There's No Place Like This: Socotra Island

Socotra is a small Yemeni archipelago of four islands and islets in the Indian Ocean off the coast of the Horn of Africa, about 350 kilometers south of the Arabian peninsula. Socotra is one of the most isolated landforms on Earth of continental origin. The archipelago features narrow coastal plains, a limestone plateau with caves, and mountains which rise to 1,525 meters above sea level.

Like the Galapagos Islands, this island is teeming with 700 extremely rare species of flora and fauna, a full 1/3 of which are endemic, i.e. found nowhere else on Earth.

Socotra is home to more than 800 species of plants, some 240 of which are endemic to the island, and there are certainly many more plant species that have yet to be discovered. The climate is harsh, hot and dry, and yet - the most amazing plant life thrives there.



A Dragon’s Blood Tree (Dracaena cinnabari) is seen in front of the Skund mountains on the island of Socotra, Yemen. The tree is so named because any injury to the bark results in a deep red liquid excreting from the scar – compared in the past to the "Blood of Dragons". It's also called the "Dragon Head Tree" since in legends, when brave knights beheaded dragons, they discovered that two grew back in the place of the one, and four grew in place of the two, and so on; this tree looks as if great heads have sprouted from all the primary branches amassing into a big, multi-headed beast.

The branches spread out into the sky and from below appear to hover over the landscape like so many flying saucers... and from above they have a distinct mushroom look.

There is also the Desert Rose (adenium obesium) which looks like nothing so much as a blooming elephant leg.


A Socotran Fig Tree (Dorstenia gigas) with a bizarre swollen trunk that almost has human proportions grows against a limestone rock face on the island of Socotra. The plants are one of over 300 plant species endemic to the island.

MY NEW SERIES, "There's No Place Like This"

I have a new series idea! It's titled "There's no place like this" and I will be offering mental vacations of places near and far I didn't even know (or imagined) existed. Today, we go far far away to...Singapore! Hope you enjoy!

150-Meter Outdoor Infinity Pool at the Marina Bay Sands hotel
Luxury hotel, Marina Bay Sands recently opened the doors of its microcosm to the public and has already wowed tourists with its unique and luxurious design.

The Marina Bay Sands hotel is located in Singapore has been designed with one goal in mind, to be the leading business, leisure and entertainment destination in Asia. It holds the title of the most expensive hotel built till this day, as its investment by the Las Vegas Sands Corporation reaches $5 billion. The Marina Bay Sands hotel is a mixed-use integrated resort with 2,560-rooms, three 55-storey towers, a 150-meters infinity pool on top of the towers, an indoor canal, a museum shaped like a lotus flower, the best shopping mall in Asia and world-class celebrity chef restaurants. Furthermore, it includes theatres, an outdoor event plaza, a convention center and a casino with private gaming rooms for premium players.

To put it coarsely, this is like porn for architects; can you even BELIEVE how imaginative these designs are and how much sheer ingenuity was put into each of them? Ayn Rand would be proud.

Girl Gone Wild

I'm headed to the mountains of Estes Park, Colorado for a full week! My parents and I will begin the trek tomorrow morning and I have a challenge for myself: (deep breath) I am not going to use the Internet for one week. Not gasping? Have you ever tried to live a week without the Internet since you knew what the World Wide Web was? This is going to be very hard. No online music, no Facebook, e-mail, online news, no stock photos for my graphic design projects, and, of course, no blogging.
Furthermore, I plan to keep my phone off all day long every day except for one hour in the evening. Not that I intecept a ton of calls or anything, but it will help me escape from the wireless prison I keep myself in at work and home. I might go a little nuts.
I will be using my computer as a natural outlet for my creativity is graphic design and I would be bereft without it. Other diversions include books: One Day, Sophie's World (for the umpteenth time), Searching for God Knows What, Possession which I need to finish, and my Bible; journal; sketchbook; stationary; and movies (but no TV is allowed either—will get news from the newspaper).
I don't feel I've ever really earned a vacation before this but now I am confident I have; I'm appreciating what a gift this time away from work and distractions will be and I will let you know if I get cabin fever in the mountains sans technology.
Have a GREAT week and I'll look forward to catching up on your blogs (for bloggers reading this) when I return!

Here and There

This is where I lived, La Jolla, CA.

In a post coming soon, I'll show you where I live now.

Cheers!

