Category Archives: FREE stuff!

Paris

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Did you know the Paris (CDG) airport has free wi-fi?

Thank goodness since I haven’t been able to gain access to any of the airline lounges here. Usually, I can always get into the United lounge, but I can’t find one here (maybe I’m just lost, this airport is HUGE).

For some strange reason, they don’t have a Petroleum Club in Houston. I mean really, it’s the oil capital of the world! They do have one in Paris. It’s only a half hour ride away from the airport. WTF???

WHY would they put an airline lounge OUTSIDE of the airport? And so away it’s hardly useful for any layover less than 3-4 hours?

I don’t get it. AND, the same airlines (Air France and KLM) who have the Petroleum Clubs DO have regular old airline lounges INSIDE the airport, but you’re not allowed inside if you’re ONLY a Petroleum Club member.

The Petroleum Club is supposed to be exclusive. Much more so than just the regular airline lounges. I don’t understand why they don’t allow access. You have to fly enough to get the next level of card. I only have ‘ivory’. 🙁

Anybody from the airlines on here that could enlighten me about this? I’ve already tried asking around at the airport and get no real answers.

Dreamy: Las Vegas

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Up for a challenge? Here’s another entry for this weeks challenge from the Daily Post. The challenge is to illustrate the idea of ‘Dreamy’. Here’s what they have to say about it…

This week, we’d like to see an image that looks dreamy to you. A photo of a place you often visit in dreams. A snapshot of your dreamy boy- or girlfriend. A scene that looks a bit out-of-this world. Take us on a flight of fancy!

 

I already posted one photo from my trip to Las Vegas, but it’s such a dreamy kind of place. I thought about it and came up with some more ideas.

I posted another one about an Elvis impersonator who was performing right outside my hotel. Lots of women thought Elvis was pretty ‘dreamy’. Then I posted some dreamy girls for the guys. 🙂

Las Vegas really is a dreamy kind of place. I think it’s one of those places that’s built on dreams. All kinds of dreams going on there. People go there dreaming to hit the jackpot and get rich. They go there hoping to hit it big and make a name for themselves as a singer or a dancer or chef or…

I love to hang out in old downtown. It’s not like the Strip (which is interesting in a different way), where things are spread out and isolated. Every casino has it’s own attractions and you pretty much stick to one since it’s a pain to move on to the next.

Downtown is different. Everything is close together. There’s lots to do (Mob Museum, Container Park, Neon Museum), and all kinds of things going on. Fremont Street is the hub of all the action. There are at least a dozen different casinos all within easy walking distance. It’s easy to hit one for drinks, another to eat, try the poker at one, blackjack at another…

Fremont Street is really pretty cool. They have a light show projected on a huge blocks-long overhead screen. You can go zip-lining right over the top of all the crowds. There are artists at work, lots of little shops along the street. They have all kinds of bands and performers scheduled to play on the various stages. And then there are all the unscheduled ‘performers’. People who just like to come out and play. 🙂

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Dreamy: Hotties

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Up for a challenge? Here’s another entry for this weeks challenge from the Daily Post. The challenge is to illustrate the idea of ‘Dreamy’. Here’s what they have to say about it…

This week, we’d like to see an image that looks dreamy to you. A photo of a place you often visit in dreams. A snapshot of your dreamy boy- or girlfriend. A scene that looks a bit out-of-this world. Take us on a flight of fancy!

 

I already posted one photo from my trip to Las Vegas, but it’s such a dreamy kind of place. I thought about it and came up with some more ideas.

I posted another one about an Elvis impersonator who was performing right outside my hotel. Lots of women thought Elvis was pretty ‘dreamy’.

Since I posted a dreamy guy for the ladies, I thought I’d post some dreamy girls for the guys. 🙂

These ladies (‘Hotties’ was the name of their group) were also on stage singing and dancing. I love to watch people dance! These Hotties put on a really great show. They even got some audience participation. A couple of ladies volunteered to be in a ‘dance-off’ up on stage (no- they did not have those nice costumes or high heels!). The lady from France won. The audience loved it. 🙂

Fremont Street is really pretty cool. They have a light show projected on a huge blocks-long overhead screen. They have all kinds of bands and performers scheduled to play on the various stages. And then there are all the unscheduled ‘performers’. People who just like to come out and play (more on that later). 🙂

  

 

 

Dreamy: Elvis

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Up for a challenge? Here’s another entry for this weeks challenge from the Daily Post. The challenge is to illustrate the idea of ‘Dreamy’. Here’s what they have to say about it…

This week, we’d like to see an image that looks dreamy to you. A photo of a place you often visit in dreams. A snapshot of your dreamy boy- or girlfriend. A scene that looks a bit out-of-this world. Take us on a flight of fancy!

