I Have A Thing For Monoliths

I really do, and I don't know why, but they just fascinate me! Some have known history, some are a mystery. Massive pieces of stone placed in a precarious positions thousands of years ago. Incredible statues carved literally out of mountains -- freaking mountains!



I think that is just about the coolest thing. Before I die, I want to tour some of the worlds coolest. I have a constantly changing list of ones I want to see before I die.



I drove through South Dakota with my brothers once, on the way to my older Brother's wedding. Mount Rushmore was pretty impressive, until I saw Crazy Horse. Even in the unfinished state -- and they've made progress since then -- the scale of the project is amazing! The finished statue will be the largest carved statue on the planet. 641 feet (195 m) wide and 563 feet (172 m) high, a marvel to match the pyramids, potentially able to last longer than, well frankly, our civilization! Personally, I think the federal government throwing millions at this project would be a better stimulus than the extra $20 bucks a months that aren't going to be deducted from my paycheck in taxes by the current Stimulus Bill as passed! Although I'm not sure that they particularly want the governments "help", it could create thousands of, albeit temporary jobs, and when they were finished a national treasure would be left behind that could easily outlast (and dwarf) the Sphynx in Egypt!




The Sphynx, in addition to being a great segway away from politics, is at the top of the list! Touring the Giza pyramid complex should be on anyones "bucket list" in my opinion! Although the pyramids technically don't count as "monoliths" (made from a single, massive stone), I'm including them. It's only because it appears this list may never end that I don't include a slew of cathedrals, temples, etc...


Great Britain has a number of sites I would love to visit. Stonehenge, obviously, although there are many less known standing stone sites.



Men-an-tol is about three hours away from Stonehenge. Passing through the center stone was supposed to cure physical ailments, from rickets to infertility. Although no one really knows it's age, it is generally assumed to be 3000-4000 years old. I hope I can still fit through the hole when I make it there... ...it looks like a tight fit.




The Callanish Stones were erected on the west coast of the isle of Lewis, Scotland. This island has a crazy number of prehistoric standing stones, with a wide range of theories on their purpose and evolving functions over the centuries. Construction of the (pictured) site took place between 2900 and 2600 BC, though there were possibly earlier buildings before 3000 BC.



I'd like to visit Easter Island.



The Moai were carved around 1100 AD, and the island seems to have only been inhabited since 400-500 AD. Although technologically they seemed to have been a "stone age" society, the process of transporting and erecting the huge statues from the single quarry used is a feat that "modern man" has been only able to recreate in a limited fashion.





A book I recently read got me thinking about the Buddha's of Bamiyan, which got me thinking about monoliths...




It's ironic, that the great Buddha's were rather obscure monuments, until the destruction by the Taliban. Now, both Thailand and Japan have committed to the restoration of the monuments, and the French Foreign Ministry and the American National Geographic Society are currently funding excavations on a nearby site that may contain a third Buddha, in a laying position that may be larger than the destroyed statues.

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A Christmas Card For Claire

So my task this week is to mail off a Christmas card to Claire.  I need to send it, unsealed to the attorney, so she can send it to Peggy, who can review it and decide if it is appropriate to give to Claire.  I find the process frustrating, to say the least, however, if I'm to do it, I need to get it done, if she is to receive the card before Christmas.  I went shopping for a card two days ago, and found the selection process to be excruciating.  The cards written for "daughter" seemed inappropriate - I don't know, presumptuous?  Buying a Christmas card certainly should not be so complicated!  I wanted something that left me a lot of space to write on... ...which brings up the problem of what to write.

I finally decided on a Precious Moments card.  It is "For Someone Special", which seemed innocuous enough.  I never know how intimate to be in contacts with Claire, and I'm always afraid of coming off too strong and driving her away, but since this is potentially the only contact I will get until next October, I want it to count.

The precious moments theme is significant, although Claire won't know that when she gets it.  On the day we gave Claire to Jeff and Peggy, my mother gave me the figurine at the top of the post. It has always been associated with Claire in my mind, and it was the first of my Precious Moments figurine collection.  I have accumulated a nice little collection over the years, although I have not added to it in a while.  I have kept a general theme of "helping" with the figurines, and added to the collection figurines that seemed to correlate with my life at the time.  I've added pieces for my marriage, a new baby, my nursing career, my time in the army... ...but it all started with my Claire Bear.

