I just read the most interesting article in Cruising World, about a man who sails with his family aboard a sailboat named, Cotton Valley. What makes this story unique is that the man suffers from retinitus pigmentosis, a degenerative eye disease that causes a constriction of the visual field. Over the past few years his sight has diminished to totally blindness. I would be afraid to sail with full sight ability let alone sail as a blind person.
John Berg has always loved sailing and talked his wife into giving up their home in Flagstaff, Arizona to live on Cotton Valley in the harbor at Ventura, California. Now the entire family that includes their 11 year old daughter and a German Shepherd guide dog live on the sailboat. Oh, I almost forgot that Chumsley the hamster was also aboard. They have ventured out to sea, traveling from Ventura to Santa Cruz.
Check out the article written by Susan Cooper-Berg in the June 2008 issue of Cruising World.
I found the story fascinating and admire John for his undetered lifestyle.
One of the best museums displaying American Western art and artifacts is the wonderful Stark Museum of Art. H.J. Lutcher Stark and his mother, Miriam Lutcher Stark established the Stark Foundation as a non-profit corporation in 1961. Beginning as a vision of improving the quality of life in Southeast Texas by encouraging, promoting and assisting education, the arts, and health and human services. The Stark Museum of Art holds a wide array of collections of art.
The Western Art collection includes many artists dating over two centuries. Beautiful art in many forms portray cowboy life and Indian imagery depicted from the artist’s individual interpretation as they settled in the west.
The Indian tribes of the Great Plains, Southwest, Eastern Woodlands and Northwest Coast are represented in wonderful collections. Examples of Plains clothing, body ornaments, and beadwork, such as elaborately beaded moccasins are displayed in the Stark Museum of Art.
Collectors from all over the world have visited the Stark Museum of Art to see the museum’s collection of rare books and manuscripts.
Offering an outstanding collection of glass and porcelain in its Decorative Arts Collection, the Stark Museum of Art is renowned as having numerous items from Steuben Glass. Another wonderful exhibit that can only be seen at the Stark Museum of Art is the complete set of The United States in Crystal, a series of bowls engraved with scenes representing each of the 50 states as well as Puerto Rico and the Union. Other exhibits include beautiful porcelain birds by artist Dorothy Doughty as well as those by artist Edward Marshall Boehm..
Located in the city of Orange, Texas in the southeast corner of Texas this wonderful museum is one I hope to visit someday. For now, I will continue reading and learning from their website at http://www.starkmuseum.org/.
How do you like my new theme? I am so excited about having it. It makes me smile every time I come here to write. My friends Val and Loretta over at Easy WAHM Websites have beautiful themes. This one is called Mushroom House. It was hard to decide between it and their fairy themes.
In their own words:
You can buy a website that is completely ready to go. We have top notch domain names, word press designs, and content that has been started for you. You will be able to update immediately just by logging into the WordPress content management system. We will even teach you how to use the easy WordPress program that your site is built through. It is very easy and you will be able to update as frequently as you’d like. Besides being easy to use, this software is free no matter what hosting you choose.
Wow, great looking themes and they teach you how to use the WordPress content management system. They are terrific!
When your kids become teenagers, you will try anything to keep them involved in family outings. One year, my sister, Grace brought her teen aged son to our house. My son and I joined her and the four of us drove to Illinois to my other sister’s house. We decided to check out Chicago things to do as a way to keep the teenagers happy as well as my sister’s seven year old. Nothing keeps kids of all ages happier than to shop in a large city, so that is exactly what we did. I knew from our experience with taking the speech team to Atlanta, Georgia that these guys would enjoy Chicago. There were so many similar things to do in Atlanta that the boys would be thrilled with Chicago.
Trusted Tours is an excellent source for information on sightseeing tours. Their newsletter has so many fun ideas for different cities that it is something everyone can use. Sign up for the Trusted Travels eNewsletter and enter to win a $150 iTunes gift card. The offer ends Saturday, May 31st, 2008.
We discovered that the museum had a fantastic display from the Titanic Ocean liner at the time of our visit. The guys were so interested in that event that we had to drag them away to get to the stores downtown. The bus trip was an adventure in itself. We were laughing so hard that I think they tried to pretend we were not their mothers.
We had a wonderful day in Chicago. In addition to learning about the museum display, we used the newsletter as a guide for places to eat, finding bus stops and other valuable information. If you want help planning your next trip, you will find so much help and advice by signing up for Trusted Travels eNewsletter. Don’t forget that for a limited time they are having a special promotion where a person can win a $150 itunes gift card by simply signing up for the newsletter.
These photos were taken while traveling through the Appalachian Mountains near Pikeville, Kentucky. You can see the coal veins in the part of the mountain that was cut to make room for the road. It is an amazing site. Pikeville is home to one of the largest earth-moving projects in history – the Pikeville Cut-Thru, and host to one of the biggest festivals in the state, the nationally-known Hillbilly Days.
On our way down to Kentucky on Wednesday, we picked my sister up at the Louisville, KY airport. She had flown in from Dallas to join us on our way to our niece’s graduation from nursing school.
Her flight arrived a little after 1 in the afternoon, but it had been a long day for her. She had to use a car hire service to take her to the airport in Dallas. She said it worked out well, but it would have been cheaper to leave her car in the remote parking lot. Oh well, at least she got to relax some on the way to the airport and doesn’t have to worry about her car, it’s at home.
Do you ever use a car service when traveling?
We are in Kentucky to honor my niece as she graduates from nursing college. We are so proud of her. She is the nicest person, a wonderful mommy and loves life. We are thrilled to see her achieve her dream.
The eastern part of Kentucky is in full spring color. Wild lilacs are blooming and the rhododendrons of every color are splashed in everyone’s yards. It is an awesome sight.
When I started blogging back in 2003, I had no idea the amount of friends I would make. I have followed some of the early bloggers through toddler stages on up to weddings. I have met a few of my online friends in real life. SocialSpark is icing on the cake to my blogging experience. I had no idea it was possible to make some spending money while blogging. Social Spark is a venue that lets me make friends and a little money too.
The site is pretty new so they are working out a few bugs. That’s ok because I am technically challenged. I learn as they make changes. That suits me fine. It is easy to find opportunities to write about and earn some money like the money I am being paid to write this post. The links I put into my blogs are ones with the nofollow attribute. That makes them agreeable to whoever decides on the page rank for our blogs. I don’t really understand that stuff but some say it is important. Whatever.
One of my favorite parts at the Social Spark site is the chance to help a cause. Sparks are an opportunity that pays no money but lets us write about a topic that gets people to sit up and notice. There are causes that bring awareness to issues and causes for great things like shoes. LOL Yes, just about anything is what you will find at Social Spark.
I have had fun meeting new people through Social Spark. The profile page on each blogger gives information that helps me get to know each person. You can check out my profile to see what I mean. See my friends? I have met some of those people in real life. Bloggers are awesome people.
What an exciting year it will be to attend the Indy 500 race. We just got our tickets yesterday. I cannot wait to see Danica Patrick run again. With her win in the 2008 Indy Japan 300, Patrick became the first woman to win an Indy car race. Danica is on the Andretti team this year. Andretti Green Racing is an auto racing team that competes in the Indy Car Series and the American Le Mans Series.
