As we drove along the dirt road north of our farm one Sunday afternoon, the color of the sky reminded me of Mom's silver cream and sugar servers when they were tarnished and needed to be polished again.

Since morning, the sky had been cloudy, but now at mid-afternoon, the clouds had grown much thicker and darker. Earlier in December we had gotten a little snow. Several forty-degree days had melted most of it, and the landscape was a combination of dun-colored grass, black tree branches and the russet color of certain oak leaves.

Every year in December, Dad and I went on a Christmas tree expedition, and we were on our way now over to what we called our 'other place' to cut a tree. During the summer, I made frequent trips to the other place, a second farm my parents owned that was about a mile away, to help Dad with the haying or just to tag along when he checked on the corn or the oats or the soybeans.

But after school started, I rarely went to the other place, and it always took me by surprise how different it looked in the winter. Instead of green alfalfa and timothy and clover waving in a warm south breeze, what had grown back after third crop was now brown stubble that trembled in the face of a north wind. The fields were strangely silent now, too, without the songs of meadowlarks and bobolinks, and the bobwhite quail which lived in the narrow section of woods lining the road.

We were only about five minutes into our journey when Dad shifted the pickup truck down into first gear and then eased into the field driveway. The rutted track that ran along the edge of the hayfield was so bumpy that a merry jingling came from the glove compartment -- probably a few bolts and washers, along with a couple of wrenches and maybe a screwdriver or two. When you're a farmer, you never know when you might need a wrench or a screwdriver or a bolt.

"Is it going to snow, Daddy?" I asked. Now that we had gotten past the trees lining the road, the sky had opened in front of us again.

Dad leaned forward to look up through the windshield.

"I'd say there's a pretty good chance," he replied.

"How much?"

My father shrugged. "Don't know. Maybe quite a bit. Wind's out of the east. And that usually means we’ll get at least enough to shovel. Could be a lot more, though."

When we reached the pine plantation at the other end of the field, Dad turned the truck around, driving forward a few feet then backing up, then driving forward and then back again, forward and back, until we were facing in the direction we had come. He let the engine idle for a few seconds before shutting it off.

"Daddy?" I said, as we started walking toward the rows of planted red pine. "When do you think it will start to snow?"

Dad stopped and tipped his head back. "Soon," he said, "that wind feels raw and damp."

When my father said 'soon,' I was not expecting it to start snowing within the next ten minutes. At first, while we were cutting the tree we had selected, only a few random flakes drifted to the ground. By the time we reached the truck and had securely stowed our Christmas tree in the back, it was already snowing harder.

"If it keeps up like this all night, you won't have school tomorrow," Dad said as he started the truck. He slowly let out the clutch, and soon we were retracing our route along the field driveway. He turned on the windshield wipers, and with each pass -- clickety-snick, clickety-snick -- the wipers cleared an arc through the wet flakes plastered to the glass.

After we had pulled onto the dirt road, Dad shifted into second gear, although when we reached the 'Y' -- where you could either turn left to go toward our farm, or right to go toward the house that had at one time been part of our other place -- he shifted into first gear again.

"Hope we make it up the hill," he said, glancing at me. "Wet snow makes the road kind of slick."

It was touch and go for a few seconds when the back wheels started spinning, but finally we reached the point where the hill leveled off. Trees grew on both sides of the road here, and to the right, a steep bank gave rise to a small wooded hillside.

"Look," Dad said, pointing toward the bank. He inched over to the side of the road and stopped.

I peered through the curtain of falling snow. The bank looked pretty much the same as it always had -- exposed tree roots, patches of moss and bare spots where flat sandstone rocks had slid toward the road.

"What do you see?" I asked.

"Wintergreen," Dad answered. He shut off the truck and opened the door.

Wintergreen?

The first time I had tasted wintergreen, I decided that it was my favorite flavor. Peppermint was a little too sharp, although candy canes at Christmas were all right. Spearmint didn't taste like much of anything. Wintergreen, it seemed to me, was just right. In my opinion, Teaberry gum was the best, with wintergreen Lifesavers following as a close second.

Dad liked wintergreen too. Lifesaver books were popular gift exchanges at school for our Christmas party, and if the person who had drawn my name gave me a Lifesaver book, I would trade with other kids who had also gotten books. Sometimes I managed to acquire several extra rolls of wintergreen. Then I would share them with Dad. I thought Teaberry gum was better than candy because the taste lasted longer, but Dad preferred Lifesavers. Gum, he said, stuck to his dentures.

During the summer, every time I went to town with Dad to grind feed, I hoped he would buy a package of my favorite candy or gum. Not at the feed mill, of course. They didn't sell Teaberry gum or Lifesavers at the feed mill. But if we went to the restaurant for pie while we waited for our feed, or if Mom had asked Dad to pick up a couple of things at the grocery store, I would try to talk him into buying some gum or candy.

Going to the feed mill with Dad was a summertime activity, however, and there were long stretches during the school year when I never even saw a package of Teaberry gum or a roll of Lifesavers, much less had any in my possession.

So what was Dad talking about when he had stopped the truck and said, "wintergreen?"

I stared at the embankment and then at the hill beyond but I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. I shut the truck door behind me just as Dad scrambled nimbly up the bank into the woods.