Five Great Things Friday

ecently, I became aware of "The Daily Drop Cap," a Web site devoted to supplying artful capital letters with which one can begin a line of text. This development is thanks to Suzanne's wonderful blog, a graphic designer in Kansas City whom I idolize more than a little and whose life I greatly covet. I don't know her well but I very much wish I did. Cheers to you, Suzy!

Today I share some magnificent new Web sites that have made my life more fun, here are your five great things:
1) from Our Best Bites, single serving pie! I want to make these for a homey, summer soiree I plan to hold soon where we'll wear plaid, eat fresh produce and eat pie from a jar (I hope I can find bigger jars though, not gonna lie).

2) This is a fantatic idea for preventing your cords from sliding off your desk which is a daily occurrence and frustration...no longer!

3) This is adorable. Wish I'd thought of it and would love to have something like this at an ethnic dinner party—flags of the world constructed out of foods indigenous to their respective countries.





4) The Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun seem like a good start to the weekend. (Sorry, it's cut off a little, but I can't figure out the coding to make the perimeters bigger, resizing the width isn't working.)

5) Finally, a bittersweet one for all of us who live far from the ocean, I went on a free, mental vacation to these sandy beaches and was most sorry to return to reality. I knew about red, black, and white sand, but didn't know that there were beaches made from purple, pink, green, and even glass pebbles. Enjoy and send me a mental postcard!

Meximeg

Eat your heart out, Alison Rediger. You're not the only one who can do a food posting.

Confession: I have been jealous of Alison Rediger's blog. It is filled with the glow of newly wed bliss, seascapes, and sumptuous dinners. Through it, she keeps those who love her from far far away in touch with her life in Pacific Grove, California artfully and charmingly. In short, she's a pill.

So here's my attempt. I made a Mexican feast for my parents and I, evidenced by the photos below.

We had fajitas with avocado, cilantro, green peppers, sweet onions, sour cream, finely shreadded cheddar, and Tapatio hot sauce served on garden veggie tortillas. We had this with fried plantains, and a very special side salad (see recipe below).

Finally, we had pinapple with chili and lime. This is one of my absolute favorite foods; when living in Mexico, I was known to eat it until my tongue bled (you think I'm kidding? ask my then roommate, Jessica Heinemann).






Ingredients
1 cup walnuts
4 cups fresh corn kernels (from 4 ears), raw or cooked
2 jalapenos, seeded and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
kosher salt and black pepper
1/2 cup crumbled Feta (2 ounces)
Directions
Heat oven to 400° F. Spread the walnuts on a rimmed baking sheet and toast until fragrant, 6 to 8 minutes. Let cool and roughly chop.
In a large bowl, combine the corn, jalapeños, lime juice, oil, walnuts, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Sprinkle with the Feta before serving. (Note*: do not overdo the feta! You will be tempted to, but don't do it.)

Home Again

New place of residence: Lincoln, Nebraska
Duration of stay so far: 14 days
Accomplishments:
1) Unloaded 40 boxes of my earthly belongings and settled into my space in the basement of my parent's house (what can I say, no one could compete with the rent)
2) Helped my mother acquire a puppy for my father (name: Daisy)
3) Have worked manically since the day I got back and haven't missed any deadlines yet
4) Have been slowly making my way back into Lincoln society
5) Spent some great quailty time with a couple of friends
6) Have been honored by invitations to join three separate book clubs already, thus, I consider myself a successful fraud in establishing myself as an intellectual reader (I know many greater readers than myself who take far less pride in their literary conquests)
7) Signed up for a 5k and got some friends who have never done one to come with

What I have yet to accomplish (got all day?): Have yet to...
1) Train for said 5k race or acquire gym membership
2) Finish unpacking completely
3) Read books for said book clubs
4) Make comprehensive list of goals and aspirations for my "new season" in Lincoln
5) Secure a permanent position work wise
6) Keep in touch with my S.D. people and remind them how much they mean to me
7) Potty train said puppy

When I got back to NE, I was completely overwrought. I don't know the last time I felt so run down, but between a completely frenetic work schedule, packing and moving, emotional good byes to friends, poor eating habits, and a general lack of sleep spanning three weeks, I was pretty much a grumpy, out-of-control mess. Now, after two weeks of plentiful sleep, good home-cooked food, and (finally) being unpacked, I am prepared to take on this new season with much fervor.
Spring is almost here and I am delighted to be back home for a real, actual change in season. Rain is expected all week and I relish the clouds and the barely perceptible green peaking out from the brown, damp earth. It's going to be a very good year and I am so humbled already by how things have worked out so far.