 

I already posted one photo from my trip so Las Vegas, but it’s such a dreamy kind of place. I thought about it and came up with some more ideas.

He was a little before my time, (I preferred David Cassidy from the Partridge Family), but I’ve heard plenty of women say they thought ELVIS was ‘the bomb’, ‘hot’, ‘somethin’ else’, ‘sexy’. Dreamy, in other words. 🙂

Here are a few photos I took of Elvis (impersonator) on Fremont Street. He was performing right outside my door (while I was staying downtown at the Golden Nugget). He did put on a good show, everyone enjoyed it. 🙂

WPC: Dreamy (Out of This World)

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Up for another challenge? Here’s my entry for this weeks challenge from the Daily Post. The challenge is to illustrate the idea of ‘Dreamy”.

This week, we’d like to see an image that looks dreamy to you. A photo of a place you often visit in dreams. A snapshot of your dreamy boy- or girlfriend. A scene that looks a bit out-of-this world. Take us on a flight of fancy!

Well, it’s not something I’ve dreamed about, but it does look out of this world. Especially with the dome behind it and the guy standing there right next to it.

I took this photo a couple of weeks ago when I was in Las Vegas. This is right at the entrance to the Container Park, right downtown. They have all kinds of neat shops, galleries, restaurants and even music and other events. The mantis lights up and even shoots flames at night (I missed that part).

Doesn’t it kind-of remind you of one of those old B movies?

You know, the ones where the bugs mutated and attacked after getting hit by radiation? Or the BEMs landed and were out to get you?

I used to LOVE watching that stuff! Old sci-fi, creature feature, horror, bring it on! 🙂

Happy International Talk Like A Pirate Day!

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Arrrrggh Mateys! This is the day we’ve all been waiting for (or not). 😉

It’s International Talk Like A Pirate Day! Enjoy watching the festivities from last year. Maybe you can find some around your location too. 🙂

I know my sailing buddies at Sail La Vie in Houston are having a big dress like a pirate paaarrty and sail tomorrow. (I’m just still too beat from work, that looooong journey home with no sleep, and too much to do to justify a 3+ hour drive, even for a great party).

Instead, I’ll be heading to the Texas Navy Day Celebrations here locally at Surfside Beach. Maybe I’ll even get to shoot a cannon! Arrrrghh, that’s a piraty activity too. 🙂

Check out the Talk Like A Pirate website, maybe you can find some nearby pirates to practice the lingo with over a good glass of grog. (It helps). Join in the fun! 🙂

Anyone who wants to send me pirate pictures, feel free! 🙂

Photo Challenge: Red (hot car)

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Here’s another photo for the Word a Week Photography Challenge: Red. I took this one last year when I was up messing around in Houston. I stopped somewhere to get lunch and they were having a car show out in the parking lot. They had some FINE old cars!

Photo Challenge: Red (flowers and man in background)

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Here’s another entry for the word a week challenge: red.

I took it at Jayu Park when I was in Korea recently. I love how it turned out with the tulips in sharp focus in the foreground and the man blurred in the background. Those flowers almost look like they’re glowing, the way the sun hits them just right. 🙂

Around Aberdeen: Day 4

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Another fine day out practicing in the life boats. 🙂

After we got in to the dock, I spent the afternoon wandering around Aberdeen again.

First thing I did was stop in at C-Mar. I had worked for C-Mar (US) off and on since 2007 when Oceaneering brought my boat back to the Gulf of Mexico and the culture shock was just too much.

I had asked C-Mar too many times to count to find me some work outside the Gulf of Mexico but for some strange reason, they never could come up with anything. 🙁

While wandering around Aberdeen the past couple of days, I had walked right by C-Mars local office. I figured the least I could do was stop by and introduce myself, and so I did. 😉

Everyone was very nice to me and offered me tea and coffee, but I could see they were all pretty busy and working hard. I didn’t stay long. They weren’t in the market for any DPOs or deck officers (if I had been a subsea engineer, they would have jumped).