"It's growing all over here," he said, pointing to the ground. "They've got berries, too."

I struggled up the bank behind him to get a closer look. Underfoot were small plants with shiny green leaves.

"That green stuff is wintergreen?" I said.

My father nodded.

"Like what they use to make gum?"

"Yup. Here. Taste."

He reached down and picked a couple of small, pinkish-red berries, popping one into his mouth and handing one to me.

I sniffed the berry. It smelled like wintergreen, all right, but I wasn’t one bit sure about eating the thing.

"Taste it," Dad urged. "You'll be surprised."

So, I ate the berry. It had a strange consistency -- sort of dry and mushy, all at the same time. . .and then my mouth was filled with the marvelous taste of wintergreen. The same as my favorite gum, but different, too. More delicate.

"It's good!" I exclaimed, grinning. Then I frowned. "How come we haven't seen it before?"

"Usually too much snow by this time," Dad said.

"What about in the summer, though?"

"Too much underbrush and other green things."

"And this is really the stuff they use in gum?" I asked.

Dad took his cap off, slapped it against his leg to rid it of snow and then put it back on his head.

"Well. . .they probably don't go into the woods and pick wild wintergreen. People probably raise it and sell it, and I think they might use the leaves rather than the berries, but yes, this is the stuff."

By now the snow was falling so hard it made a hissing noise as it struck the copper-colored oak leaves above us. Unlike other trees, some of the oaks, I had noticed, keep their leaves until spring.

"How do you know so much about wintergreen?" I asked.

"Oh," Dad said, "when we were kids, we used to pick it so we could make ice cream."

I turned to look at him. "Ice cream?"

"Our kind of ice cream, anyway. A little dish of snow with winter-green berries mixed in."

Suddenly I struck upon a wonderful idea.

"I know! I can try some right now."

I took off my mitten, picked a few wintergreen berries and scooped a small handful of fluffy, fresh snow. I put the berries in the snow, and -- well -- I have to admit it was pretty tasty.

I put my mitten back on. "Didn't you have real ice cream when you were growing up, Dad?"

My father smiled. "Sure -- sometimes. Not store bought, though. We made our own with a hand-cranked ice cream freezer. But that was mostly in the summertime. We thought wintergreen ice cream was an awful lot of fun."

Dad had been the middle child among several older brothers, an older sister, and three younger sisters. My grandparents had worked as cooks in a lumber camp in northern Wisconsin in the early 1900s. Many years ago, long before I was born, Dad had made his living cutting pulp wood.

"Daddy? How did you see the wintergreen from the road?" I asked.

My father hesitated before answering. "I didn't see it. Not today, at least."

I stopped trying to adjust my mitten so the thumb lined up like it was supposed to and turned my full attention toward Dad.

"Remember last fall, when the county forester came out here?" he asked.

"Yeah, I remember."

Just on the other side of the small wooded hill was a two-acre stand of tall red pine with a couple of rows of white pine next to the road. Dad said the trees were among the oldest of the plantations in the county that had been planted just after the Great Depression to keep the sandy soil from eroding. Nearly every year, the forester would come out to check on them. One year he used Dad's pine trees to demonstrate a brand new trimming device to foresters from other counties.

Well," Dad continued, "while we were out here, I decided to take a little walk. I don't get much of a chance just to walk around back here."

"And that's when you saw the wintergreen?"

Dad nodded. "I was waiting for the right opportunity to show it to you."

He turned back toward the truck. "It'll be dark soon. We'd better get home. The cows are waiting to be milked."

As we slid down the embankment, I glanced over my shoulder.

Wintergreen.

Growing in the woods not far from my house.

And in that instant, I knew gum and candy would never again taste quite the same.

From the book: Christmas In Dairyland (True Stories From a Wisconsin Farm)
http://ruralroute2.com

Well, I trust you did not read that newspaper headline wrong, Crew Member Starbucks is not doing City Of Light Hilton. What I am saying here is Starbucks will now be offered in some Hilton Hotels. Just believe you can watch City Of Light the skinny light-haired baby on your infomercial in room television advertisement for a Starbucks, run down to the anteroom to and purchase a fattening Frappachino.

Imagine the benefits of having Starbucks in your room? Sounds good and while you are on holiday who cares if you acquire fat and expression like dirt in our bathing lawsuit by the pool. Chances are City Of Light Hilton will not be there anyway, she will be in City Of Light getting married to a different Paris? If all this is just getting too darn confusing for you, make not worry about it. But recognize your Starbucks Card will not work in Hilton Hotels but they make take American Express?

Starbucks will be continually adding world broad spouses to advance their trade name and are large on entering the Chinese Market by manner of franchising or licence branding with Chinese Partners. Just believe all those skinny Chinese people who now smoke two battalions of twenty-four hours of United States Cigarettes will be able to acquire nice and plumb bob on over priced frappachinos. Isn’t that wonderful. The lone job I see is will 1.2 Billion Chinese people run out of space in their country? And will they be able to squash them all into the Jet Liners when they come up to United States to sell their wares. Or will the A-380 be ready for much larger seating for all these newly rich, malignant neoplastic disease ridden, over weight, Charlie Cocoa Factory rolly polly Chinese?

Think on Globalization, ya gotta love it.

