While driving to Starbucks last Friday evening, I saw an incredible sight. I saw a soft pink Volkswagen. It was the soft pink associated with Mary Kay cosmetics. I wonder if someone earned the car through Mary Kay. I knew that they once gave away Cadillacs. Are they giving away VW’s now?
Another question I have…Would your husband drive a pink Volkswagen?
Can you imagine using 5000 tons of sculpted ice and 15000 tons of snow to make a hotel? My husband and I were lucky enough to catch a documentary on the Ice Hotel on television a few nights ago. I never knew there was such a thing. This is an event held every year! ICEHOTEL is the best experience in Sweden. Made strictly from snow and sculpted blocks of ice, this hotel is a piece of art! All of the ice hotels are reconstructed every year, and are dependent upon constant sub-zero temperatures during construction and operation.
My husband and I watched in awe as they made walls and fixtures of ice. They showed one room that offered drinking glasses made of ice! They even had electricity built into the walls. Electricity enabled light to shine from the ice and produced beautiful projections of crystals. No wonder brides and grooms have begun choosing ice hotels as their choice for unique wedding locations.
I am a fair weather traveler. No amount of outdoor clothing would be enough to keep me warm. I don’t think I would enjoy sleeping in sleeping bags that sit on top of reindeer hides.
The hotel described in the documentary was located in Sweden but there are ice hotels located in other countries as well. The Ice Lodge is one of the largest in Norway. The Alta Igloo ice hotel has been rebuilt yearly since 2000 and is Europe’s northernmost ice hotel. In Canada, about 10 km west of Québec City, and within the grounds of the Duchesnay winter resort, the first and unique Ice Hotel in North America is erected each January.
If you don’t travel
I always marvel
Whenever I travel
Because if you don’t travel
And extensively explore
How can you open those awaiting doors?
Mysteries always lie waiting to be unraveled
I travel with my eyes
Watching those silently cry
Asking themselves the question why
Someone left them without saying goodbye
I travel with my thoughts
Abundant knowledge I have found and sought
I travel with my pen
To write about children, women and men
I travel with my voice
Speaking sensibly refusing to induce confusing noise
I travel with hope
Believing something new will spring into my horoscope
Whether in Africa or whether in Europe
There is always room, there is always scope
I travel to many places
Mix with different culture and races
Identify tribes by their faces
Everyone I always embrace
I travel with or without money
So please listen to my testimony
Every experience is worth lifes journey
I travel with intensive faith
Lavishing love rather than being defensive with hate
Because if you don’t travel
How can you grow?
How can you know,
What is beneath the dust and below the gravel?
Copyright 2006 – Sylvia Chidi
Emmett Kelly, was the famous sad faced clown “Weary Willy”. Our town of Peru, Indiana was the winter quarters for many circus corporations during the early 1900’s. The Kelly’s made Peru one of their homes. Joe Kelly, still lives in Peru.
Emmett Kelly, the sad faced, broom carrying clown known as Weary Willy, was born to a railroad working father and a mother who ran a boarding house. Once they moved to a farm in Missouri, Emmett began showing an interest in drawing. His artistic abilities took him to Kansas City where he used his talents in an advertising agency. While there, he met another cartoonist named Walt Disney. Walt Disney was constantly encouraging Emmett to go to California and find his place in the movie business.
The lure of movies didn’t hold an interest for Emmett. Instead, he found himself painting circus wagons and signs for a circus. He bought some trapeze rigging and taught himself to be a circus aerialist. His first performing circus job was with Howe’s Great London Circus with Emmett doubling as a white faced clown. This show would later become part of the American Circus Corporation in Peru, Indiana. Emmett Kelly was in the flagship show of the American Circus Corporation, Haganbeck-Wallace. Our local Moose Lodge was located in the Wallace mansion until it burned due to a fire. A local bed and breakfast in Peru, The Rosewood Mansion honors our circus heritage with one of their rooms named the Hagenback-Wallace room.
Emmett Kelly’s history as a clown is well known. His legacy was carried on by his sons. Emmett Kelly, Jr. performed the character made famous by his father and continued performing until his death in 2006, at the age of 83.
Emmett Kelly, Jr.
Pat Kelly has been a circus clown for over 50 years and performs each summer at the International Circus Hall of Fame in Peru, Indiana. Pat Kelly has been in numerous commercial ventures and as two movie credits to his name. His most current movie experience was in “Little Big Top” which was written and directed by a former Peru citizen, Ward Roberts. In this movie, Pat appeared out of makeup, something Emmett Jr. never did.
The Christmas decorations have been put away for another year and it is time to think about going somewhere warm. Not that I will be able to go but someone might! I’m thinking positive thoughts that some of you get to leave the land of snow and ice.
Atlantis is amazing. The spirit of a lost civilization is brought to realization through the landscaping, structures and beautiful water features. The beauty of the Caribbean is to be experienced in a way not found anywhere in the world.
Features of Atlantis include the Atlantis Casino. Bringing the outdoors inside is the main idea completed by linking towers and spanning a seven-acre lagoon. The Caribbean’s largest casino features glass sculptures by artist Dale Chihuly.
The vast aquarium at Atlantis offers views of more than 50,000 marine animals from over 200 species. Walk through underwater tunnels surrounded by sharks. Meander through passageways and observe stingrays, moon jellies and piranhas. Soak in beautiful open-air lagoons filled with tropical sea life. Observe daily feedings of some of the world’s most incredible aquatic life.
Atlantis features 21 restaurants and 19 bars and lounges. A thrill for families is found at the water park. It includes a lazy river ride and children’s pools to accommodate the younger child. The Atlantis Theatre shows recent releases on a big screen with freshly popped popcorn. The Atlantis Library is a reader’s dream with over 1,200 volumes, audio book, chairs and internet access.
Eat, relax, exercise and chill at Atlantis.
All travelers including U.S. citizens, to and from the Caribbean, Bermuda, Panama, Mexico and Canada must have a passport to enter or re-enter the United States.