After a quick cup of tea with the subsea dept head, I found my way to the Tolbooth Museum, another one of Aberdeens FREE museums. It’s right on the main (Union) street downtown.

It was in a very old building (built between 1616- 1629) and had a lot of history. It’s also supposed to be one of the most haunted places in town (I didn’t see any ghosts). It used to be the old jail for Aberdeen. It was a little hairy climbing up the worn old, dark, narrow, spiral stairs to the exhibits in the former cells on the upper levels.

They had some models of Aberdeen, past and present. They had some items from the city archives (a very good collection). They had some old manacles, locks and chains they used to use on the prisoners. There were some interesting stories posted up about former prisoners and the way they lived back in the old days.

I thought the museum was interesting, but not really somewhere I wanted to spend a lot of time. Not because it was haunted or creepy feeling, but because I don’t really want to spend any more time in a jail than I have to. 😉

I found the bus stop and made my way up to Old Aberdeen. I was talking to a lady who sat next to me and she told me where to get off, but I could see the buildings of Kings College (Aberdeen University) as we drove along the street. The bus dropped me off practically right across the street from the main chapel.

It was another gorgeous day and as I was trying to line up my camera to try to take in the whole scene, I started talking to a guy I saw pulling weeds in the yard of a house across the way.

We actually talked for quite a while. He even let me into his garden to take some good shots of the Kings College buildings in his reflecting pool. 🙂

Here’s how it looked from the street.

After I spent some time looking around the college (and peeking in the open rooms- too bad the chapel was closed, the stained glass looked very nice), I walked up the street to the Cruickshank Botanic Gardens.

The gardens and zoological building were only a few blocks from where I got off the bus and were part of the university. The gardens were really nice and part of it near the entrance was full of a large group of people having a reception of some sort.

I walked through all the beautiful, differently landscaped gardens and found the Zoological Building. It has a small museum but I got there just a few minutes too late. They were already closed.

I kept walking. I was trying to make my way to Seaton Park and the River Don. I found another interesting looking churchyard. This one was St Machars. It was already closed for the day. I checked this one out online later and was sorry I missed seeing the interior.

I enjoyed wandering around the churchyard and looking at some of the gravestones (am I weird for finding this stuff interesting?) and the views out over the nearby Seaton Park.

I saw some of the formal gardens of the park from the churchyard, so it was easy for me to find my way down there. I walked around the park enjoying the well tended fields, forests and flowers for a while.Then I found the River Don and decided to follow it down to the sea (Aberdeen Bay).

It was a nice walk along the river and through the woods. I passed people walking their dogs and jogging. I followed the path til it came out over one of the oldest bridges in Scotland (Brig ‘o Balgownie) and into a cute neighborhood of traditional cottages covered with beautiful, sweet-smelling flowers. Roses, honeysuckle and other colorful blooms lined the roadway all the way out to the main road back into downtown.

I stopped into a local pub for change and a drink, then caught the bus back into downtown. I had seen a place advertising traditional Irish music (which I LOVE) and I wanted to try to get there in time for a good seat.

I did get there a little late and the place was pretty crowded. It didn’t really matter tho, since the band wasn’t going to be there anyway. I was rather disappointed. 🙁

I only had a couple of beers before I managed to find my way back to my hotel for the night. More lifeboat ‘training’ in the morning.

Around Aberdeen: Day 3

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Another day spent out playing in the lifeboats off Aberdeen. The weather was still gorgeous and we had a good time practicing man overboard maneuvers, towing and ‘pacing’ (running alongside other boats in order to transfer personnel).

I got out in time to make it to the Aberdeen Maritime Museum before it closed. I had about an hour and a half to check out the exhibits.

I was pretty impressed. It had a lot of really nice stuff. They had a really great concentration on the offshore oilfields around Scotland. They had a scale model of the Murchison oil platform of the North Sea. I was surprised to see they had an example of a DP desk (an older model like one I started on).

They had some great stuff on fishing and whaling and shipbuilding. They had a few nice ship models and lots of paintings and photographs.