Love is in the air at the Venice Rookery. The birds (and the bees) are there doing the thing they are so famous for, and you can take pictures of it! Seriously, though, the Venice Rookery is an ideal spot to photograph birds mating, building their nests, fighting for territory and feeding their chicks. It’s a requisite for bird photographers, and sheer delight for the rest of us.

A rookery is a breeding ground for certain birds and animals. At the Venice Rookery, you’ll see snowy egret, great egret, anhinga, great blue heron, tricolor heron, night heron, and the like. Active during the months from November to April, the birds are most photogenic showing their breeding colors in February and March.

HOW TO GET THERE

The Venice Rookery is located in a Sarasota County park within the city of Venice, Florida, about half way between Tampa and Fort Myers on Florida’s west coast. It is monitored by the Venice chapter of the Audubon Society. To get to the Rookery, take I-75 to Jacaranda Boulevard (Exit 193). Go right (north) on US Highway 41 until you see the State Highway Patrol Office located at 4000 S. Tamiami Trail. Turn left just past the Office, as if you were going there, but instead follow the road all of the way back until you reach the park in about a mile. Parking is to your left. It is free, plentiful and convenient to the Rookery on your right. There is no entrance fee.

The Venice Rookery itself is a small island in a lake, which forms a natural barrier. The island is full of small trees and bushes where the birds build their nests. They fly to surrounding areas for the good nest-building sticks and food but soon return, giving plenty of opportunities for flight shots. When the chicks are born, you will view the wonders of nature as the parents work together to feed them. You also get to see some strange behavior when the anhinga chicks stick their heads all of the way down the throats of their parents to get food.

HOW TO GET YOUR BEST SHOTS

The best photography can be had during the morning light, when the sun is over your shoulder. The birds also tend to be more active in the morning. While you can hike around the perimeter of the pond for the afternoon light, the photography access is limited and difficult. Instead, stay on the shore next to the parking lot for dramatic silhouette shots in the afternoon.

You don’t need to worry about a blind at any time because the birds have become habituated to people, who are separated from the nests by the pond. All you need to do is stand on the shore along with the other photographers and birders, and fire away. Although the area is small, it hosts a variety and a tremendous amount of bird activity. For the best shots, you’ll need big glass of 500mm or more to photograph the birds on the island, especially the chicks. You can get by with less for the flight shots or for the few times that the birds get close to shore.
Discover the place where some of the greatest bird photographers go. If you have big glass, or just want to watch tons of great bird activity in one place that is easy to get to, the Venice Rookery is the spot for you.

MISCELLANEOUS

The park amenities are minimal. It consists of the parking lot, the pond and portable toilets. There are no food services or attendants. However, because the Rookery is in the town of Venice, there are plenty of facilities close by. A gas station with a mini-mart full of vital snacks is across the street from the Highway Patrol Office. Other restaurants and facilities can be found on US Highway 41, which is a main access road through the city. Some options are Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill (4329 Tamiami Trail S.), Bob Evans Restaurant (4080 Tamiami Trail) and the Alpine Steak House (4520 S. Tamiami Trail).
Because the Rookery is in the city, there are plenty of lodging options. Make your reservations in advance, especially during the spring break weeks. The entire west coast of Florida is a hot spot during that time. If you don’t make your plans in advance, you may have to drive for hours to find a place to stay. Some options are the Days Inn (two miles away) http://www.daysinnvenice.com/, the Motel 6 (4 miles away) http://www.motel6.com/reservations/motel_detail.asp?MotelId=0364&state=FL&full=Florida&city=Venice, the Best Western Ambassador Suites (4 miles away) http://www.bestwesternflorida.com/details.cfm, and the Holiday Inn (4.5 miles away) http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/hi/1/en/hd/srqvn?irs=null.

The area is not very well shaded, so bring your sun block lotion and a wide-brimmed hat. You also may want to bring a lawn chair to take a quick break and snacks to keep you shooting throughout the morning hours. The photographic opportunities are so great; you don’t want to waste time with extraneous items.

Another bonus of the Venice Rookery is its close proximity to many other prime places for bird photography. They include the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island http://dingdarling.fws.gov/, the Six Mile Cypress Slough in Ft. Myers http://www.captiva.com/stateparks/sixmilecypress.htm, the Corkscrew Swamp Preserve in Naples http://www.captiva.com/stateparks/corkscrew.htm, and Ft. Desoto Park in Tierra Verde http://www.pinellascounty.org/park/05_Ft_DeSoto.htm. All of these locations are so great for bird photography, they deserve their own article.

Copyright 2005 Carolyn E. Wright

The huge beauty and profusion of the desert can be easily seen in one place in Tucson, Arizona. Known as the Arizona Genus Sonora Desert Museum [“Desert Museum”], this gorgeous and convenient site is host to a profusion of plants, birds and animate beings native to the desert. Home to more than than 300 animate being species and 1200 works in natural settings, it is a photographer's paradise.

Located in the Tucson Mountain Park just a few statute miles outside of Tucson, the Desert Museum was founded in 1952. The private, non-profit-making organization, dedicated to the preservation of the Sonoran Desert, offers a zoological park, a botanical garden, an fine art gallery and a geology museum. The Desert Museum is a 15 minute thrust from the bosom of Tucson and is unfastened every twenty-four hours of the year. Hours are from 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. from October through February, and 7:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. from March through September. The entranceway fee is $9 for adults.

