper with random notes. Things I'd like to eventually look up or read.

One note says "When Nietzche Wept by Irvin Yalom" and "Terroir by Wilson; the role of geology, climate & culture in the making of french wines". The first book I read probably 2 years ago and really liked. The second one on the note is still to be purchased or borrowed...

A second piece of paper has "Quilts of Gee's Bend". I love their quilts and I still have some stamps the U.S. Postal Service released in 2006. The Houston Museum of Fine Arts had a Gee's Bend exhibit with 70 quilts on display in that same year.

Good fortune

We closed the weekend with dinner at Pei Wei. Some days the fortune cookies seem to have just the right message for each one of us...a positive thought always comes in handy.

Daddy - "New and rewarding opportunities will soon develop for you."
Daniel - "Your eyes will soon be opened to a world full of beauty, charm and adventure."
Kaila - "A dream you have will come true."
Mommy - "You will get what your heart desires."

"Can people fly?"

For the past few weeks Kaila has been fixed on the idea of flying. Not flying as in an airplane, but flying as birds fly. She has asked several times if people can fly. As I respond to her that people can only fly in their imagination and in their dreams, she just gives me a pensive look and an "Oh, okay..."

For the longest time I had this recurring dream of flying over towns and fields. In these dreams I could actually control where I went by moving my open arms like wings and gliding with the same ease as birds. I enjoyed these flying adventures and many times would remember them. Most other dreams for me get lost, no memory whatsoever.

Maybe Kaila is having similar dream adventures? Or maybe she has just been reading about magic carpets. Last week her class was discussing Cinderella and they made a few projects associated with it. Kaila drew a nice pumpkin coach for Cinderella, but for herself the pumpkin turned into this beautiful carpet. A magic flying carpet, I'm sure.

The Magical Shoe

"The magical shoe has many colors..."
What would you do if you had one?

This was a kindergarten school project in Nov/Dec 2009 based on the poem by Linda Ball.

Glass roof

Literally, Kaila wants a room with a glass roof so she can go to sleep watching the stars. Our architect to be, for our house to be, already has special requests to incorporate in his plans. My requirement, if the glass roof makes it, is a self-cleaning glass roof!

The initial seed for this conversation was today's school nature walk and checklist. From there, Kaila wanted to live outside and have the insects live inside. A better compromise once we thought about the cold and the rain on her books among other things was to have a room without a roof or an attic. But rain was still a problem, so the glass came into the picture.

Diving in Brazil

Arraial do Cabo is about a 2-hour drive north from Rio de Janeiro (traffic can be heavy on weekends and could take longer). The marine life is rich and diverse in Arraial do Cabo making for great diving. The water is cold 18C-22C and you'll need a wet suit.

Near Arraial do Cabo there is also good diving in Cabo Frio and Buzios. You can stay in Buzios and enjoy its lively nightlife and dive off of Arraial or Cabo Frio. Or just come down to Buzios for dinner one day.

Onda Azul is a good contact point in Rio. They use Litoral Sub as their operator in Cabo Frio.

The island of Ilha Grande to the south of Rio also offers good diving spots. Nearby are the towns of Angra dos Reis and Parati. Parati is a historic town in the region with old streets and good restaurants.

Going to northeast Brazil, the best diving is in Archipelago of Fernando de Noronha(National Park).