Standing in Tuttle Creek State Park, Kansas, in the Flint Hills overlooking the Tuttle Creek Lake. It's sooo darn pretty!

Leaving Kansas City for Kansas State University, Manhatten.

is looking forward to travelling through 150 miles of Kansas countryside tomorrow PM.

Happy Fourth of July!

Boardwalk, Hollywood, Fl

The group cycled a beautiful 15 mile Coral Gables route this morning. Just beat the rain home. What a refreshing start to the day.

In the Heart of the Gator Nation

En route to Gainsville, Ocala area

NASA space shuttle launch

NASA space shuttle launch pad in the distance, Kennedy Space Center at
Cape Carnaveral, viewed from Titusville/Merrit Island.
After driving 150 miles to see the launch of the shuttle, word around
the hundreds of campfires were that it's been postponed till
Wednesday. Apparently due to a leak in the hydrogen tank.
Oh well, it was a beautiful drive and always great being out of Miami
and IN America.

The Don't Song

The song of the month!
We had quite a few chuckles over this one! (The base guitar player's mullet being the dream, of course.) ;-)
Click here to watch the music video.

South Africa's First Ladies

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA - South Africa's newly elected President Jacob Zuma presented his State of the Nation Address at a joint sitting of the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces at Parliament, June 3, 2009.

Pictured here at this historic event are Zuma's wives; Thobeka Mabhija, Nompumelelo Ntuli and Sizakele Khumalo. (Photo by Gallo Images)

New Career 23 Years in the Making

From last week's Bristol Evening Post:

Outside Bristol Zoo is the car park, with spaces for 150 cars and 8 coaches. It has been manned 6 days a week for 23 years by the same charming and very polite car park attendant with the ticket machine. The charges are £1. per car and £5. per coach.
On Monday 1 June, he did not turn up for work. Bristol Zoo management phoned Bristol City Council to ask them to send a replacement parking attendant.
The Council said "That car park is your responsibility." The Zoo said "The attendant was employed by the City Council... wasn't he?" The Council said "What attendant?"
Gone missing from his home is a man who has been taking daily the car park fees amounting to about £400 per day for the last 23 years...!

Kostelike storie. Ek hoop die knaap is nou erens op 'n tropiese eiland besig om 'n Mojito uit 'n kelkieglas te teug. Hy verdien sy aftrede!

"Rogerrrrrr!!!" Finally.

Shocked! It finally happened. I've arrived at the next stage in my life: a cute Afrikaans UM student called me "Oom" this morning.

Key West Memorial Weekend Parade

Mother's Day Bliss

Sunset, Juno Beach, Stuart, Central Florida.

Desperate Fundraising Tactic?

I saw this sign outside of a church in our area. See the irony?

Helen Zille the New Western Cape Premier

Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille was elected as the Western Cape premier on Wednesday. Her party beat the reigning national party, the ANC in last month's general election.

Zille, the former mayor of Cape Town, will lead a 22-member DA team in the 42-seat legislature. She and provincial leader Theuns Botha were sworn in in the Cape Town Chambers yesterday. Both leaders asked to take the religious oath, rather then a non-religious affirmation.

If the Western Cape were it's own country, I'd move back in a heartbeat. It is the province with the best economy, the best infrastructure, the least fraud by it's administrators, and offering the best quality of life. It is also the one province in South Africa that you can recommend to your foreign friends to visit with a clear conscience: both because it is safer then the rest of SA, and because it is a place of stunning natural beauty.

I'll wait and see before forming any worse impressions of Jacob Zuma, South Africa's new president. Maybe he rises from the African tribal culture, does not employ favoritism and nepotism, works to improve the lives of all South Africans, and not just to cement his own position as chief. Time will tell.

Swine Flu -When Pigs Will Fly

Swine flu: a real threat to the world population or blown out of proportion?

The current media hysteria with Swine Flu... oops, rather the H1N1 strain, reminds strongly of the experience we had living in S-E-Asia during the Bird Flu "epidemic".

I remember that the whole Taichung were wearing face masks. It was a funny time. The entrance to every building you entered were guarded by security guards with little electronic thermometers. Once we tried to enter a movie theatre and Sarah's temperature was measured at more than 120! Although the measuring instrument was obviously broken, we did not get to see the movie that night... Not a single person in Taichung ever contracted the disease.

Health officials taking stock of the epidemic in the aftermath found that 12 people died as a result of the virus, throughout the whole Asia (MSNBC). And the deaths occurred in rural areas where doctors and medical attention were not readily available.

An epidemic is when thousands are already infected and affected. The media is talking about an epidemic!? People are gullible - moeee!, I lost my herd, which direction are they running in now.

Pic: We all know who Kermit got the flu from!

I've been fighting the monster South-Florida sabel tooth flu virus for the last 6 days. Luckily, it is subsiding and we'll hopefully be able to enjoy the upcoming weekend in some good health.

Bahia Honda Key State Park

After hearing that Bahia Honda Key is a reservation area with a beautiful beach and camping facilities Sarah and I had to go see for ourselves.  Bahia Honda means "Deep Bay" in Spanish, the channel on the West of the island one of the deepest in the Florida Keys.

Bahia Honda Key, situated on the South side of the Seven-Mile Bridge at Mile Marker 37, is a small island, home of the 524-acre State Park.  Henry Flagler's old Bahia Honda bridge, build in 1937 still stands as a look-out area, but is no longer in use.

The scenic beach was voted as No. 1 on Tripadvisor and over the years as the most beautiful in Florida by various prestigious travel magazines.  Marine life is plentiful and snorkeling just offshore, I saw quite a bit, including baracudas (not so nice), a stingray, parrot fish etc.

It's close to Marathon to the North (grrrreat fresh seafood restaurants) and Key West to the South.  The camping sites look out over the ocean to the East and we are planning to go try them out again later with friends - before Summer and the mosquitoes come though!