Happy to be home again, in short.

COMING SOON: new blog look and more regular postings! Thanks for your patience!!

No Puedo Suportarla!

I HAVE to return to Mexico, and soon!!! I had a dream about a reunion with my ISA girls (ISA is the organization through which I traveled abroad) and it was tear-filled and wonderful and I miss that life so much, three years later. Alison and Jess are the only ones who read this who can identify with the places I name but I hope everyone can appreciate how gorgeous these photos are that I found on the Web. (Alison, algun dia tenemos que viajar alla juntos, en serio. Debemos ir este verano/otono porque nuestra otra amiga no puede ir a CO con nosotros, entonces, propongo que nos vamos.)

I miss meeting in front of Teatro Juarez with our other gals, Jess and knowing that any night we could pick up a few guys on the steps to be our dates for a night of dancing. Capitolio was my favorite for dancing, Colorado was Jess' but the first night we danced in GTO was at Havana with the viejitos; I also remember that that's where Alissa stole the show dancing with Felipe while Amber downed the pina colada I bought (although she claimed to be lactose intolerant...more like cheap!). Do you remember how Elisha and the other gals loved WhyNot? We liked El Bar above ISA and pretty much anywhere that had salsa dancing.

I was and am still obsessed with Cafe Tal, their bitter hot chocolates are unsurpassed and their coffee was great too. I sat in there for hours drawing, thinking, reading...it was fabulous. That little pastry shop where Lisa always bought us pastries for dinner was nearby and we always had to resist buying yummies there on the way to school (except once we gave in...ONCE in five weeks! Not too bad). It was just past Jardin de Embajadores.

Jess, I can't believe I'm saying this but I really miss puffing up those hills with you, you slowed down for me and didn't tell me ever but I knew. Thanks for not leaving me behind; you know I would've gotten so lost.

Finally, I remember our totally unprepared hike to La Bufa, repelling down, having our leader drive off and leaving us miles above the city, and us collapsing at Cafe Sol and eating a ton of food and having beer. SUCH a great day.

How am I? Better to ask, where am I?

Today my body and half my mind went to the office. That's most of me; a pretty good margin, anyway. The other half of my mind was elsewhere:

-I stood in the stands at the Olympics and smelled the sweat coming off the athletes and looked up through the hole in the Bird's Nest and watched clouds sail by. (Obviously, my imagination transcends both place and time, but whatever)

-I flew to Venice and reclined in a gondola, trailing my fingertips in the water as I glided past the architectural feats lining the canal.

-I lounged in an opium den in India and let myself myself be the water, the smoke be the tea that steeped and saturated my clothes, hair, and senses.

-I sat around the long table at the cabin in Estes Park playing cards with my family, calling each other "sorry ass" and laughing so hard everyone's glasses came off as we wiped tears out of our eyes. "Y'act like you haven't got any sense," Grandma said which only caused us to double over in laughter again.

-I drove to Napa and stomped grapes and paid tribute to bacchus.

-I returned to France to share breakfast on a balcony with a debonair gentleman who refused to make any plans for the day or any following because, really, what was the point?

-I was swept up in a blur of sequins, stilts, and color at Carnival in Brazil.

-I stood before an intimidating Easter Island statue and wondered at how immovable and ancient it was.

-I sat around a table laden with tapas and sangria with my nearest and dearest girlfriends, pulling my shawl closer around me against the cool breeze coming off the Mediterranean coastline only to have my girls make me laugh so hard that it slipped right off again.

That's about all I had time for.

How was your day?

Home, Home on the Range

Alright, so despite the fact that we have a Lincoln, NE office, my coworkers have been drilling me on what I'll actually DO in the state of Nebraska. They can't believe I'm "vacationing" there. I shrug and respond that I'll probably go ride my cow, Husker, eating a cob of corn as I sit on her back. Then if things get a little hog-wild, we may go down to the ole' pond and listen to the frog, locust, and wildlife symphonies of the countryside while throwing back moonshine. I promise to bring back some steaks and the ever-popular cosmetic "Udder Balm" for everyone so the Californians can be as supple as our bovine...
Most of them aren't that gullible, but I've definitely gotten a this as a response to my "travel plans", "Heh heh heh...really?"
See you all soon.
http://www.originaludderbalm.com/ This post was unofficially sponsored by UdderBalm