I especially liked the old sailing ships. The Thermopylae was built by Walter Hood & Co. for the Aberdeen Line. She was one of the fastest and most famous ships of her time and a really beautiful example of a clipper (IMHO the most beautiful ships of all time).

The museum even had a Newt Suit (rigid diving suit) and an ROV from Oceaneering.

I used to work for Oceaneering and spent a lot of time with the divers and ROV pilots. That was one of my favorite jobs. I never would have quit if they had continued to work my boat overseas. I LOVED that job! We had some great adventures and the crew was like one big family. Those were some good times. 🙂

I really liked the museum, but I didn’t have enough time to spend there. They closed at 5:00 pm. At least I didn’t feel like I wasted any money (the museum is FREE). 🙂

After the museum closed, I figured I would need to go shopping. I had called the airlines about my luggage after class got out and they told me they still had no idea where it might be. I had already been without any clean clothes since Saturday and so I really needed to break down and buy at least a few things.

I know most women are supposed to be really into shopping, but it’s not really my thing (unless it’s in a bookstore). 😉

I do love beautiful clothes, but they don’t really make the kinds of things I like in large sizes. It depresses me to go clothes shopping. Nothing I really like fits me right. 🙁

One of the guys at the training center had told me about a place to get cheap clothes, so I headed up the street to look for it. On the way, I found the tourist center and stopped in for some information and to ask about a tour on the chance I might have the time.

I found the store and shopped until they ran me out at closing time. I really didn’t buy much, just a pair of pants, a pair of shorts and a couple of shirts. It still cost me about 50 GBP! I wouldn’t really call that cheap. Not for the kind of (really cheap) quality I got. At least now I had SOMETHING clean to wear and I could have my jeans washed while I was in class the next day.

Surprise! When I got back to the hotel, I had good news! My luggage had finally arrived! I was so happy to see it, I didn’t even mind that I had just spent 50 pounds for nothing.

Oh well, I guess I can always use more clothes (not). 😉

Capt Jills Journey into History: Houston Maritime Museum

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It’s already time to go back to work. It seems like I just got off!

Yes, I did have a couple of weeks at home. Tomorrow would have been 3 weeks. WOW! It sure flew by. 🙂

I have been pretty busy this time home. I went up to Houston a couple of times. I went to the Houston Rodeo (yeehaw!). Only my 2nd time in all the years I’ve been here. It was fun, I watched the barrel racing and the mutton busting. I tried the fried Snickers ice cream sundae (yummy). Took TONS of pictures. 🙂

I was hoping to meet a friend who was volunteering at the Wine Garden. I did actually meet her, but she was pretty busy by that time and I was on my way out. I was on the way to a meeting with the Sail La Vie sailing club I belong to (check out my post on last Saturdays sail).

That was an interesting meeting. 😉

I spent the night up there in Houston. I had planned to go to the zoo in the morning since the weather looked nice. Apparently everybody else in town had the same idea. I couldn’t get into a parking lot anywhere within a half mile.

I decided to try something else instead. I decided to check out the Houston Maritime Museum. It was actually pretty close to where I spent the night and the Zoo but I drove around for a while looking for it.

I finally found it and was glad I did. Of course, yes, I am always interested in a good maritime museum. 😉

This one didn’t look like much from outside, or even when you first walked in. But the more you wandered around, the more it opened up. There was something interesting to see around every corner.

The Houston Maritime Museum was founded by James L. Manzolillo (merchant mariner and cruise ship lecturer), and opened to the public in 2000. Since then, it’s worked to educate the public about maritime history and the continued importance of the maritime industry to Houston and the State of Texas.

I enjoyed exploring rooms full of models recreating everything from aircraft carriers (including tiny little airplanes on deck) to Liberty ships to semi submersible drilling rigs to the USS Constitution and famous ships of the age of exploration.

The museum counts Master Modeler and restoration expert Lorena Alvarez as a valued member of the team. Her expertise shows! The time and effort that goes into building even one of those models is just unbelievable and they had dozens of models!

They had an excellent collection of navigation equipment: sextants, astrolabes, starfinders, compasses, barometers and barographs, etc.

They had a nice display of ships (and other things) in bottles. I still don’t really know how they get all that done, but it looks like a good project to work on if you don’t have a blog or another hobby to keep you busy at sea. 🙂

They had a mock up of a ships conning station with the ships wheel, compass and engine order telegraph.

