Tagged With "Living Desert Zoo and Gardens"
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Re: England’s Thames Path: Kew Gardens
My wife Diane and I spent almost an entire day at Kew Gardens. So much natural beauty to see. We arrived from central London at the Kew Station in mid-morning and didn't leave until almost dusk. At one time our son had a possibility of being transferred to London and I recommended getting a place in the Kew Garden area for the beauty and quiet. One of my photos from Kew.
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Re: Frankfurt: Not Just for Business
I liked your description of the Rubens exhibit that tied together his inspirational objects and sketches. Adds so much more to an art exhibit instead of just hanging a painting with the title. I also fell into the trap of not visiting Frankfurt when I only lived about 20 miles away for about six years. I did really enjoy the Frankfurt Zoo and their Christmas Market.
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Re: Top 10 Most Beautiful Gardens In The World
Any such list would be contentious, of course. However, this one doesn't contain a single garden in Africa and this, in my opinion, is a serious omission. The Majorelle Garden in Marrakesh and the Kirstenbosch Gardens in Cape Town would be obvious contenders. There are also many more fantastic gardens in Asia - e.g. the Royal Botanical Gardens at Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.
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Re: Local Flavor: Pearl Brewery Farmers Market, San Antonio
I'm so tempted to buy the wonderful foods I see in street markets. But being a tourist with nowhere to store and cook I regret I must pass. Much of the fruit and veg I have never seen before and I'm eager to try. Which is true I suppose for most folks in England. If we don't recognise a sweet potato - then we don't buy it. I do miss the vanilla flavoured Apples ( Custard Apples ) I had in Australia.
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Re: Where in the World is Gumbo? #11
And what possible good is a puzzle without a bit of chicanery - by definition, I should think. I haven't seen the arena at Arles, though it's already on my list for the next visit to France. I have walked past the arena in Verona as it was between the train station and the garden I'd come to photograph. Likely why it came to mind just after the Colosseum.
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Re: Where in the World is Gumbo? # 8.8
Or California. The plants in the foreground are interesting too. The tall shrubs/short trees are similar to joshua trees, a desert plant, while the white flowers are, I believe, hydrangeas, which do best in a moist climate. Altogether, with the conservatory, I'm reminded of England, maybe Cornwall, which is referred to as having a sub-tropical climate. Which, of course, means it could indeed be Australia.
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Re: Where in the World is Gumbo #6
Are we correct that it's in Southeast Asia? Not something that's been moved or reconstructed somewhere else, like in the Japanese Garden in San Antonio?
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Re: Where in the World is Gumbo? 7.8
It does look like a puggle. Of course that could be either a baby platypus or a baby echidna. In either case it is likely to be in Australia. My guess is that is an echidna. Since there is a breeding program for echidnas at the Perth zoo it could be there. My guess for the location, however, is the Australia Zoo, former home base of the late Steve Irwin, the crocodile hunter.
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Re: Where in the World is Gumbo? #8.5
What a beautiful church Gumbo has found! WITW? The clues: 18th century Spanish colonial architecture, typical of Franciscan missions; Banner in English; Materials are not typical of Florida or Texas missions; Various effigies of animals and unreal creatures, often incorporated by the Franciscans into their liturgy in order to convert American Indians. Typical of US southwestern states; Not one of the remaining California missions; Not in Santa Fe; Checked missions in Arizona. Found (as did...
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Re: Gumbo's Pic of the Day, Dec. 17, 2013: Olympic Stadium, Montreal, Quebec
Montreal... my hometown!! When visiting the Olympic Stadium/Botanical Garden you should also take the opportunity to visit the Insectarium, the Planetarium rio tinto alcan and my favorite the Biodome. Information to all these can be found on the same website as the Botanical Garden. Enjoy!
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Re: A Springtime Walk in the Desert
Great color and variety! Thanks...I'm going to have to get to the desert in spring, sometime. I visited the Sonora desert in December, and recognize some of these from seeing them without their brilliant display (click HERE for that blog) This is certainly a reminder of how little we know a place when we only know it "in season."
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Re: Where Gumbo Was #17: Death Valley, USA
Yes, it's really amazing how colorful and varied desert plants can be. Did you also see the blog from a few weeks ago on the "Spine Garden" of cacti in Arizona? It's at https://www.travelgumbo.com/blo...zona-s-sonora-desert
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Re: July 27, 2016: Bighorn Sheep at Hemenway Park in Boulder City, NV
Wow! That's a lot of sheep! I imagine there are few places that offer such succulent moist grass for these desert dwellers. Must have been fun to stop and study them. And good that you didn't let those little dogs out of the car, as the sheep likely would have killed them.
