Peep Show

The correct age of a marshmallow peep is somewhere between 3 days old and finding last years lost peep deep in the Easter basket with the crinkled cellophane grass stuck to the peeps side where the peeps’ Siamese brother had been separated the previous Easter.

JustBorn Inc of Bethlehem PA cranks out nearly 700 million of the pastel treats on a yearly basis. Each peep requiring a 6 minute gestation period.

The following link provides a view into a combination of sweet extruded creativity and people who have considerably too much time on their hands.

The Washington Post Peep Diorama Contest 2010

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2009/04/10/GA2009041001969.html

Do yourself a favor and flip through the 40 finalist of the diorama contest.

A special note to my friends in the north east. New this year – JustBorn and Rita’s ICE are combining for Peep flavored Rita’s. I'm serious, I never kid about Rita's. Hurry – the special flavor ends at Easter. Personally I’m holding out for the black cherry and gelato mix this summer. Ohhhhhh, so good!

Where's Waldo

I hope you find the following photos as interesting as I do. I can’t recall where I first came across these photos of Chinese artist Liu Bolin, but as the days of winter, where things seem to blend together, pass I thought it be a good time to present them.

He spends up to 10 hours or more blending himself into the environment. These sets of photos are sometimes referred to as ‘Hiding in the City’ or ‘Camouflage’ depending on which site you elect to believe what you see. Either way I hope you enjoy the pics.

I was going to try and do the same by painting my daughters into their favorite scene, but Sponge Bob Squarepants moves around to much for them to blend in very well.

And one of my personal favorite of Liu Bolin.

Don't know about you, but I can't wait for spring where blending in seems a whole lot harder to do. You can easily find additional pictures through a quick google.

The Darkest Evening of the Year

It was just about this time of year five years ago when our youngest was a year and a half old. We were driving home one night in early December when for the first time Sarah witnessed Christmas lights. Each time we came across another house decked out for the season she drew the same quick gasp of utter amazement. White lights, blue lights, snowflakes, icicles, giant inflatable, it didn’t matter, the surprise was audible and visible for a little girl taking it all in for the first time. She loved it all and still does. Both of our girls love the lights, especially the ‘dancing house’ near us. This is the Griswald-like house that coordinates 60,000 lights to music. Our girls to this day can’t wait to see the ‘dancing house’ each Christmas and hear the newest song on the play list. The dancing lights make the darkest nights of the year a little brighter, both literally and in the hearts of our girls.

For the winter solstice Friday’s Note presents a little Frost followed by a little light.

Enjoy

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village, though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there's some mistake.

The only other sound's the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

R Frost

On the darkest evening of the year we could all use a little extra light. Though it's a few days early, here ya go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2TPMoP01Sc

America's Best Idea

They contain the highest point and lowest point in the country. They also contain the worlds largest living organisms. They are our National Parks. An originally American idea, the National Parks set aside special lands for the enjoyment of everyone.
The parks are said to have the ‘Wow’ factor and I’ve certainly found that to be true again and again. It is just as much fun to be around wihen another person is hit with the stunning awe of the sites to be absorbed. I was sitting on the rim of the Grand Canyon with my sister waiting for the sunset to turn the red and orange hughes even deeper in tone when a little boy and his older sister ran out from the parking lot path to get their first site of the canyon. That is when the little brother said ‘Wwwooooooowwwwww!’, upon taking in the view. To which his wiser sister replied, “See, and you said it was just a hole in the ground” with all of the, I told you so she could muster.

Other wow factors have include hiking through a calf deep stream in the Narrows of Zion NP with the towering walls so high that you hurt your neck cranking your head back to see the where the top of the rock walls touch the sky. Then there was the time standing at the pay phone in the Tetons calling my folks running through the litany of animals we had scene. Keep in mind, I was a 30 year old with the excitement of 7 year old rambling on the phone.

