World Turtle And Tortoise Day...

May 23 was World Turtle and Tortoise Day.
Set up in 1990 by husband and wife team Susan Tellem and Marshall Thompson, American Tortoise Rescue is the founding sponsor of World Turtle Day.
The organisation has rescued more than one thousand turtles and two thousand tortoises and is determined to save many of the species who are so very nearly extinct.
You can see more about what is happening to save these creatures here.
In New Zealand you can find one of the species that's so rare, there's only one example in the whole world. It's The Flying Tortoise and can be found sometimes hibernating in and around the Tokerau Peninsula in the Far North of the country.
People visit from all parts of the world
just to see if it really can fly...

Norway Police Duck For Cover...

It's all in a day's work for Norway's Politi who are trained to be generalists.
They're able to fulfil every aspect of ordinary policing work including the usual criminal investigations, street patrolling and maintaining public order.
It's obvious that this family of ducks are committing a heinous crime, flaunting traffic laws and jaywalking on a public highway.
Or should that be jaywaddling...

Gorgeous Simple Rustic A-Frame Retreats To Dwell On...

Rustic A-Frame retreats to dwell on or dwell in. You choose.
The simple A-Frame with it's inexpensive construction has always been one of my favourite forms of living space and while a couple of these wonderful dwellings aren't strictly A-Frame, they are close enough for my liking.
Perhaps for your liking too...

The Citarum. The Most Polluted River In The World...

You'd be forgiven for not realising that the young man and his little  boat were floating in water.
Because you can't see any.
They appear to be floating in a sea of garbage. Plastic garbage.
This is the Citarum River in Indonesia.
The dirtiest river in the world.
Around five million people live in the river's basin in West Java and what's even harder to comprehend is that they rely on its flow for their water supply.
The river is also used to support agriculture, fishery, industry and electricity. Amazing.
A five hundred million dollar proposal to clean up the river is supposedly underway and there's more to the dirty story here.
The pollution has been caused, as always, by man, who has a lot to answer for but as usual who takes little responsibility and nothing much to say...

If Your Vehicle Makes Funny Noises...

If your vehicle makes funny noises then this old style garage will certainly be able to help.
A friend called in there the other day with what sounded like a ping ping ping. Oh no said Fred the Fix-It-Fellow, putting his stethoscope a little closer to the power source, I can definately hear a klunk in there and listen, yep, there's a slight thud too. Wow this is your lucky day.
It was her lucky day.
It could have been clank thud klank...

Amazing Highways Of The World...

These highways and more that you might like to check out here are touted as being the twenty one roads to drive before you die.
Well some of them you may not even survive due to the excitement factor.
They are from the top.
Seven Mile Bridge, Florida.
Sani Pass, Natal Province, South Africa.
Transfagarasan Road, Romania.
Guoliang Tunnel, China.
Stelvio Pass, Italy.
Tianman Mountain Road, Hunan, China.
Atlantic Road, Norway.
Furkapass Route, Switzerland.
If you're traveling on any of these roads, watch out for The Flying Tortoise.
Don't forget to toot your horn as you go past...

Where Civilization Went Wrong...

Most days I go out and collect water and firewood but if I'd had to rely on my fishing prowess of late, I'd probably be very hungry.
Without attending to my most  fundamental needs I wouldn't feel as though I was truly living.
It's what our long ago ancestors did.
It's still there alive and well in my DNA and I still have the pragmatic and philosophical reasons to do the same.
For me, a day without doing something about getting back to basics wouldn't be worth living.
Another who feels similar is Sixbears In The Woods, a blogger, who with his lovely wife lives and writes about their alternative lifestyle and his philosophy on living.
He recently posted an astute, short and simple piece titled Where Civilization Went Wrong.
You can see it here...

Flower Power. October 1967...

Flower Power. Or, if you like,
The Power Of The Flower.
It was a gutsy thing to do that the young man, said to be eighteen year old George Edgerly Harris, did on that day, October 21st 1967.
Part of a crowd heading to the Pentagon, marching for peace and an end to the war in Vietnam, he calmly stood with a bunch of carnations and ignoring the guns pointing at him, placed the flower stems in the dumfounded soldier's rifle barrels.
On the same day others proffered flowers to the armed military police who were baffled as to how they should respond.
Billy Boston was working for the now defunct Washington Post and took the photograph of the young George Harris. The photo became known as Flower Power and was nominated for The Pulitzer Prize.
It was an amazing time to be alive.
Some of us still are...