Archive for the ‘Leisure’ Category

Falling in Love with Maps

Leisure | Posted by admin
May 31 2011

Childhood is a time of fantasy and imagination . Most kids are capable of spinning elaborate stories and games out of thin air or taking a simple bit of inspiration and turning it into something so much bigger and better. Many times this creativity becomes attached to something that becomes a lifelong love. Children fall in love with reading or art, music or nature, and some kids fall in love with maps.

It sounds a bit funny to say it out loud, but anyone who has ever gotten lost for even a few minutes in exploring the places, lines and symbols of a usa map will have experienced a little bit of that love. Maps provide a symbolic representation of physical space. Making the connection between the symbol and the idea it represents can be a magical moment or understanding. To fall in love with maps is to fall in love with that moment of understanding and to seek it out again and again.

There are different ways that the love of maps can manifest in a life. Some people will become collectors, amassing large numbers of maps and seeking out rare and beautiful examples of the art form. Others will simply have maps around them at all times, as decorative items and well-worn resources. They will be quick to suggest that maps be used as tools for understanding everything from political situations to future business plans. They may give friends a custom map as a gift or be constantly drawing maps and floor plans rather than relying on GPS to get them from place to place. A few true devotees will study cartography and become professional map makers.

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Sight-Seeing at the Miami Metrozoo

Leisure | Posted by admin
Jun 09 2010

In 1948, on a small island off the coast of Miami, Florida, the Crandon Park Zoo had its start when three monkeys, a goat, and two black bears were purchased for the price of $270 from a road show. Nearly 20 years later, in 1967, the collection of animals swelled to 1,200 animals, and the zoo was named among the top 25 zoos in the United States, receiving international recognition that same year for the first captive birth and rearing of an aardvark.

That same year, the zoo obtained two Asian elephants, Dalip and Seetna, who produced three offspring, also an uncommon achievement in the middle of the 20th Century. The following year, 1968, the zoo received an animal that was only the second of its kind brought to the U.S. — a white tiger — all this, despite severe damage from a hurricane three years earlier in 1965.

In the five years that followed, the Zoological Society Board decided to find a new home for the zoo, and applied for 600 acres of the recently available Richmond Naval Air Station land, beginning the first steps of what would become the Miami Metrozoo .

Travelers today, passing through the city or staying at a boutique Miami hotel , may see over a hundred exhibits at the zoo, which now contains over two thousand animals that represent more than 400 species, a long way from the original monkeys, goat, and bears. Over forty species represented are endangered; there’s seventy species of birds alone in the Wings of Asia Aviary. In an exhibit known as Dr. Wilde’s World, there are ten thousand to fifteen thousand Italian honey bees. The zoo serves as a kind of botanical garden as well, with over a thousand species of trees, palms, and other types of plants. The Eastern Airlines Orchid Society also cares for hundreds of orchids in the trees.

Animals first purchased for the zoo include a two-year-old black rhino named Cora, in 1973. Since that time, the zoo continued to grow, with the establishment in 1984 of the Wings of Asia exhibit, which allows birds a 1.6 acre free-flight aviary. The following few years saw the addition of African hoofed stock in the African savanna section. Toward the end of the 80s, the zoo saw the addition of a section on Australian animals, such as koalas, kangaroos and wallabies. The zoo, in 1989, had the distinction of having the first koala born on the East Coast.

With all the animals visitors may see here — animals such as Asian otters, a blood python, clouded leopards, muntjac deer, fly-river turtles, Cuban Crocodiles and Squirrel Monkeys — children might best like the camel rides available for the last two years in the Children’s Zoo. Guests may sit atop a dromedary camel — one humped, seven feet tall, and about a thousand to thirteen hundred pounds in weight — and experience this ancient African and Asian form of transportation.

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Decisions in Santa Monica

Entertainment, Leisure, Restaurant | Posted by admin
Feb 27 2010

He’s looking at her and she’s looking at him and that might be enough, just enough, to start things into wonder.  It rolls into wonder, and she wonders some things about him, and he wonders about her, and some of the somethings are exactly the same.  There is a life of adventure behind them as vast as the beach, and adventure before them as vast as the sea.  One holds more adventure than the other, and they are both about ready to wonder if the one they’re embarking on is less.  They will find out that their suspicions are correct, if they decide to go forward with the suspicions.

This is another story that takes place in Santa Monica hotels where the dreams from the night before turn out to be true as the day wears on, and this is the price paid for leaving adventure behind.  It’s as small as a sand dollar, but larger than anything that can be measured with the human hand.  This is the same afternoon that the smell of garlic coming from the local restaurant will remind her of a favorite Thai place, one that she has forgotten about.  She forgot because it’s been here, waiting for her all along.

This is the same afternoon the leads into the evening when he finds out that his very favorite folk musician is in the same cafe they are.  These sudden surprises should be misleading them, forecasting adventures to come, and tempting them to take this road.  But they are not mislead, and see that although these adventures are large, the next ones, the ones right around the corner are very small.  But they take it anyway, because they can see that this is like the sea, and as far as they can see, there is an immanent threat of calm, and they like the calm so much that they assume that it has something to do with taking this trip together.