They had a room covering war ships and it had a pretty good exhibit on how the merchant marine functioned during war time. Convoys and Liberty ships, sinkings, explosions and other disasters, navy escorts, etc.

They had a room with memorabilia from the old cargo liners and another display of things relating to the passenger liners “Titanic”, “Olympic”, “Britannia” and the SS United States (still one of the fastest ships ever!).

They had a room to tell the history of the Port of Houston. It did a pretty good job of explaining how important the Port was and still is to Houston. How the founders built up Buffalo Bayou and brought cotton and sugar to/from Allens Landing and all up and down the Bayou. Those old photos were really fascinating!

There was another room full of really interesting stuff from the oilfield. There was a painting and write up on Howard Hughes’ (spy ship) Glomar Explorer. There were models of drillships, floating production facilities and semi submersibles. There was a nice little section on whaling (not much of that going on in Houston). 😉

They even had a room just for the kids to learn about maritime stuff. The day I was there, it was still a work in progress. They had costumes for the kids to dress up in and have fun pretending to be ships captains, pirates, mermaids, engineers, etc. 🙂

One of the staff was working on installing a cushion for the floor in the kids room and I started talking to her about the museum. Turns out she was the Director of Operations so I got a really good person to talk to and answer all of my questions.

My biggest one was: why in the world was the Maritime Museum located in such an out of the way place and not nearer to the Ship Channel where people would expect it to be? Turns out, they are in the process of building a new place right over there and it will be opening in 2014 for the 100th Anniversary of the opening of the Houston Ship Channel.

That will be a good move for the Museum, for the Port of Houston and for the general public. It should be easier to find and they will have a partnership with the M/V Sam Houston (which gives free tours of the ship channel), that should help both parties.

That tour is a very interesting thing to do too, especially if the weather is nice. Free boat ride! Woot Woot!!

It really is amazing all the things that go on in our own backyards and most people have no idea. The maritime industry is one of those things that I think more people would be interested in if they only knew about it. I think the Houston Maritime Museum will be a good place to go to learn more about it and I hope more people will take advantage of the opportunity. 🙂

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Surfside Beach St Patricks Day Parade

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I stuck around as long as I could stand it. At least I got to see a lot of old friends and catch up on the news down at the beach. Too bad the weather just SUCKED!

I hate it when the rain gets all over my glasses and I can’t see!

People down there work and plan all year to make this event a success and the cold and rainy weather put a damper on it once more. 🙁

I think only the regulars showed up down there to start with, and only the real die hards stuck around til the parade started.

I wound up leaving right before they started the parade. For some strange reason, I didn’t really feel like hanging around drinking all day (the bars were PACKED with people trying to dry off).

At least I got a few decent pictures. I got to try out my new Olympus Tough camera. It’s waterproof! 🙂

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Preview: Surfside St Patricks Day Parade

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Sorry I haven’t had time to do a whole lot of posting here this week. I hope I can catch up some in the next few days.

I’ve been enjoying my time home and busy doing some fun stuff for a change. I went to the Houston Rodeo, the Houston Maritime Museum, the Sail La Vie meeting, the Campaign for Liberty meeting, and this morning I went to the St Patricks Day Parade at the beach.

I haven’t had time yet to get my pictures together, but here’s a preview. I’ll get them up tomorrow! 🙂

The Age of Impressionism: Great French Paintings from the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute

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The Age of Impressionism: Great French Paintings from the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute | Houston Events.

I’ve been meaning to post this for a while. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to get around to it. Since it’s time sensitive, I really should have put it up earlier, but things have been very busy lately. So, here it is..

The Houston Museum of Fine Arts is having an exhibition of Impressionist Artists. It is already ongoing and will only last until March 23, 2014. The link to the article will give you all the information as far as location, artists represented, etc.

I was up there at the museum the last time I was home. I thought about going to that exhibition, but I was running short on time and I didn’t want to waste my money. The Houston Museum is FREE on Thursdays (which was when I was there). I figured I would look around at what I could for free with what little time I had.

There is a nice sculpture garden outside. I took a bunch of pictures but I don’t know what happened and they all disappeared off my camera! Luckily, the rest of the pictures I took that day were still on my memory card and I was able to get them onto my computer.