While this is in fact a “museum,” don't be confused by the name. The installation is out in the unfastened and experiences more than like a menagerie or a park. It includes almost two statute miles of paved and soil ways through 21 estate of desert.

WHAT YOU can exposure THERE

The hardest thing about this location is deciding what to photograph. Should you pass your time shot in the cactus garden or the hummingbird aviary? Bash you first spell through the pollenation garden filled with bees, butterflies and moths, or visit the respective exhibits of mammals, including black bears, mountain lions, Bighorn sheep, wolves, British shilling cat, fox and coyote? It will take respective visits to take in all of this.

Docents - trained military volunteers - have on achromatic shirts and are available throughout the Museum to reply your inquiries and to give demonstrations. One docent enthusiastically shared his Mexican Feather Boa serpent with me, while another held a screeching bird of Minerva and explained the differences between the many species of owls. While there is much to photograph, don't go so enamored with the assorted topics that you bury about making your best images. Backgrounds and people will be your greatest challenges. Tripods are allowed everywhere, but marks counsel photographers to be aware of the other visitors. Put your lens system right up to the birdcages so that the cages are so out of focusing they can't be seen in your concluding photo. Avoid photographing the animate beings in dappled or uneven visible visible light (where parts of the animate being are in shadiness and other parts in light). Like many zoos, the animate beings often are sleeping around corners where they are hard to exposure so talking with trainers, docents and museum staff to see when they feed the animals. This is when they will be most active.

TIPS FOR shooting THERE

You also have got to drill your technique. For example, the hummingbirds move fast as lightening, so it's impossible to follow them to shoot. Instead, expression where they perch or feed, put up your shot for the best background, and then patiently wait for the hummingbirds to go back - they will. While the visible light is best both morning time and afternoon, the animate beings are more than active early in the day. Be careful to avoid the bright background where the mountain king of beasts wishes to perch. Note that the Desert Cringle Trail, place to the collared peccary and coyote, is a relatively steep and hot trail.

You'll desire a long telephotograph lens system in the scope of 300-400 millimeter to frame in the wildlife. An extension tubing or telephoto/macro volition let for stopping point focusing of the hummingbirds. For the full compliment of images, add a wide-angle lens system system for the few landscape shots and a macro instruction lens for the cactus garden. In improver to the birds and mammals, the Desert Museum have first-class reptile, invertebrates and submerged exhibits, as well as a mineral display. The visible light in these countries is inadequate for photography, however.

The heat energy of the desert do it a hard visit to the Desert Museum in summer. In October during my visit, the twelve noon heat energy was tolerable with a chapeau and sunglasses, but the temperatures were more than comfortable during the early morning time and late afternoon. One docent advised that April is the best time to see for desert flowers, but she tells her friends to see in March when it's cooler.

DIRECTIONS

For more than information, bank check the website at www.desertmuseum.org, Oregon phone call 520-883-1380. The computer address is 2021 N. Kinney Road, Tucson, AZ. To acquire there, take I-10 to the Speedway Avenue issue and travel West for about 10 miles. Note that Speedway Avenue turns into Bill Gates Base On Balls Road along the way, and be certain to halt at the two scenic position turnouts there. Bend right at the dead end onto Kinney Road, and thrust for three miles. The Desert Museum will be on your left. If you get via the Tucson airport, marks will direct you to the Desert Museum by manner of Highway 86. I establish this to be the longer and less efficient approach, but you see more than of the beautiful Tucson Mountain Park this way. Also utilize this path if you are carrying a trailer, because the Bill Gates Base On Balls Road is steep and winding as it goes over a mountain pass. The Desert Museum supplies a enormous copiousness of fantastic photographic and educational chances in one place, and is deserving many visits.

MISCELLANEOUS

Food: There are four nutrient installations on the Desert Museum property, ranging from a bite barroom to insouciant fine-dining. No picnicking is allowed inside the place owed to the presence of animals, but a little field day country is available just outside the entrance. Additional big field day countries are located throughout the Tucson Mountain Park, including the San Juan Carlos field day country adjacent to the Desert Museum on Kinney Road.

Lodging: Since the Desert Museum is close to business district Tucson, there are tons of places to lease a hotel room. Convenient hotels include the Four Points Sheraton Hotel (800-843-8052), the Marriott University Park Hotel (520-792-4100), and the Red Roof Hostel (520-744-8199). The Gilbert Beam Campsite (RV friendly) is located on Kinney Road about two statute miles sou'-east from the Desert Museum (take a right bend when leaving the Museum).

Other Necessities: Restrooms, shaded remainder countries and H2O fountains are scattered conveniently throughout the Museum, including on the relatively long, hot Desert Cringle Trail. The Museum have two gift stores stocked with a supply of batteries, movie and other necessities. Bring a wide-brimmed hat, sunscreen and comfortable, hardy shoes. Trousers will maintain the cactus acerate leaves at bay, especially if you venture into the desert for that sunset shot. The closest gas station and convenience marketplace are located four statute miles sou'-east (a right bend from the Desert Museum exit) on Kinney Road.

Caution: The sun can be rough and the air is dry. Drink tons of fluids. Also short letter that pets are not allowed in the parkland because of the wildlife, but make not go forth them unattended in your car. Wildlife, including snakes, lizards and coyotes, can wander throughout the Museum's grounds.

