Posts in category Photos

Congratulations to Linda from Pittsburgh, PA on her winning entry in our South African Adventure Sweepstakes! She and husband Ron will take a trip of a life time to Cape Town, South Africa this coming November. Linda’s winning entry talks about her volunteer work with Yes, You Can Dance and the effect it’s had on her life in such a short time. “Yes, You Can Dance is an amazing organization which provides modified ballroom dance lessons to ages 16-99 special needs students as well as to those with MS. Talk about happy! These students feel accomplished and proud of themselves and the volunteer dance mentors (of which I am one) …

Training your brain to think of humbling experiences is a great exercise for the ego. One for me is Ta Prohm in Angkor, Cambodia, made famous in Lara Croft; Tomb Raiders with Angelina Jolie. This amazing temple which dates back to the 12th century was made to withstand the test of time yet again, nature outsmarts. The trees, some, 400 years old, send their roots down from a seed caught in the roof and grow for hundreds of years using the temple as support so when the trees die, the temple crumbles. Then one day the only record of this amazing structure will be what we capture on camera and …

As I watched the rhino grazing in the African plain, I wondered if my grandkids would be looking at photos of rhinos in a book one day like we look at dinosaurs. Their extinction would be much more palatable if it were due to an ice age. However, they are being killed off in staggering numbers now for their horns which happen to be made of the same thing as our fingernails, keratin. So, if biting our fingernails doesn’t cure our ills or make us feel “horny,” killing rhinos won’t do the trick either. Rhino horns are also in high demand for dagger handles, a long standing status symbol of …

Congratulations to Manuel Mantoya! Take a look at his entry below: “My wife and I have tapped into happiness by opening our home and hearts to people from around the world. During the last twenty years we have had the privilege of hosting 14 International students in our home. Students from Iraq, Germany, Thailand, Japan, Turkey, Korea, Zimbabwe, Sweden, and China were given a home away from home to complete their education. We’ve shared moments of joy, heartache, and broke bread with young adults from diverse backgrounds and cultures. By sharing our home, we were able travel the globe through the hearts and stories of our “adopted” children. We’ve also …

Visiting Burj Khalifa While here in Dubai, Ian and I went to the top of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, measuring 829.8 m (2,722 ft). It is absolutely amazing and one should not visit Dubai without having the experience of the ascent, the view, and the state of the art sights and sounds on the way up to the top. We enjoyed a 60 second lift off to the 148th floor in an elevator that projected images of the tallest buildings around the world as we passed over them.   Flower of Life It was in the elevator that I noticed the Burj Khalifa’s logo on …