I’ll put a couple of them here just to wet your whistle. I’ll put some more up in a gallery once I get them ready.

I have a little bit of a weird taste in art. Here are a couple of my favorites I found at the MFA…

Takahiro Kondo- Dimension Box

Takahiro Kondo- Dimension Box

1903 eggshell porcelain, decorated by H.G.A. Huyvenaar

1903 eggshell porcelain, decorated by H.G.A. Huyvenaar

a monster by Antonio Berni

plasticine on wood by Grupo Mondongo

plasticine on wood by Grupo Mondongo

detail of skull by Grupo Mondongo

That skull was almost the last thing I saw at the museum that day. They had it down in the basement and I almost missed it. It REALLY impressed me. My photos don’t do it justice.

Every inch of it is made up of small figures and items fitted together to make the whole. It’s VERY detailed if you look closely. It was made by Grupo Mondongo. I had no idea the name means ‘tripe’. Thanks Wikipedia. 😉

I wish I knew Spanish better, all the links I can find about them are in Spanish. I definitely want to find out more about them and see more of their work. 🙂

Excellente!

The saddest school lunches we’ve ever seen

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These are the saddest school lunches we’ve ever seen | Grist.

My curiosity got the better of me and I had to take a look at this. Especially after reading all the stories in the news lately about how parents are being fined and even arrested for trying to feed their kids healthy lunches instead of the kind of SH*T (to put it nicely) they get at school. Don’t try to pawn off your leftover turkey sandwiches on the kids anymore, who knows what may happen. 🙂

Don’t you wonder WHY??? Why is it all the sudden such a big deal that the ‘authorities’ would resort to FORCING these kids to eat their crap food? Why is it so wrong for kids to bring lunch from home like we all did since the beginning of public schools???

Are the schools going broke because so many kids aren’t buying school (free) lunch (no, they’re broke because they spend too much money on things other than teaching)- Or are they in cahoots with big agriculture (through FDA and other big government programs)- Or are they buying into Obamacares premise that they can FORCE even our bodies into their mold?

I don’t know what to think about all this yet, but a couple of things I DO know. They are NOT doing this from the goodness of their hearts and they are NOT doing it for the kids benefit! Time to take another look at your kids schools, check out the report at FedUp (www.fedup.dosomething.org/fedup).

Fruit Tree Projects

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Communities Grow Stronger with Fruit Tree Projects – Community – Utne Reader.

I think this is a great idea and hope it spreads even further. I’d like to see it ‘go viral’, spread world wide, everybody getting involved! It has already spread from Santa Cruz, California all the way to Vancouver, to Australia, and even Fiji! 🙂

I have always hated to waste anything. Especially food. Maybe it has something to do with growing up where my parents always insisted I clean my plate. They warned about the ‘starving children in Africa’. I never figured out how my clean plate would help those starving children, but had to play along anyway.

I’m still a member in good standing of the ‘Clean Plate Club’. I’m sure I’m fatter then I should be because of it. I am working towards creating less waste in my kitchen and everywhere else.

I’ve tried to grow a garden in the past, but because I spend so much time at sea, I have not had much success. I do have a lime tree that is making plenty of fruit. Way more than I could ever use. I hate to see them just rotting in the driveway, so I already told my neighbors to just take whatever they want.

I think it would be a great idea if more people could do the same sort of thing. Like the article mentions, these fruit tree projects not only provide much needed and appreciated fresh fruits, but they build community in the process. They also teach useful skills and promote sustainability. I think they are probably fun too!

I’m not sure what the heck is going on in the US lately with the local vendetta on gardening. We used to encourage everyone to grow a garden. Now, we are allowing localities to force people to tear them up?!? WTF???

I remember a few years ago, my town forced my neighbors across the street to tear out the garden they had in their back yard. Supposedly it was illegal! Illegal to grow a garden? Behind a fence? On your OWN land???? In America, the land of the FREE??? I would have sued the SH*T out of them for a HUGE violation of my property rights!

If you want to tell me what I can do with MY land, then YOU can pay the mortgage and the taxes and every other expense. Then, and ONLY then, will it be your land. That’s when YOU get to decide what to do with it. After all, ownership implies being able to USE the thing you own. If you can’t use it, then you don’t really own it.