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Valentines Day at Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder

Food, Leisure, Travel | Posted by admin
Feb 19 2010

My boyfriend planned the most romantic adventure for us today and not only did it really surprise me, as he’s not typically a romantic acting individual, but it was also incredibly touching because I know how much attention and thought he put into the whole thing. Anyway the day started with a phone call. He innocently and casually asked what I was doing. I had just finished doing some laundry so while that wasn’t terribly exciting that’s what I told him. Then he asked if he could stop over later and asked what I would be doing. I didn’t think anything was odd and just said it would be fine though I would be going to the store in a minute. As I walked out of my house there was a beautiful vase of roses sitting on my car with a large box of chocolates.

I had to smile and thought Paul must have called me from out there and wanted to get me to walk outside. I looked around and didn’t see him when suddenly a large plum of red and white balloons floated over my carport.
A moment later he walked around from the side of the house carrying a picnic basket and a smile.

That would have been more than enough for me as I was already so touched and pleased that I really didn’t expect anything else. However, we got into his car and headed out of town in the direction of Boulder. We met at the University of Colorado during our senior year and our first date was at a place called Frasca Food and Wine. Sure enough we pulled in to their parking lot and went in for lunch. I asked what the picnic basket was for if that’s where we were eating and he told me not to worry about it. We had a great lunch and passed by the Boulder hotel we planned to return to one day after we’re married. We went out to a beautiful country area and he threw down a blanket and we had a great conversation and enjoyed the strawberries, cheesecake and wine he had in the basket. It was really an amazing day.

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Key Largo Matey Lost at Sea

Leisure, Travel | Posted by admin
Feb 08 2010

With coral reefs, everglades, and limestone just beneath the surface, the mysteries of Key Largo are larger than what meets the eye.  This is a place that can teach one to live in the moment, because when one is living in the here and now, one is one with all of the things in the world that celebrate oneness.  It’s wonderful to feel such oneness in Key Largo, and to enter into this world where one is always at oneness.  For places to stay in the oneness, this link can get you on your way, and the rest is adventure, and if you happen to like Bertie Higgins as much as I do, then please take some of my words as a a cautionary tale.

If you happen to fall in love, and find yourself dressed like a pirate and staying with your loved one, also dressed like a pirate, be careful when you are on a ship.  This is common sense for some, and certainly for me now, but at the time, we figured we were safe at sea, because the sea was our home, our mother, and we were her eternal orphans.  We did have it all, and we had a plan to pillage and plunder, and live off the fat of the land, along with the fat of the places we plundered.  But the stars were different than we had imagined, and the stars had far more complicated plans for us.

We were not exactly pirates in the technical sense.  We had little plastic eye patches, and she wore a plastic peg leg and folded her leg under it.  We weren’t on our own ship, but more like a cruise ship, or perhaps better to call it, a canoe.  We sang that song over and over, and talked about what we would do when we got our first booty.  We loved life so dearly back in those days, or perhaps it’s better to say, that weekend.  Spiced rum was our love potion, and spiced rum is what done her in.  It’s hard to balance in a canoe.  It’s hard, sometimes, not to fall.  I don’t know if she is still angry with me for rowing back to shore before she had a chance to surface,  but I know that she thinks about me, because people tell me that when she hears my name, she turns all the colors of the rainbow, like a parrot.

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Hot Tubs in History

History, Leisure | Posted by admin
Sep 21 2009

For many of us, we think of hot tubs as being a fairly modern invention and until quite recently was something reserved for the rich and famous. Hot tubs were a luxury that only the wealthy could afford. Actually hot tubs, in one form or another have been around for centuries. History has taught us about the bathhouses that were so popular with the Roman aristocrats. They were not only appreciated for the relaxation and health benefits from these hot baths, they were also a place for socializing with family and friends. This was usually a daily ritual. The ancient Chinese and Japanese were also great lovers of the hot baths, which were spa like. Cleanliness was also a symbol of prosperity as only the wealthy could afford the facilities of such hot baths. Even though many of the hot baths were functioning on a mediocre level, they were still a desired item, were still a status symbol.

Over the years, with the advancement of technology and more and more manufacturers, the hot tub has become fairly common among the general population. With this technology has come the knowledge to produce durable, well functioning units made of high-grade materials. Now, there are many, many different types and styles, makes and models of hot tubs. There are also many options and accessories with the modern hot tub. When production became streamlined and manufacturers were able to produce large quantities, the price came down and the hot tub was no longer just for the very wealthy. Choosehottubsdirect.com will provide further information. Now, more and more people are able to enjoy the simple pleasures of soaking in a hot tub, socializing with friends while easing away the cares of the day. More people today, just like centuries past, are realizing the health benefits found in the heated water of a hot tub.

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