Gasp.
Here’s what I missed this New Year.
Saskatchewan winter wonderland.
Warren posted a few more photos on Facebook.
Category: photos
Dar Al Hajar (Rock Palace)
Perhaps the most photographed structure in all of Yemen.
My pics …
Our van load of gymnasts and coaches made the trip on Friday, Dec. 21st.
OK … more than a van load. 🙂
Old City – Sana’a, Yemen
I visited the Old City three times while in Sana’a.
Haunting, evocative architecture.
The old fortified city has been inhabited for more than 2,500 years and contains many intact architectural gems. It was declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations in 1986. Efforts are underway to preserve some of the oldest buildings some of which, such as the Samsarh and the Great Mosque of Sana’a, are more than 1,400 years old.
Surrounded by ancient clay walls which stand 9–14 metres (30–46 ft) high, the old city contains more than 100 mosques, 12 hammams (baths) and 6,500 houses. Many of the houses resemble ancient skyscrapers, reaching several stories high and topped with flat roofs. They are decorated with elaborate friezes and intricately carved frames and stained-glass windows.
It’s an active neighborhood. No museum.
Mormon Christmas – Salt Lake City
Before heading to the Middle East, I got in the season’s spirit during a brief stopover in Salt Lake City.
The Mormon Temple puts on a terrific light show.
Hospitality is excellent, too. They offer a free shuttle from the airport for travelers who have a few hours to spare in SLC.
Some of the photos are from the impressive downtown Gateway Mall.
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I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don’t feel threatened. I don’t feel discriminated against. That’s what they are: Christmas trees. It doesn’t bother me a bit when people say, “Merry Christmas” to me. I don’t think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn’t bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a creche, it’s just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.
Shiro on Vancouver Island
My old coach, Shiro Tanaka, brought Japanese friends to Canada for a gymnastics study tour. They are visiting clubs in Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary — and holidaying in-between.
Hardy and Cynthia hosted them at their place on Sproat Lake, Vancouver Island. I was chauffeur.
It’s paradise.
Next morning Hardy skippered the group to local highlights.
Great start to the Canadian tour. 🙂
See more and higher resolution annotated photos on flickr.
iPhone 5 better than friends
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
(via Merlin Mann)
new blog theme …
Testing this one. It’s called Reddle. Leave a comment if it causes you any grief.
Header image is called The Old Wild Stampede.
Photo by Stuck in Customs. A travel photography site by Trey Ratcliff. I’m subscribed.
Buzludzha Monument, Bulgaria
Have you heard about the huge, abandoned Buzludzha Monument in Bulgaria?
Symbolic of the grandiose stupidity of Soviet Communism.
Check some of Timothy Allen’s photos.
… In September 2011, the Bulgarian cabinet transferred ownership of the monument to the Bulgarian Socialist party.
Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borisov declared, “We shall let them take care of it because here it also holds true that a party which does not respect its past and its symbols has no future”.
They have still not come to an agreement about what to do with it.
To date, every year at the end of July, 30-40,000 Bulgarian Socialists still congregate at Buzludzha to mark the founding of the Bulgarian Social-Democratic Party.
read more – Human Planet
May Day, May Day
Gorgeous weather for my May 1st run around Waskana Wascana Lake. Nobody knows how pretty Regina is.
It rained and hailed later in the day.
Rick McCharles 