Other Local Areas of Interest: The Saguaro National Park (http://www.nps.gov/sagu/), another important member of the Genus Sonora Desert, boundary lines the Tucson Mountain Park. Famous for its giant sahuaro cacti that sometime attain high of 50 feet, the Park offers respective hiking trails and scenic thrusts that supply entree to great photograph opportunities. The Old Tucson Studio, where many cowpuncher movies have got been shot, is just southwesterly of the intersection point of Bill Gates Base On Balls Road and Kinney Road. On your manner to the Desert Museum via Speedway Boulevard, you will go through The Wildlife Museum, full of stuffed animate beings from around the world. A couple of visitants to the Desert Museum told me that the Colossal Cave located in Vail, Arizona (about an hr thrust from Tucson), which is on the National Register of Historic Places, is a must see. www.colossalcave.com

Copyright 2005 Carolyn E. Wright

If you desire to be happier and you also love movies, this article will learn you how to utilize their lessons to change your life. To accomplish this, you must look for three things in every film you watch. If the film have all three, it tin be a rich, meaningful experience that can alteration your life while you’re also having fun. Here’s what to look for:

1. Bashes this film animate you? Great wise men must be able to convey out the best in us. A good film must have got the powerfulness to animate you through the fictional characters it conveys to life. If you love a movie, you can utilize it as your inspirational military unit by answering these questions:

• How did this movie animate you to travel after what’s of import in you life?

• What did the fictional fictional characters learn you about success and what will you make to follow their examples?

• What did the characters learn you about errors and what noxious actions will you avoid in your life?

2. Bashes this film stir in you powerful emotions? In watching a movie, it’s safe to experience emotions you usually conceal in existent life, from unhappiness and hurting to joyousness and bliss. Life is full of emotion. If a film can not stir powerful emotions in you, it’s not a story about existent life but a exanimate illustration in motion. To do the most out of a good film’s ability to stir powerful emotions, reply these questions:

• What powerful feelings did this film stir in you?

• How have got you been handling those feelings in existent life (such as avoiding, suppressing, or letting out of control) and what results are you getting?

• Can you do any improvements in the manner you are handling those feelings?

3. Bashes this film show you how to manage the unknown? Like a great teacher, a good film must have got lessons that set up you for the unknown region and warn you about the dangers of the future. The fictional characters must be honorable illustrations of existent people and their ways of dealing with life’s curveballs must learn meaningful lessons for your life. To make the most out of those lessons, reply these questions:

• What did this fictional fictional character (or characters) do to face that unexpected challenge?

• What happened as a result?

• What am I learning from the illustration of this character (or characters) that I must utilize (or avoid) in my ain life, when I face a similar challenge?

When a film makes not ran into the three criteria, it can still act upon you through other, equally of import elements, such as as particular effects, cinematography, great action sequences, or the soundtrack. In such as a case, inquire yourself: “What make I like about this film that I desire to have got more than than of in my life?” If it’s the music, then set more music in your life. If it’s the cinematography, then add in your agenda some art-related activities. If it’s the action sequences, then pick an country of your life that misses action and make something about it.

How to Use the 3 Criteria

Get together with two or three friends who love movies. Pick a film from the following listing and ticker using the three criteria above. Keep in head the inquiries listed within each criterion. Then, reply the inquiries that follow below. For more than tips on how to change your life in 12 hebdomads using lessons from popular movies, visit www.reelfulfilment.com.

1. “The Aviator” is a biopic about Leslie Howard Hughes, who became a magnet following his passionateness for air power as he fought the debilitating personal effects of mental illness.

2. “Ray” is a biopic about vocalist Beam Prince Charles who achieved world celebrity as he fought blindness, poverty, racism, and diacetylmorphine addiction.

3. “The Notebook” is the story of two people who turn old together letting nil base in the manner of their love for each other.

4. “Million Dollar Baby” is the story of somes determined female pugilist who accomplishes her dreaming just before life throws her a poke that she’s not prepared to return.

Questions to answer:

- How did the movie animate you?

- What powerful feelings did it stir in you?

- What did it learn you about handling the unknown?

Now do a listing of:

1. Something you have got a desire to achieve.

2. An obstruction you believe is blocking you from achieving it.

3. Three strengths you gained from watching the suggested movies.

Put your acquisition to drill with concrete actions. Enjoy the results.

Poker have a monolithic followers around the human race and is immensely popular in the United Kingdom as well. Online stove poker have been a enormous success as well and millions of lbs alteration custody (al least electronically). The fact there is a prohibition in the US, have out United Kingdom stove stove poker participants in the spotlight at poker suite and most participants online are indeed from the UK.

In stead of the fact that online gaming casino gambling have a planetary audience, most online gambling casinos are happy to take sedimentations in United Kingdom Pounds Sterling and other major currencies as well. Players in the United Kingdom can do payments in a assortment of currencies. Most online gambling casinos accept participants from the UK. United Kingdom participants are accepted in land land sites such as as Pacific Ocean Poker, Coral Poker, Betfair Poker, William Hill Poker, VC Poker, Eden Poker, Inter gambling casino and many more.

