My top 5 favorites

I know I missed last month, but I will not miss this month's favorite top 5 thus far. 



This might always be one of my favorites.






Well it was bacon day yesterday, and it is one of my favorites.

I hope you liked them too. 

More photos

More from the last day

The last morning in Cairns

Those are Bats, fruit bats. 

Last Sunset photos from Cairns

Sugar Cane fire. 

On the way over the river
Looking over the bay
over the bay again 

And some more.

More sunset photos

Thoughts on America

I'm still struggling with what being an American means to me. I'm sure I am thinking way too much into this for the display, but it's an interesting academic question. There are some great quotes about America that seem to have been forgotten, so I have decided to highlight some of them from time to time in this blog and I'm going to start with Theodore Roosevelt from 1917. 

"The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life." 

 haunting words in today's world...

And some more.

What Does America Mean to You?

I was roped into putting together a display on the US for a cultural awareness program. What is considered traditional American cuisine? What is important to share with others about the US? Is it our freedom to disagree with our government? Is it our freedom to protest? Is it our freedom to practice any religion we want (as long as it doesn't hurt others), or to not believe in any religion? Is it our culture, our merchandise, our technology, our ideas?  When I think about the US I think of the diversity of our culture between New York, Madison, Houston, Atlanta, LA, San Francisco, and the list goes on. I think of the stories of how our fore fathers came to this land, how we have made mistakes, tragedies, and advancements. I think of all the people who have served in the military and government to protect our freedoms and of those who protested against the government to keep our freedoms. It seems that the constant through out our history and across the nation is this push and pull, this dialogue about what America stands for, what freedoms we have, if there such a thing as too much freedom or too much government control. Maybe that is what America is, a discussion, an experiment on how we can all live together... 

Any thoughts would be appreciated. I want to try to give an overview of the whole country, of all the people, but I know I can't. I am one person who has lived part of a life in a country with, at present, 300 million lives, 300 million different experiences, 300 million different takes on what this country is. 

But we weren't done quiet yet

The sun started to set on this day

and more from Cairns

And still more.

And still some more.

And yet more

Can you see the Birdy? 

And some more