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Re: Last light. Embleton Bay Northumberland. Half an hour after sunset
One of the amazing features of the North of England is how long the day is. I love waking at 4am with the sun shining on my bed. And sitting in the garden until the sky goes a dark blue for the 3 hours of night. The Twilight Zone maybe. No mosquitoes and a glass of Prosecco. Fine end to the day.
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Re: Ultimate outdoor vacation: a year without walls
I love being out of doors, including some time roughing it. But I also love showers, a nice meal and a comfortable bed. Glad to know there's adventuresome folks out there!
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Re: New Orleans—Museum Highlights Young Voices of Resilience
Great piece! Yes, it is good to hear from our children about what they learned in the past decade living in New Orleans after the storm. So many were impacted, many were harmed and suffered PTSD. Great to hear kids speak about the positive outcomes from their Katrina experiences. I can't wait for the new LA Childrens Museum to open in its new and amazing facility in City Park, another NOLA gem. Ya'll come visit soon and often to experience a city like no other, New Orleans. It has not been...
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Re: California Gardens 2017: Gold Country, Part I
Luv your garden posts! They've taught me to look at the micro of a garden, not just the overview. Thanks for this!
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Re: Mall of the Emirates
Unbelievable technology to maintain a ski resort in the desert. I believe the world's largest indoor ski resort just opened last summer which is the Wanda Indoor Ski and Winter Sports Resort in Harbin China.
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Re: Boston's Beautiful Public Garden
It's a great garden and a wonderful place to go for a walk or jog at the end of a summer's day.
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Re: Water rationing set for Rome
Fortunately, I've booked a ground floor apartment. But I know about rationing & conserving, having lived in the desert and through droughts more than once. I promise I'll be careful.
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Re: Sleepless in Cologne... Sea lions and zoo neighbors
My wife and I visited this very attractive zoo with pleasing fountains and gardens. I don't recall hearing the roar of sea lions, but I did get a candid photo when a pelican snapped his bill at my wife Diane when she ventured to close to their property. While many attractions can be closed on Sundays, we always looked for a chance to visit a European zoo.
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Re: A Culinary Adventure in Portugal
Sagres and Superbock Beer are a Portuguese favourite. I always have a supply in the fridge. For drinks after dinner I prefer a Mateus Rose Wine. Strong in alcohol content - sparkling and not dry. Portugal has an all year warm climate as the prevailing winds come up from North Africa and the Sahara Desert.
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Re: Assiniboine Park, Winnipeg, Canada. Where Gumbo Was #36
Close but no cigar on Central Park's designer (who also did my backyard, Brooklyn's Prospect Park). Birkenhead was the work of Joseph Paxton, while the other two were done by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. Olmsted visited Birkenhead in 1850, three years after it opened, and while he was already thinking about Central Park, which opened in 1858. In his book "Walks and Talks of an American Farmer in England, Olmsted wrote about Birkenhead: "five minutes of admiration, and a few more...
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Re: Assiniboine Park, Winnipeg, Canada. Where Gumbo Was #36
In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted won a design competition to improve and expand Central Park with a plan he entitled the Greensward Plan . 8 years AFTER Olmsted visited the Peoples Garden - Birkenhead Park England. He said "that in democratic America there was nothing to be thought of as comparable with this People’s Garden" So he took the plans back to New York. Entered the Central Park competition 8 years later. And won using Paxton plans from the Peoples Garden in England as a guide.
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Re: Kettering, Northamptonshire: Where Gumbo Was (#38)
When I was researching the history of the land my house is built on I opened up so much information. During WW1 the land was used for a temporary Army Camp. Many new soldiers were from Wales - 20 miles away - who spoke no English ! But on the 8th June 1917 Capt. (later General) Patton arrived in the Port of Liverpool England on his way to France. He took a train to Litherland Railway Station and stayed here in my garden until he left to catch a Train from Liverpool to London. I often find...
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Re: Where in the World is TravelGumbo? (#71)
I'm working on the area to the left. A beer garden? A sad one, where one can 'cry in their beer.' Arbors with possible tables. Also there's a green recycling bin on the right - so building is in use? That narrows it down, right?
