Feb 2, 2007

Flamingos in the Wild




I just got home from a short retreat with 2 knittng pals in Santa Cruz, California. Driving back from a local yarn store tour, I had everyone keep their eyes open for a flamingo and sure enough, we spotted these two in someone's yard!

Home of the Giant...

I was stumped on the Home of the Giant... until yesterday, when I was crossing over the Mississippi into Iowa. Home of the Giant... river!
world's biggest...

Giant... Strawberry?


And you thought only Americans did the "Biggest giantest best" shtick! This giant strawberry is an actual fruit stand located on the Friesian isle of Texel.

Feb 1, 2007

No giants here...


in New Hampshire, but we do have this...Mount Washington....home of the craziest weather...does that count? I have yet to go because I am afraid, you can't go now anyway because of winter but even in the summer it scares me, small roads, big cars, big fall down...You get a bumper sticker if your car makes it, sorry life is more important to me than a sticker!

Jan 31, 2007

San Diego Zoo, Home of the Giant Panda.

Giant Panda

Here is my addition to "Home of the Giant..."

One of the Giant Pandas, who call the San Diego Zoo their home. This gal is just a baby, I believe she is Su Lin. I took this picture in August 0f 2006, right around her first birthday. . . You can read more about them, and watch the Panda Cam HERE.

My Pumpkin's in a Pie!

If you visit Story Land in New Hampshire, you can "bake" your kids into a Giant pie!
Staci (Knitting_Mom)

Jan 30, 2007

Home of the Giant Pumpkins!!

DCP_0540

DCP_0530

Sorry for two pics. Where I am from, Circleville, Ohio, we grow some of the largest pumpkins you've ever seen. We also have the world's largest pumpkin pie. I took these pics a couple of years ago as my hands were too busy with a newborn to take pictures this year but the pie has now grown to 14 feet from the dinky 3 feet in the pic above. The numbers on the pumpkins are the weights of the pumpkins.

The Pumpkin Show is near and dear to my heart as it is a yearly tradition for my hometown and even the schools close. I planned my wedding around it in fact.

Does this count?

Just because it's Winter, and the lawn ornaments have migrated to the basement, doesn't mean you can't enjoy that Perpetual Pinkness! I found this:

houseplant flamingo

PINK FLAMINGO MINI PLANT ORNAMENT
�
Mini Lawn Ornament for Your Potted Plants

Lawn icons like the Garden Gnome, Lawn Jockey, and the ever-popular Gardener's Tush have graced America's front yards for decades. But why should your garden have all the fun?

The solution - all of your favorite lawn icons scaled down to fit in your houseplants. It's a humble idea, sorta like sliced bread or pop tarts.

Perfect for livening up that dull plant in your office cube!

Fancy Plants are reinforced polystone figurines with spiked bases that allow you to nestle them alongside all your houseplants. Each is approximately 3.5" high plus base.



You can get your very own at:

http://www.perpetualkid.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=976

California Fabric Mecca


I was in San Francisco this weekend, less the kids, and I finally got the chance to visit the Britex Fabric Store near Union Square. My wife bought me a sewing machine for my 40th and now I'm a novice sewer. I've always wanted to check this store out, they got it all!!! Next time I might actually buy something.

Jan 29, 2007

Home of the Jolly Green Giant

Although I am not from Blue Earth, Minnesota, I do have the somewhat dubious honor of once having stood, as a very young and impressionable girl, right underneath ol' Jolly Green, much as the woman in this photo is doing.

Alas, my suburban 'hood is not one to find either a plastic pink flamingo in winter (although there are TONS in the summer, including a local prank where a randomly picked yard is filled with dozens of them in an overnight 'pink flamingo raid') NOR something of gargantuan proportions, I am at least able to say my home state has many of these giant things.

Baudette, MN on the Canadian border is home to the World's Most Giant Walleye, but I couldn't find a photo.

Vegetables, anyone?

Camera Shy: Late for Work



Yay! New Blogger finally let me make the crossover so I can play! This is me this morning, late for work. Computer bag? Check. Purse? Check. Commuter coffee mug? Check. Keys? Check. Late because you stayed up too late casting on a new pair of socks when you should have turned in for a good night's sleep? Check.

Camera Shy

bBall


Ok, I am a little slow with these, but this is my Camera Shy. Damned if I will ever find a Pink Flamingo here in the winter of Chicago.

I play basketball--and have played for several years--with this group of folks. The group has been together for around 15 yrs and we meet every saturday -- summer in the park, winter at the Y. Its great, not too competitive, usually a good mix of girls/guys.

Next up?

How many of us live in a place that is "Home of the Giant ****"?
To date, the cheesiest one that I have ever seen was northeast of the town I grew up in. Then again, I haven't seen much of Wisconsin...

Jan 28, 2007

In Search Of...

I started my pursuit of the near-extinct Plastic Flamingo (flamingus plasticus) early on Saturday morning. We found this, this and even this, but alas, no Flamingo.

On too much coffee and with kids shouting "there's one" when I'm pretty sure they have no idea what a plastic flamingo is, I trolled the street of town, in search of a rare glimpse.

After what seemed like an eternity, we came upon this wonderful specimen. I chased it in the snow and freezing cold, but was only able to snap this shot with my telephoto lens. I dared not get too close for my Flamingo had taken refuge... and I had heard stories of horror regarding the dangerous behavior of startled Plastic Geese.
pink flamingo

Headless Flamingos

Headless Flamingos
I meant to post this a few days ago but since we were having a birthday party for my oldest, we had to clean house, get party preps, yadda, yadda, yadda.

I give you a flock of headless flamingos. Actually, they weren't awake yet. My friend and I took our now two oldest boys to the zoo here in Columbus to see the animals and since the flamingos are the first stop and it was morning, they were still snoozing.

Camera Shy in San Francisco

camera shy
This is Crissy Field along the San Francisco Bay. Its just a couple blocks from our apartment so my husband & I like to go for walks here. He held the camera for me but used the timer to take the picture.

A Syllogism

An exercise in logic: Therefore,



Equals flamingo! Right?

Twofer

Bezzie catching up here! (Even though for some reason I didn't sign up for this blog under than name...but whatever).

We went to the zoo today and I had a chance to do both Camera Shy and Flamingos!

First up camera shy. I cheated and had my husband take the picture:

100_2676

That's a road that I think the San Antonio River flows over back behind the zoo. Don't be fooled, it's only six inches there in the middle. But if I had fallen off to the other side, well yeah that's pretty deep.

And I also give you not one but TWO types of flamingos!

First "normal" flamingos:

100_2624

And then "lesser flamingos," they're a bit smaller and a different shade of pink but still pretty cool:

100_2665

It's good to be a flamingo in Texas. Yesterday was 75 degrees and sunny. Today only about 60, but still sunny!

Jan 27, 2007

A rare bird indeed...

I was initially concerned that I wouldn't find a flamingo to photograph, but today, I spied a fine specimen of the elusive Giant Snow Flamingo (Phoenicopterus hugeplantericus).
Unlike its southern cousins, the Giant Snow Flamingo's usually has its legs tucked underneath its body. Why? Well, in addition to the change in pigmentation, there has been another significant environmental adaptation; its lower limbs are covered in a dense fur to avoid frostbite. And the Giant Snow Flamingo is a bit sensitive about having hairy legs.

I actually don't have one of these

So I had to 'improvise'. This is a pic I snapped of a webpage where I found this adorable, trash-tastic Pink Flamingo Margarita set that I would absolutely love to have!

You can see the real, better version at Glassafrass.com.