The above sites have got built a repute for equity and dependability overtime. Players from the United Kingdom can undergo and bask their ambiance and artwork and the classic game drama at these online stove poker rooms. Naturally, these land sites are acute to pull participants from the United Kingdom and vie fiercely against each other to court United Kingdom based customers. This is first-class for consumers as many online gambling gambling casinos offering bonuses and freebies to increase their share of United Kingdom online stove stove poker market.

As a consequence it is not easy to take the top United Kingdom online poker room as there are simply so many good online casinos catering to the demand of United Kingdom based customers. We can just state one thing: United Kingdom stove poker participants never had it so good.

Compared to Las Vegas, the casinos are littler up here but you cannot beat the hotel terms and the extravagance of the little crowds in the athletics books and the handiness of the great out-of-doors our part have to offer. You can literally walk and bank check the lines of 3 different athletics books in the substance of 3 minutes, which is always nice when you are looking for the border in your betting strategy.

We will review all the casinos, athletics books and give you information about the town itself in the approaching months. What type of reviews are we going to go through on to you? We will state you which athletics book gives you the most betting options. Since most of you would be on holiday you would desire to cognize which casino have the friendliest workers and who takes attention of you as far as drink tokes. Which casino in Reno is the cleanest and which casino is the best place to watch the games. Which hotels can you acquire into at a nice terms and are the hotels located stopping point to the other mulct constitutions in Reno. Are you a large Spender or just desire to kill some time at the tables while you wait for your game to start? If you are killing time, where can you happen the less end tables in Reno? Perhaps you desire a quiet place to wager and cheer on your favourite squad without the large crowds, then you should read our review on the

We will research the part and allow you cognize what demoes and baseball clubs are the best to travel to and give out golf course to all the hotels. So stay tuned to Thehooks and we will take you on a journeying through Reno, Nevada, The Biggest Small City.

If you love basketball, the University of Silver State is starting to do a name in the basketball world as the football squad seeks to restore itself. The Wolf Battalion went to the Sweet 16 last twelvemonth and is currently in the Top 25 this year. The WAC titles will be held in The Biggest Small City this year. The adjacent two hebdomads we will be offering information on the WAC tournament.

Joseph Yakel was born and raised in New York's Capital region, and phone calls this place home. His travelings have got taken him far and wide, but it’s his hometown milieu that function as a background for his writing. He's recently published three books, and believes his blend of history and wit radiance a bright limelight on the local country and its people.

Said Yakel, "My roots to the Capital District have got been a major influence on what I've chosen to compose about. I divide my young person growing up in Capital Of New York and Loudonville, and summertimes were spent at our encampment in Westerlo. I attended Capital Of New York Academy for Boys and Christian Brothers Academy. As an adult, I've traveled fairly extensively across America, and spent two old age in Belgium, Germany, and other European states with the United States military. So, I am fortunate to have got a premix of local city, town and state exposure, in combination with this broader scope of traveling to pull from."

He went on, "I began writing my first book when I was about seven old age old. I loved dinosaurs and wanted to be a paleontologist. Although I didn’t print that book, I still have got it, and I'm proud of what I created at that immature age. Looking back on it now, I believe it marked the starting point where authorship would have got some longstanding place in my life."

While Yakel's desire to compose have been with him since childhood, he states that it have emerged in a more than populace manner over the last decade. "Over the years, I've penned quite a lot, but it wasn't until 1998 that I submitted my first article for mainstream publication. It was a technical piece on cablegram telecasting system operations. Since then, I’ve written a figure of other articles, mainly on military subjects, published in both trade mags and on organizational websites."

It’s his up-to-the-minute authorship efforts, however, that Yakel states are his top accomplishments. Between December 2004 and March 2005, he completed and released three books. "Writing the stuff was the easy part", said Yakel, “but putting it all together was a immense undertaking to undertake. I'm very proud of what I've created."

As for the books themselves, Yakel said he's got something of value for plentifulness of people, especially those around the Capital region. Two of his books are family tree mentions that also incorporate quite a spot of local history in them as well. ‘The Autograph Memories of Virgin Mary Yakel’ is the 19th century memoir of his grand aunt. Yakel explained, "Mary was born in the South End 1879 and passed away in 1940. She had an autograph book, which was filled with entries from household and friends along the Second Avenue corridor. I took the little book of hers, a household heirloom, and rewrote it. In improver to the original book entries, I supplemented it with inside information and remarks about the people and households mentioned within her small book. I never knew Virgin Mary Yakel, of course, but working on this memoir have helped me to understand her in ways that I couldn't otherwise."

‘The JACKEL, JECKEL, JAECKEL, IEKEL, YAKEL Family History Book’ have a mouthful of a title, but Yakel states the statute statute title is dwarfed by the book’s content. He went on, "Without a doubt, this have been my most intensive authorship effort, ever. It's a 464-page household chronology, tracing 350 old age of my Rheinish ancestry. Our original household name was JACKEL and JECKEL, but changed more than than 50 times after the family came to America. In Albany, the spelling settled on YAKEL in the 1870’s, while in Milwaukee, it settled on JAECKEL, and in Iowa, our household name changed slightly to IEKEL. This book is first and first a family tree reference, but it's also jammed packed full of really challenging local and German history as well, and that's wherefore this book and the Virgin Mary Yakel autograph book have got a wider audience appeal."