One of my favorite places is the front porch of Roosevelt Lodge in Northern Yellowstone. It’s a long wooden planked porch running the entire front of the one story log building built in 1920. There is a big pine log rail that is perfect for propping your feet up on while rocking the evening away sipping on Moose Drool ale. If you are fortunate enough to be at the lodge the last week of August the place is decorated for Christmas. The trophy antlers are strung with white lights and there is Christmas tree by the river rock fireplace with home made paper ornaments. Roosevelt Lodge, like most of Yellowstone, shuts down Labor Day preparing for the long winter, so the summer staff celebrates Christmas together before returning to their regular lives.

If you have had the pleasure of visiting one of the parks or have only dreamed of making such a trip, do yourself a favor and watch the new Ken Burns documentary on the National Parks. The program airs for the first time starting Sunday evening, September 27th, on PBS. From the first morning rays of light hitting America in Acadia National Park to first national park, Yellowstone, it is a visual treasure trove. Take the phone off the hook, let the dog out, don't answer the door and set aside all other distractions, then Enjoy.

http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/

Pre view clips of the documentary: http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/watch-video/

Photos: Hiking the South Kaibab trail Grand Canyon NP, Moulton Barn Grand Teton NP, Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir in Yosemite (since I don't have Mr Peabody's wayback machine I didn't take this picture), Early Morning Mist Yellowstone NP.

Playing for change

photos from Playing for Change.com

Take an old favorite song, mix in a washboard from New Orleans, drums from New Mexico, a Chello from Russia, guitars from Venezuela, a soulful sax in Italy and a swaying choir from South Africa and what do you get?

You get Playing for Change. A belief that we have more in common than our differences and that we can pull together for good.

Take a momement to read the back story: http://www.playingforchange.com/journey/introduction

I hope you enjoy the original Standy By Me that circumnavigates the globe. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us-TVg40ExM

They are throwing guitars out there!

In 1989, while waiting to pull down a real job, I had time on my hands and went to the US Senior Open golf tournament. I really reveled attending the practice round, getting to shake Arnie's hand and see Gary Player sharply put a loud drunk guy in his place. While waiting on a shot, Chi Chi Rodriquez came over to the ropes and told the following story.

He said when he went to the airport in Miami they were so nice to him and asked him where he wanted to bags to go. He said, "This big bag here, send it to San Francisco, and this little bag send to New York and my golf clubs make sure they get to Pittsburgh." the porter looked confused and said, "My Rodriguez, we can't do that?" - to which Chi Chi replied - "Why not, that's what you did for me last week."

It was late fall in 1995, and I had just landed at the T.F. Green airport in Providence Rhode Island. I had been working as the lead for a project with our local account and this was just another in a long series of trips to meet with the team and customer. Waiting at the baggage carousel, I experienced one of life's universal truths - it's never a good thing to be one of the last to get your luggage. As they say, bad news never ages well and hence there came my hanging bag, alone, ripped open and looking very much as if it had been dragged behind the plane on the rain soaked runway. I kid you not, I swear there were tire tracks across a portion of the canvas (see prior Friday's note related to canvas bags) hanging bag. Fortunately for me, the airlines accepted responsibility for the bag and what contents were obviously ruined. It also helped that in Providence was the Tourister manufactures outlet.

I was reminded of these events through the recent youtube explosion of another fine example of baggage handling skills. The following link makes me wish I had had a guitar with me in Providence as well as the ability to write and sing a song.

Enjoy - here's hopping your luggage is always first on the carousel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

Let's say it was the moonlight

Have you ever wondered if the Doc Graham character in the movie Field of Dreams was fictional or not? While my curiosity never drove me to the Baseball Encyclopedia to do the research myself, the following article has fortunately lifted that burden from me.
Enjoy!

"People will come Ray, people will most definitely come!"

"Is there enough magic out there in the moonlight to make dreams come true?"

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05176/528257.stm

Related links:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/g/grahamo01.shtml

http://www.cardmall.com/moonlight-graham/

Remember the Yankees are now having a sale on their premium seats. A family of 4 can now attend a game for the low discount price of $5,000. $9 beers not included.