So I have the card, I have the attorneys address, I have stamps and an envelope for mailing.  All I have to do is write something charming, witty, non-threatening, warm, friendly and loving all at the same time, without coming off "too strong" or offending Peggy, who will be making the ultimate decision as to whether Claire ever sees the card.  This is where I have been for two days, and this is where I am stuck.  This blog post is essentially an attempt to get unstuck, and figure out just what the heck I am going to write to her.  I feel hampered by the fact that I have not written Peggy a response to her letter.  Although she did not explicitly ask for a response, I feel one is definitely required.  I had intended to send both my response to Peggy and the Christmas card for Claire at the same time, but unless I get a burst of inspiration and write Peggy in the next 24 hours, she will have to wait.  Christmas, however, will not wait, and Claire will only be home for a short time.

So that is where I am. My plan now is to pretty much keep the card on my person until it is finished, in an attempt to get it written soon. Hopefully, I will get it in the mail this week. If the attorney gets it by Monday, it should still have plenty of time to make it to Peggy by the time Claire gets home from school. I really regret that I have not dealt with the "Peggy issue" before now. I would love the chance to tell Claire "Merry Christmas" this year, although I know that will most likely not happen. I'm OK with that, because I know, that if I have anything to say about it, it will be the last year I will be unable to wish her a Merry Christmas.

So for now I will concentrate on the task at hand, and hope that when I am able to call and wish her well on special days, she will want to receive those calls. Heck, maybe one day it won't even need to be "special days" that we talk.

Las Vegas For Sooz's Birthday

Yes, I know it's close to Christmas, yes I know we just went to Disneyland, Sooz has had a rough year and she deserves it. Since she has never been, we went to Vegas for her birthday. It was a great trip! We stayed at the MGM grand, where we had a very cool glowing green window. I had no appreciation for how HUGE the place was! Since we had just taken a vacation, we were good and kept it short. We left on Thursday and got back late Saturday night. Her birthday was Friday, and we pretty much did it all. We saw the sights, we rode the monorail and the roller coaster across the street. We drank too much, we ate too much, and we walked really, really, a lot. We went to the wax museum, we went on a gondola ride at the Venetian, the gondolier "Mike" with the thick Italian "accent" was great. He sang 3 songs, including Happy Birthday in Italian. By the way, I don't mean to imply his accent was fake. I'm just saying, after the ride we stopped on some steps to take a few pictures, and could overhear the gondoliers talking to one another. Although all the accents had been so thick minutes before, they seemed to vanish when tourists were not visible, but I have to give them credit, they put on a great show. Speaking of shows, we went to a burlesque show that night for her birthday. Stop looking at me like that, SHE chose the show, which was quite good, with a set from a very funny comedienne in the middle. I bribed the host $20 for front row seats, which he solicited. He seemed to have a pretty good side business going. I'm pretty sure he offered most couples "VIP seats" in exchange for a healthy tip. Since we really did seem to have some of the best seats in the house, I would say $20 is an acceptable bribe for that sort of thing. (BTW - that pic is the wax museum, not the show, it just seemed to fit so well there, dontcha think?)

Of course we were torn between missing the kids and realizing we needed at least twice as long to see everything there is to see. The next day we went to the aquarium, where we got to pet a manta ray, hung out for the day, and headed back home in the evening. It was all in all, much to short of a trip, but one we both needed!

Making Waves


I had not really planned on doing much in the way of a Halloween display this year. I have done some some pretty cool ones in the past. But in this patch of the forest we don't get many trick-or-treaters, and it seems silly to put up an elaborate scene that so few people will see. I lost the battle, the kids have been insistent, and we have decided on a Pirate Ship/Haunted Dock theme. We happen to have a friend's boat stored alongside the driveway, so we are going to try to make the most of it. (His wife said yes, and I really did tell her in advance what I was gonna do to it)

We had a painting party today, a few neighborhood kids came over after yet another half day (parent -teacher conference week) and we got to turning cardboard into waves! The first part of the plan is to make waves the surround the boat. The second part of the plan is to turn the little motor boat into a pirate ship. The third phase will be turning our little yellow house into a spooky stone building/dock.

I tried to keep the bigger kids tasked with painting the cardboard (with the blue paints that never come off), and the younger kids painting the formerly white boat brown with a washable poster paint that promises right on the label that it won't leave a stain. (I promise I did paint a test area first thing in the morning, it washed, um, scrubbed off with soap and water) I failed pretty miserably with the separation of duties between the young and old kids, hence the young blue-streaked children tucked into bed right now.

I'm pretty happy with how the waves have turned out so far, they should hide the boat trailer, and the cut out portions of the "waves" should be good vents for the fog from the machine that will go under the boat. Plus, it's on the far side of the driveway, so if the display gets too scary, younger kids can give it a wide birth and still make it to the front door.

Bottom line, I'm gonna need more cardboard and brown poster paint. I picked up an extra weekend at work so I don't have as much time as I would like to get it all together. The kids all had a blast, so far I'm glad I lost this battle.