His 3rd and most recent book is a complete going from the first two. ‘The Legend of Juggin Joe’ is an over-the-top fictional wit story that takes place in and around the Town of Westerlo, NY, and centres around the life and times of a hillboy dubbed 'Juggin Joe', for his eldritch musical abilities with the jug. Yakel said, "This book is a state male child comedy/melodrama that I've written in ‘country speak’, which do the story that much more than merriment to read. It’s A light-hearted, clean, merriment adventure, suitable for all audiences."

“The Legend of Juggin Joe"
* ISBN 1-4116-2588-9 * Public House date: March 2005 * $9.00 paperback book book book * 123 pages *

“The Autograph Memories of Virgin Mary Yakel”
* ISBN 1-4116-2101-8 * Public House date: December 2004 * $9.00 paperback * 75 pages *

“The JACKEL, JECKEL, JAECKEL, IEKEL, YAKEL Family History Book”
* ISBN 1-4116-2715-6 * Public House date: March 2005 * $26.50 paperback * 464 pages *

Joseph Yakel offers free chapter previews of his books, and welcomes reviews and comments. His books are available in paperback, or downloadable format. For previews and buying information, visit Smasher Publication at: http://www.lulu.com/yakel

I've been writing poetry for quite some time. I care about the art and how the art effects people.

I want to talk some about how poetry is seen in my opinion and how narrow the view of some can be when it comes to poetry and the worth and value it holds in society. I've heard many times by reviewers and critics and even booksellers that poetry books are hard to sell and that little interest is taken in the art of poetry by the general public but I beg to differ on these views held by so many in the literary world.

I feel poetry is such a unique and expressive art that has stood the test of time and as we look back on poets like Wordsworth and Dickinson and all the wonderful poets of a time gone by we can all agree that nobody can discount or dismiss the contributions these people have made to the literary world.

The Wordsworth's and Lord Byron's are still out there today working hard to bring back into the mainstream the powerful emotions and feelings that once struck a chord so long ago. These people are putting their heart and soul into their words and putting forth messages that they want to share with readers from all origins and backgrounds.

We should not put limitations on them by telling them their art is dead or that their art is not much of a selling point in society because it is and if it wasn't we would not have so many poetry forums and websites accross the infinite space of the internet from nation to nation. One website I visited has over five million poets in their database alone so obviously their is an interest in poetry and it's growing bigger with every passing day. Multitudes of people from accross the globe enjoy this art we call poetry and this is a fact that should not be ignored.

There is also a problem in my view with some people who take the role of critic and these people judge the work of others and seek to influence how an individual chooses to express themselves through poetry. I feel that each person and expression is unique and I have never been much of a fan of the critic as Teddy Roosevelt reminded us in " The Battle of Life " it's not the critic that counts and I agree.

Individualism and uniqueness spawns genius in my opinion in every facet of life or work and it's also certainly true when it comes to poetry. I want to read new and freshly presented material from someone original. I don't want to see someone trying to copy another artist or his or her ways. I want to see someone expressing their own ways that I will not judge because I feel I have no rightful place in doing so.

We must remember that it's not my opinion or the opinion of a critic that counts when it comes to you and your work and the feelings you wish to present. These things are yours and yours alone that nobody should touch or try to fine tune in any fashion. If Shakespeare had allowed his work to be sorted out and played with by the masses then he would not have been the Shakespeare we know today and your work will not be yours if you allow it to be changed to fit the views of others.

Let your vision and your work live and die on it's own and let it live independantly and develop into what you wish it to be not what someone else wants it to be so it never ceases to be your very own.

Since its creation, the cyberspace have made life easier for many of us. Wage your bills, purchase concert tickets, and even go to a unrecorded conference meeting all from your home. These progresses are all portion of the online phenomenon. A fact not known to most, practical gambling casinos is the fastest growth industry online. If gaming is your flavor, you can basically happen it all on the World Wide Web. Sports betting, picture poker, lotto ... whatever your game they're all online waiting for you. One may inquire the question: just what's behind the madness? Why are so many people across the Earth gaming online these days? While this option will probably never totally replace existent life casinos, there are a few benefits that may carry you.

RELAX

In direct contrast to busy gaming gambling casinos on the strip, online gambling offerings you peace of mind. We all cognize how many people can cram a gambling casino or even the lotto hallway on a Friday night. Just mental image yourself at the blackjack oak table; haunting eyes from your rivals gaze you down, hoping to intimidate and thrust fearfulness into your soul. Intrigued lookers-on cheep over your shoulder, adding enormous pressure level to the situation. Online gaming get rids of all of those scenarios. You're able to loosen up comfortably in your ain home. You do your ain schedule. The tabular arrays and slots are always unfastened at your demand. This convenient benefit have swayed many into pursuing their gaming ventures online.

RULES AND REGULATIONS

As a citizen of your city, state and state you should make your best to stay by the laws put for you. With that said, there are certain ordinances that you may have got to follow in a gambling casino that don't use within your residence. A peculiar participant may wish to smoke. Some gambling casinos have got decided to ban that extravagance to pacify their overall fan base. With online gaming you can basically make as you please, hopefully in a safe and lawful manner. Light up your favourite baccy pipe, dad unfastened a suds and sit down at the computing machine on one of your worst hair days. As the queen or male monarch of their domain, participants can now have got even more than merriment by manner of online gambling.

