Magical mystery floor

It looks to me like magic must live in this little place on some forest floor. I can almost see the tiny woodland fairies giggling just off camera...

[Photos are better if you click on them to embiggen.]

Turn of the season

It's still fall here in the little city. In fact it's kind of a weird combination of fall/spring. Leaves are turning and falling because of the short light, but it's still been warm enough to confuse the spring flowers. I've seen several iris blooming.

Still, we do get a real fall here. Not as impressive as the hills of New England but we do get colors, even here in town. What we don't get here is get is water. So a sight like this from a warm fall day in Chicago is rare.

I miss the water more than a lot of things about the northeast. [original photo]

[Photos are better if you click on them to embiggen.]

Wild skies

No idea where this was taken but how incredible are these clouds? Is just me, or it does it seem like clouds in general have been evolving along with climate change. I remember when there was about 4 basic common ones and something like this would be rare. Now I see totally wild looking ones like these all the time.

[photo via Bad Astronomer]

[Photos are better if you click on them to embiggen.]

Flotsam and jetsam

This is pretty incredible. Some artist walked 500 miles along the British coastline and collected a bunch of stuff washed on the beach to make this huge hanging sculpture.

More photos and the back story here.

[Photos are better if you click on them to embiggen.]

Lotus give thanks for flowers

I always wanted to grow lotus blossoms. When I lived on the farm, we had the perfect spot for it, but I didn't own the land so I didn't do it.

If I had planted them on the farm, they would probably still be there today and it would look something like this.

[photo via twitter]

[Photos are better if you click on them to embiggen.]

If I ever get to Greece

Add this to the list of places I'd like to see in person before I die. Molyvos Levos, Greece. Now if I could just win that Powerball jackpot...

[Photos are better if you click on them to embiggen.]

World's largest chia pet

I've seen cars recycled as planters in many ways, but this one is clearly the best ever. The only thing that would make it cooler is if you could still drive it.

[Photos are better if you click on them to embiggen.]

Razz-a-ma-Tas

I don't recall ever having seen a Tasmanian Devil before outside of Bugs Bunny cartoons. I'm not one that finds every single baby animal cute but these Tas joeys are really darling.

Happy Thanksgiving - Part two

Decided to stay home alone and have a quiet holiday. My only tradition is to post the classic WKRP Thanksgiving episode. This is the best capture I've ever seen. It includes the build up that explains the punchline, for those too young to remember seeing it when it originally aired. Dr. Johnny Fever was so hot. He was ironic way before it was cool.

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope everyone has a fabulous holiday full of great food and warm company. Probably won't be eating any of these guys myself, but I do love me all the side dishes. Especially the brussel sprouts and the stuffing and mashed potatoes and gravy.

[Photos are better if you click on them to embiggen.]

Puppy love

No idea if this is true. It came from Facebook. But even if it isn't, it's a helluva story.

During an early morning response to a house fire in Santa Rosa de Temuco, Chile, firefighters witnessed the unbelievable. A mother dog risked her life to save her puppies from the fire surrounding the burning house, which started because of a car bomb.

The mother dog, Amanda, raced back and forth between the house, putting her 10 day old puppies in the safest place she could find - a firetruck!

She didn't stop racing back into the fire until all of her puppies were safely away from the fire. The firemen on scene could not believe their eyes. Most people have never seen a dog this smart or this brave!

After rescuing all of her pups from the blaze, Amanda sat down next to them, protecting them with her body. Onlookers called an emergency veterinary service and she and her pups were rushed to the hospital. Aside from one puppy being treated for serious burns, the entire family are alive and well - thanks to the bravery of Amanda, the heroic mother!

[Photos are better if you click on them to embiggen.]

A memorial tree

This is the Kerry Landman Memorial Tree built by Jordan Mason and Eric Landman. I'm told when it was orginally built the top stones were covered with moss. Lovely tribute. If I had a place of my own, I'd build things like this on it.

[Photos are better if you click on them to embiggen.]

Aromatherapy

If you've ever grown lavender, you can almost smell this photo. Wonder how big that field really is? I could walk around it for hours.

Can I, please?

This one is for my sister who will be going to an elephant preserve in a couple of months. Pretty sure she's going to want to take one home.

Beam me up Scotty

Found on the facebook. Made me laugh. I've been waiting for them to invent this for a long time.

Cold beauty

Hoping I won't see this in real life this year, but I remember well how beautiful the ice could be when I lived in the frozen north.

Waiting for spring

Well, I'm in my seasonal SAD funk as the world gets dark so early. Freezing here today. Makes me wish I could crawl into this beautiful watercolor by Z.L. Feng and hang out there until it gets warm outside again.

Haunted toaster

Before people figured out they could sell potato chips and grilled cheese sandwiches that looked like Jesus on EBay, people were more worried about demonic possession.

In May 1984, The Today Show aired what can unarguably be described as the greatest televised interview ever: Legendary Weekly World News reporter and future Jerry Springer Show executive producer Richard Dominick's sit-down with a woman whose toaster was possessed by the Devil.

Love this so much, especially the message from Satan on the toast...

Lamb's best friend

This is too sweet not to share. Via Pam Grier on twitter who is apparently someone famous who started following me. I've never heard of her before, but she was tweeting about animal rights and hot air ballooning so I followed her back. Worth it, just to get this photo:

Jolly old England

Hope before I die I get to fulfill my dream of touring the British Isles. And spend time in quiet places like this in the lake district of Grasmere, England.

[photo via Dan Lewis]

Surreal

Found on the internets. A very nice gallery of places that don't look quite real, but really are. Love them all, but this one of Moravia, Czech Republic is one of favorites.

They're all great. See 24 more pictures here.

Hobbits!

Hobbits and elves and dwarves, oh my. It's getting closer to the release of the new Hobbit movie. Getting excited. And this makes me happy. New Zealand airline updated their pre-flight instructional video. Too fun:

Everybody needs a hug sometime

Going to be a crazy emotional day in my world. Here's hoping everyone who needs one, gets a hug as good as this...

All aboard

Thought of my Dad when I saw this one. Wonder how long it took to build this snow sculpture? Thinking almost as long as building a real train.

Funny face

A while back I posted a bunch of photos from someone who went around looking for faces on houses. Haven't seen any in a long time, but this one just popped up. Not sure if this more happy or hungry looking, but I like the image. Not sure I would step that door though. Looks like it might just chomp down once you get inside...

Live from Austria

My friend Marcellina is an American living in Austria. She goes hiking a lot in the beautiful country side and posts lots of photos. Here's one of the town of Fliess.

Much more at her blog.

A moment of zen

If magic has a home, this is surely the place it must live. I want to walk into this photo myself and not leave until the world stops being so crazy.

A blessed Dia De Los Muertos

I've always loved Halloween but as I get older I've come to appreciate the Mexican tradition of Day of the Dead even more. The earth based religions believe at this time of the year, the veils between the living and the dead are the thinnest and it's possible to communicate with our departed loved ones the most easily now.

I'm celebrating this one today. While I can't visit any grave sites, I'm remembering all my lost friends and family today and sending them my enduring love. Especially my Dad. Been just over a year but I still miss him just as much today and I did on the first day he left us. But I'm not telling him that. It's a celebration so I'll just send cheery thoughts about the good things in my life. [original graphic Fine Art America]

Addendum: Just in off the social nets. 50 Photos of the Day of the Dead.