DAY 4137 - Pancho's and Ice Skating.

Offensive - junk mail collage.

   

 

 

2GN2S

 

China’s ‘most inconvenient convenience store’ hangs off the side of a cliff

The name Shiniuzhai – “stone ox village” in Chinese – was inspired by one of the hills, which is shaped like the back of an ox.

The convenience store is located along an 800-meter via ferrata route. Via ferrata – Italian for “iron way” – is a pathway along a mountain that uses metal anchors and other structures that climbers can fasten themselves to as they make their way up/across challenging terrain. 

Hunan, a landlocked province with 64 million people, is also home to The Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, which is famous for its  pillar-like karst formations believed to have inspired otherworldly landscape in Canadian director James Cameron’s 2009 hit “Avatar.”  

After church we went to Summerlin and

for a long, fun, delicious meal for 11.

Superman, Wonderwoman, Grandhunk1, his girlfriend Grandcutie, her parents, Larry and Tina, Grandhunk 3, his friend Jason, and

friends of GH1and GC, Brian and Monica.

 

GH3, GH1, GC.

We had heard that they had a ice-skating rink by the Redrock Hotel and Mall. None of us skated but enjoyed watching all levels and a lot of first-timers. 

GH3, Superman walk grandma to the rink.

It was more crowded than it looks in the photo.

I have wanted to be tall like WW, This is as near as I got.       

Our gang watching from the outside.

 

 

WW and Mom/Grandma

 

  

 

A 6 minute video, Kinetic Sculpture, here.

 

 

 

 

Just because ...

 

 

Yellow-backed Oriole

 

Monday's Smiles ...

 
 

     

  

 

    

 

 

 

Day 4134 - White envelope and Kaavan

Potential - junk mail collage

 

Want music?

    Click here:Diane Birch, Daydreaming

 

2GN2S

 

THE LITTLE WHITE ENVELOPE: 

 

"It's just a small, white envelope stuck among the branches of our Christmas tree. No name, no identification, no inscription. It has peeked through the branches of our tree for the past ten years.

It all began because my husband Mike hated Christmas. Oh, not the true meaning of Christmas, but the commercial aspects of it – overspending and the frantic running around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry and the dusting powder for Grandma – the gifts given in desperation because you couldn't think of anything else.

Knowing he felt this way, I

decided one year to bypass the usual shirts, sweaters, ties and so forth. I reached for something special just for Mike. The inspiration came in an unusual way.

 

Our son Kevin, who was 12 that year, was on the wrestling team at the school he attended. Shortly before Christmas, there was a non-league match against a team sponsored by an inner-city church. These youngsters, dressed in sneakers so ragged that shoestrings seemed to be the only thing holding them together, presented a sharp contrast to our boys in their spiffy blue and gold uniforms and sparkling new wrestling shoes. As the match began, I was alarmed to see that the other team was wrestling without headgear, a kind of light helmet designed to protect a wrestler's ears. It was a luxury the ragtag team obviously could not afford. Well, we ended up walloping them. We took every weight class. Mike, seated beside me, shook his head sadly, "I wish just one of them could have won," he said. "They have a lot of potential, but losing like this could take the heart right out of them." 

 

Mike loved kids – all kids. He so enjoyed coaching little league football, baseball and lacrosse. That's when the idea for his present came.

That afternoon, I went to a local sporting goods store and bought an assortment of wrestling headgear and shoes, and sent them anonymously to the inner-city church. On Christmas Eve, I placed a small, white envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Mike what I had done, and that this was his gift from me.

 

Mike's smile was the brightest thing about Christmas that year. And that same bright smile lit up succeeding years. For each Christmas, I followed the tradition – one year sending a group of mentally handicapped youngsters to a hockey game, another year a check to a pair of elderly brothers whose home had burned to the ground the week before Christmas, and on and on.The white envelope became the highlight of our Christmas. It was always the last thing opened on Christmas morning, and our children – ignoring their new toys – would stand with wide-eyed anticipation as their dad lifted the envelope from the tree to reveal its contents. As the children grew, the toys gave way to more practical presents, but the small, white envelope never lost its allure.

The story doesn't end there. You see, we lost Mike last year due to dreaded cancer. When Christmas rolled around, I was still so wrapped in grief that I barely got the tree up. But Christmas Eve found me placing an envelope on the tree. And the next morning, I found it was magically joined by three more. Unbeknownst to the others, each of our three children had for the first time placed a white envelope on the tree for their dad. The tradition has grown and someday will expand even further with our grandchildren standing to take down that special envelope. Mike's spirit, like the Christmas spirit will always be with us."

 

For the Man Who Hated Christmas 

(A true Christmas Story by Nancy W. Gavin, December 2015)

  

 

A re-post from 2020      

 

Kaavan, Pakistan's only Asian elephant, was known as "Word's Loneliest Elephant"when his partner died in 2012, leaving him to languish in a controversial Islamabad zoo. Earlier this year, Islamabad's High Court closed the zoo over its poor conditions, and gave an animal welfare group permission to relocate him. Free the Wild, the charity tasked with taking care of Kaavan, was co-founded by singer Cher. Non-profit Cambodia Wildlife Sanctuary said that Kaavan will now live in a huge jungle enclosure, where most of his food will be provided naturally -- although he'll also get fruit treats to "satisfy his sweet tooth." Three other elephants live at the sanctuary.

A Happy Ending.

 

  

 

A 1-1/2 minute video, baby elephant, here.

 

 

 

Just because ...

 

Wood Duck

  

Friday's Smiles ...

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

Day 4127 - The tomato garden and a quote.

 

ENEMY - photo. collage, digital.

 

 

 

Want music?

    Click here: Steelers Wheel, 

Stuck in the Middle With You

 

2GN2S

 

 An old Italian lived alone in New Jersey. He wanted to plant his annual tomato garden, but it was very difficult work, as the ground was hard. 

  His only son, Vincent, who used to help him, was in prison.  The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament:

Dear Vincent,
I am feeling pretty sad because it looks like I won't be able to plant my tomato garden this year.  I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot.  I know if you were here my troubles would be over.  I know you would be happy to dig the plot for me, like in the old days.
Love, Papa

A few days later he received a letter from his son which read:
Dear Papa,

Don't dig up that garden.  That's where the bodies are buried. Love,Vinnie

At 4 a.m. the next morning, FBI agents and local police arrived and dug up the entire area without finding any bodies.  They apologized to the old man and left.

That same day the old man received another letter from his son.

Dear Papa,

 Go ahead and plant the tomatoes now.  That's the best I could do under the circumstances. Love you, Vinnie  

 

Business executive Jay Ferro reveals a truth about work:

"The three stages of career development are:

1. I want to be in the meeting

2. I want to run the meeting

3. I want to avoid meetings."

 

 

  

 

A 6 minute video, Fox and Mouse, here.

 

 

 

Just because ...

 

Toco Toucan

 

  

Monday's Smiles ...