FREE MONEY

One of the benefits online gaming offerings is free money. No, that wasn't a typo. Respective websites let you to play for free with the chance to win existent money. How is this possible? Tactful selling schemes are at work. These gaming services are very willing to blast out a few vaulting horses in tax return for satisfied clients. You will never be able to procure an online kitty this manner but may stack adequate fillip vaulting horses to raise your stakes and vie more than frequently. This is what the gaming websites want.

So if the changeless bell tintinnabulation and coin clinking of a gaming casino is somewhat annoying, online gambling may be the pick for you. This method gives you the freedom to play as you wish in whatever mode you delight with virtually any game you desire. In all truth, it doesn't substance if it's on land or on the net, when done responsibly; gaming is a fun, worthwhile avocation that assists easiness the pressure levels of mundane life.

Body fine art and tattoos have got got go so popular now that people who would have ran the other manner are exposing their tegument to the tattooists needle. It is not uncommon to acquire a glance of some business office worker in the council chamber sporting a sexy rose tattoo on her chest, flowered designing on her less leg or even some tribal graphics tattoos on her less back. This is a testimony that tattoos are becoming more than than and more acceptable in a corporate environment traditionally no spell zones for any word form of personal expression.

What are the hottest tattoo designs?

'New School' Style Tattoos. These are a modern version of the ol' crewman Kraut style of tattoos such as as ground tackles and swallows. They are much brighter and more than animated than their predecessors which look very level in comparison. A batch of people especially females are asking for tattoos of sups and ground tackles on their neck.

Japanese Kanji Tattoos. Nipponese style tattoos are so popular amongst females who are going for "full sleeve" style tattoos depicting Nipponese fictional characters such as as koi or carp fish.

Floral and Love Heart Thorax Tattoos. This style can look so sexy on a girl! There is a certain timeless look with these tattoos harking back to the good ol' years of the 1950's.

Star Tattoos. These have got always been popular but more than people are getting them done on seeable places such as as carpuses and on the less legs. Unsuprisingly Hollywood stars are lining up for the tattooists chair and demanding tattoos that reflect their lives.

Tribal Tattoos. Tribal tattoo designings have got been around for 100s of old age but are becoming more than than and more composite and constantly evolving and morphing into what have go known as neo tribal tattoo styles. Tribal styles can be traditional 'black work' natural covering the weaponry or more than colourful styles characterised by the 'Modern Primitive' expression covering the full body.

Tips for Getting Tattoos

Choose your tattoo carefully. Don't travel for some off the wall 'flash' tattoo. A good tattoo creative person loves doing 'custom pieces'.

Try not premix different tattoo styles such as as Nipponese and Tribal styles. It doesn't work!

Go to a reputable tattoo creative person not some backstreet 'scratcher' who is inexpensive but you will inevitably repent later. Construct a human relationship with the tattoo creative person if you be after of getting a batch of tattoos.

Take proper attention especially of newer tattoos. As summertime attacks a batch of people acquire tattooed and can't wait to flash them off. Be careful that you make not expose your new tattoos to too much sun which will melt them.

This article deals with a most important subject in my view and that subject is how to be true to your art whatever that art may be. My art is poetry so I'm going to use this as my example but feel free to apply this article to any art you have a true passion for because I feel it's universal.

I see so many people who enjoy writing being what I call crossover artists who write in many genres but have no real specialty. I see romance authors or science fiction authors also putting out poetry books claiming to be authors/poets and this to me is troubling.

I am a poet who loves poetry and concentrates only on poetry so this kind of thing when it comes to crossing over I personally find insulting. The people who do this crossing over from genre to genre in my opinion are just trying to get their names seen in as many places as possible in the hope that in one it will stick and someone will see it.

I feel they care little for whatever genre they are writing under and they only care for the press that comes from it. In the music industry you don't see rappers/country artists so why in the literary world do we see romance/science fiction/poets?

In my opinion the crossovers have no real passion or belief in any one genre so they write in them all and to me it's disturbing. In my belief they also lessen and take away from the accomplishments of true artists solely dedicated to one genre and one genre alone.

You never see a proctologist/brain surgeon and so you shouldn't have the fake author/poets of the world that lessen what poets do in the art.

I study karate and I took the time to find a real street effective self defense system of genuine value that is not used for sport or pretty acrobatic shows. I have a passion for the art and I'm true to it not wanting to mix it up with other things like a bad salad. It's already perfect in every way to me without myself or someone else mixing things in and changing it's real and effective and valuable origin.

I guess my message to crossovers would be to stop diluting the art we care for by just dabbling in it and then calling yourself a poet because you disgrace real poets by doing that. Take a look at what happened to M.C. Hammer when he went and crossed over from dancing to thug and you'll understand the phoney light real poets see you in.

Think about having passion and originality for once and be true to your art with emphasis on the part that says your art. Leave ours alone and stop diluting it with your novice work and overblown ego. Be true to your art people.

Once you cross and change an art it ceases to be what it was and it begins to change because of dabblers and crossovers looking for another place to post their names and it sickens me.

If you know your true and real interest is not poetry then leave it to the people who have it as a real and true interest and stick to writing romance or whatever you do because you're not and never will be a poet.