Apparently, this abuse of local tyrants citing ‘loss of property values’ as some kind of holy grail is spreading like wildfire around the nation. Here’s a link to an article from just the other day…http://www.care2.com/causes/why-are-cities-attacking-home-gardeners.html.

I really hope enough people are outraged by this kind of thing and will get out and raise holy hell with their city councils and homeowners associations and put a stop to this kind of thing.

Help out by signing the petition, Miami Shores: Let Couple Keep Their Vegetable Garden! – The Petition Site, watch the video and give a hand to the Institute for Justices’ Food Freedom Initiative (www.ij.org/foodfreedom) which is trying to help the couple involved in this latest outrage and by extension all the rest of us. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=avHrPbONTzE

Property values are NOT the be all and end all of the value of a neighborhood. In fact, they are probably far down the list for many people. Friendliness and community spirit are probably up there pretty high. I know they are for me. 🙂

Gov’t to gobble up your Thanksgiving

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Liberator Online: Gov’t to gobble up your Thanksgiving.

This is an interesting take on the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. I suppose it is pretty much just an American holiday. Not sure if other countries have it, but I wouldn’t think so.

The report cited in the article reminds us that of $10 billion we spend on Thanksgiving weekend, almost 40% of that is taken by government. Taxes on wine and beer, plane tickets and gas, and the food you enjoy will give the government approximately $3.6 billion in revenues. Hard for me to enjoy my meal remembering those numbers.

What I DO have to be thankful for is, as mentioned in the article, the growing liberty movement, including the Advocates for Self Government (www.theadvocates.org) whose newsletter is where I saw this article.

PS- if you scroll down toward the end of the link, you’ll see a link where you can get a FREE ebook ‘After the Welfare State”. There’s also an article and link to the winners of the Reason Video Prize where you can see the videos.

Texas Beach Cleanup: Update

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Following up on my earlier (http://captjillsjourneys.wordpress.com/2013/09/28/texas-adopt-a-beach) post about the Texas Beach Cleanup last month, I was able to find the results of our efforts online this morning.

Stahlman Park, Fall Beach Cleanup 2013

Stahlman Park, Fall Beach Cleanup 2013

At Surfside Beach, (which was where I went-along with a few friends), they had 1200 (!!) volunteers who cleaned up 13.35 tons of trash over 14 miles of beach! WOW! What a great turnout for a day that wasn’t expected to be nice weather wise. It was fairly windy and it actually did rain a bit after noon. And remember, Surfside Beach only has about 450 full time residents.

Houston Zoomers came down to help out

Houston Zoomers came down to help out

The great bunch of SaveOurBeachAssociation (www.sobatx.org) volunteers manned the home front at Stahlman Park and provided plenty of (FREE!!) hot dogs, chips and cold drinks to the hordes of cleanup crews. They served over 1800 volunteers around Brazoria County that day!! Here’s a big Thank You to S.O.B.A.!! 🙂

SOBA volunteers serving up the cleanup crews at the 2013 fall cleanup

SOBA volunteers serving up the cleanup crews at the 2013 fall cleanup

Quintana Beach had another 174 volunteers who cleaned up 2 miles of beach and found 2.32 tons of ‘marine debris’. Yeah!!

I was not prepared to see bus after bus unloading at Stahlman Park and along the beach. People came from all over the area: representatives from Houston, Galveston and even further away. It was great to see so many people out and about, helping out. School kids in uniforms, church groups, civics clubs, sports teams…Young and old, all colors, all types, from prim and proper to young punks to grizzly old fishermen.

Bus unloads helpers at Surfside Beach

Bus unloads helpers at Surfside Beach

I didn’t really understand until I got there and started wandering the beach how the data would be gathered. It was a little harder than expected to keep track of every piece of garbage we found, from cigarette butts, bottle caps, plastic and glass bottles (none with messages inside), plastic bags, soda cans, plastic cutlery and tiny pieces of unrecognizable plastic to dead fish, old tires, fishing line, floats, escaped balloons, etc. The organizers gave us tally cards along with our collection bags. Great job everyone!

Assigned search areas for Surfside Beach 2013

Assigned search areas for Surfside Beach 2013

You can see the results for all of Texas here…http://www.glo.texas.gov/adopt-a-beach/pdfs/results/2013-fall-results.pdf.

