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Feb 3, 8:11pm
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Mississippi River at its' best
However, if this is the scenery, my best advice to you is: Go home! Turn on the air conditioner at max. Come back in October, when the smog has lifted and the temperature is reasonable.
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Feb 3, 8:58am
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Feb 3, 8:58am
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Pictures in the following segment are copied from a pdf file at stromstad.se [stromstad.se]
Entering the time Machine
Landing on one of the many thousand small islands in the Bohuslan archipelago always puts me in a very relaxed mood. I gather driftwood along the shore, light a fire and wade in the water and collect a handful of these mussles.
Their intrinsic saltiness is perfect, just put them on a stone next to the fire, let them sit until they open up and the last water inside them has boiled off. Still hungry? Get some more. I would take them before oysters any day. Just make sure they are growing on a stone or sandy bottom, where the water is clear.
I can walk around the whole island in less than twenty minutes. Where the beach is a bit more sheltered from the prevailing westerly winds I find low bushes and some pine trees, bent into reluctant submission, but not capitulating to the harsh conditions. Summertime this is paradise. The shallow water warms up to 70 degrees, not like the tropics, but it feels very nice to take a few minutes' swim.
 I take my boat to another island. Here I find traces of human presence, a fairly big house stood here some 150 years ago.
How did the people make a living out here? The Herring came in enormous amounts in periods back then, tons of them, literally. Quite an industry followed the herring, what couldn't be used for food was cooked until the fat separated and gathered on top in gigantic cooking vessels, where it was skimmed off and sold as fuel for lamps. Or for lubrication, or whatever use one could find for it. The remains in the cooking vessels were either dumped back in the sea or spread as fertilizer in the fields. Dare we guess that the stench was next to unbearable?
 Epidemics hit hard during the fifteenth century. This ring of stones is a grim reminder of a cholera epidemic that swept over this part of the world. The victims were buried out here, not to spread the disease further. Nobody knew that microbes existed back then, even less that they were the cause of the epidemics and not the dead.
I sit down in what once a very long time ago was a neighborhood out here, some three miles from the mainland. I believe these people were quite comfortable, comparatively, they certainly enjoyed fresh air and freedom and there was plenty of food in the sea. They probably kept a few cows and some sheep, too.
One final picture before I turn home, two small houses, I dare guess that they belong to a well off family who uses them during the way too short summer months.
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Feb 3, 7:49am
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Feb 3, 7:49am
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Collierville
My youngest sons
(in green shirts)
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Feb 3, 7:49am
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The day started with rain and thunder. In the afternoon it was over and it was at least 70 degrees all of a sudden. So I took a walk in my neighborhood.
The clouds looked great, the kind you think you might walk on.
The birds were quickened by the warm day, too.
Ah, yes, the clouds.
A wall, where they have ripped off the Ivy, leaving a nice pattern behind.
Two Robbins enjoying the false spring.
I sat in our bakyard and almost dozed off for a while, it was really, really pleasant, watching the skies with one eye.
I followed this plane until it disappeared behind the clouds
Only then did I realize that this was more than a casual cloud
The wind picked up something terrible and tossed around whatever was loose in our backyard and I heard that freight train sound from behind me. I don't think it was a twister, but very strong straight winds. I later heard that thousands of homes had lost power from the storm, we were lucky this time, no damage. Only a big branch that came down in our driveway.
And the temperature is dropping from summer to freezing.
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Feb 2, 9:27pm
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Collierville
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Feb 2, 9:33am
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Feb 2, 9:31am
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We took a trip to the very eastern parts of the county today, Sunday. The weather channel had promised sunshine, but the fog didn't lift until noon, so the first images I took are a bit on the dull side.
This is the most American home I can think of and I like the clean functional look.
A Mansion on the Hilltop, indeed.
Pretty much in the middle of nowhere this impressive gate to a new subdivision showed up.
No gates around this castle. It will soon be torn down. Just a stone's throw away a whole new neighborhood has appeared. There were cotton fields here, the last time I drove on that road, maybe three years ago.
When I first came here I couldn't understand why people wanted to have all these trees taking away so much of the daylight, why they didn't cut down all high trees in their yards.
But after having spent a number of hot, humid summers in Memphis, I have come to appreciate the shade!
The sun finally managed to break through the fog and warmed the newspaper man a bit.
Somebody is having a party.
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StumbleUpon - wilbaus web site reviews and blog
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Jan 31, 4:47pm
59 reviews
stumblers
http://wilbau.stumbleupon.com/
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Wilbau came in as my visitor #5000. That made me go and visit his blog, which deserves a visit in its own right. Lots of interesting articles and images.
Mach's gut, mein Freund!
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