And if you want to help out with the next one, you can find more information on that here: http://www.glo.texas.gov/adopt-a-beach/cleanups/overview.html

Worldwide, the place to go is: http://www.oceanconservancy.org/our-work/international-coastal-cleanup/sign-up-to-clean-up.html

I had a lot of fun at this event. It was a wonderful way to get out of the house, play on the beach, enjoy the natural world, learn something new, have a good time with friends old and new. I hope I’ll be able to make the next one. I didn’t know it until I looked it up for this post, but there are at least 3 more cleanups in Texas coming up before the main one in Spring (April 26, 2014).

Just curious, but did anybody make it to one of these events where you live?

Surfside Beach 2013 Fall Cleanup

Surfside Beach 2013 Fall Cleanup

Utne Monthly Music Sampler

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Utne Monthly Music Sampler.

I really love Utne Reader. Their reviews are one of my favorite parts of the magazine. Now that I get their emails, I can even check the music out right away online. 🙂

This time, they have 10 different artists to investigate. I haven’t had time yet to listen to any of them. I don’t want to hold you all back from some good stuff tho! 😉

Enjoy!! Let me know if you liked it, which songs, which artists? 🙂

Sonic Bloom! A New Solar-Powered Sculpture

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Sonic Bloom! A New Solar-Powered Sculpture | Collage of Arts and Sciences.

An interesting and beautiful sculpture using solar power. Check it out. 🙂

Utne Monthly Music Sampler

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Utne Monthly Music Sampler.

OK, Here’s the monthly music sampler from Utne Reader. I can’t even listen to them out here since my computer is screwed up and the internet is too slow for stuff like that. No music, no videos for me til I get off here…

There’s a good selection to check out this month. They have a great variety in this one. Everything from American folk, blues, punk to Indian folk, classical, Bollywood. I would like to listen to some of this stuff, especially the albums by “Over the Rhine” and “Zachary Cale”, but those guys the  “Jaipur Kawa Brass Band” sound super interesting and I think I might like “Rusty Belle” too.

People into more classical or traditional music might like to try out the selections from Carol Kleyn, a harpist who sings about Silkies, and Van-Anh Vanessa Vo, who plays Vietnamese instruments and sings in a mix of old and new .

Check it out. Let me know which ones you like and why. I’ll be happy to try your recommendations 😉

Lecture Series | Mariners’ Museum

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Lecture Series | Mariners’ Museum.

I only just found out about this lecture series when I read the link on my earlier post on The Project. It will be part of this Lecture Series. It sounds like a pretty cool thing to do if you’re in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia.

Each lecture has a presentation by the author and a Q & A session afterwards. They have them almost monthly and they pick some good ones. The Project about pirates sounds great. They have one on sea monsters coming up Oct 10 that sounds good too.  🙂

Check the link for more information. The website for the museum is www.marinersmuseum.org . Its FREE! 🙂

The Project: Award Winning Documentary on Somali Pirates

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http://www.maritime-executive.com/article/Emmywinning-Filmmaker-Screens-Documentary-on-Somalian-Pirate-Hunters-2013-09-11/

Here’s a new movie coming out that looks pretty interesting. Called ‘The Project’, and directed by Emmy-award winners Shawn Efran and Adam Ciralsky. Hopefully it will bring some attention to a serious issue the worlds seafarers have to deal with.

If you happen to live in the Hampton Roads area (VA), it’s going to be shown for FREE. At the Mariners Museum (www.marinersmuseum.org). Thursday, Sept 19, 7:00 pm, followed by a Q & A session.

If I was home, I would definitely like to go see this. Pirates are a serious issue to all mariners. We may or may not know where we’re going. We’re not allowed to have any sort of protection against these thugs. Our companies expect us to run and hide in a ‘citadel’ onboard til the pirates decide to just leave. Yeah, riiiight, that works SO well…

There are thousands of seafarers injured and traumatized for life because of this. It seems it’s only when an American vessel gets attacked that there is even any publicity.

Pirate attacks happen almost daily on both the East and West Coasts of Africa. There are also attacks in the Malacca Straits, in the South China Sea, all over India and Pakistan, and yes, they still have pirates in the Caribbean  🙁

Too bad they’re not really at all like Johnny Depp.