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Re: Gumbo's Pic of the Day, September 25, 2014: Statue of Elvis Presley, Westgate Las Vegas Resort and Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada
I'm old enough to remember the Vegas Years, although was too young at the time to go see Elvis in Vegas. Fans always commented that Elvis was at his best in Vegas -- relaxed, chatty (talking to the crowd a lot), and despite it's large size, it was a fairly intimate performance venue with lots of direct audience contact. (Watch the video all the way to the end to see the audience) The statue was unveiled by Barron Hilton just outside the showroom where Elvis performed, and it stood there for...
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Re: Serra's Church, Mission San Juan Capistrano, California. Where Gumbo Was #46
Somewhere I've got a snapshot of a very young me with a tiny lady holding an object who had insisted my friend take our picture in the garden together. It was in the village of Petra, Majorca and she officiated at the small museum commemorating Junipero Serra's birthplace. I was spending the summer on the island and every student educated in California knows his name almost as well as their own. The address of my high school was El Camino Real, Father Serra's road from mission to mission and...
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Re: Gumbo's Pic of the Day, July 30, 2014: Vegetables in Formal Garden, Musee Carnavalet
If you like beautiful food gardens, I think you'd love this one in Versailles: http://www.potager-du-roi.fr/site/potager/index.htm I spent a good part of a day there, not long after the restored garden opened to the public, taking pictures in a drizzly rain. Not what you'd think of for a garden in Versailles, but wonderful.
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Re: A stroll through the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens, Vail
Thanks for the comments, Garry. Yes, winter arrives early because of the very high altitude. Over a mile and a half above sea level. Summers are very nice -- warm (75-80F) dry pleasant days (no humidity to speak off), and it always cools down nicely at night, so most places don't even have air conditioning. It really was that empty. No more than 6 folks in the garden including my wife and I, and of course not counting the hundreds of birds flying about.
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Re: Where in the World is TravelGumbo (#43)
Could it be inside the Pálmaház in the Budapest botanical garden?
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Re: Cruising down the Nile (part 2)
Your pictures really bring out what I learned—and taught—in school: how narrow a margin of arable soil along the river was able to feed a great civilization, and how close desert and disaster were if the flood and the crop failed. But where it is lush...I had no idea how lush!
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Re: Photography at the Edges, New York & San Francisco
Speaking again of black&white, the monthly events newsletter from Mrs. Dalloway's Literary & Garden Arts store in Berkeley just arrived. Down at the very bottom was this intiguing notice which I mean to check out in person in 11 days. Mrs. Dalloways is at 2904 College Avenue in Berkeley. mrsdalloways.com "The Watchmaker Series." Beautiful black and white silver gelatin prints on archival quality paper. Ready for 8 x 10 frame. $65. When Craig was asked to fix a case that contained a...
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Re: Where in the World is TravelGumbo? (#39)
Sorry, Mac...but it's not Northlandz. Sorry, DrF...it's not the National Toy Train Museum Sorry, JonathanL...it's not the annual display at the Bronx Botanical Garden But you are all in the right country!
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Re: Arthur Ave -NYC's Real Little Italy
When my kids were younger, Arthur Avenue made a great end to a day at the Bronx Zoo or Botanical Garden...I'm glad it's still going!
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Re: Four Days in Berlin
I'll be posting some Berlin blogs in the next few weeks, since we visited last month...but for the moment, I'll start with one of our best experiences—a food walking tour. It's a great way to meet other visitors and to experience local foods and their history. We started at a small cafe/sweetshop and ate our way through breads and meats and pastries and ended up at a beer garden run by a small artisanal brewery, where the owner/brewmaster sat with us and then took us on a tour of his...
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Re: Under the Cirio Tree
There are in the Sonoran Desert part of the Baja Peninsula. I drove the peninsula and back. But who needs an excuse to go. It is one of my favourite places.
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Re: Colorado National Monument
Excellent idea, rbciao! Although I'd recommend visiting the desert regions of the southwest in the shoulder seasons, rather than during the heat of summer. No question in my mind that some of the best scenery in the world is in North America. Ciao!
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Re: Where in the World is TravelGumbo? (#105)
Let me try to get the ball rolling. While they look like owl eyes at first glance, I think it's an aerial photo of a garden or park....or perhaps of a model of a garden or park. Where???? I don't have a clue at the moment.
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Re: Where in the World is TravelGumbo? (#105)
And so the ball rolls…but it is neither garden nor park. But the sharp-eyed doctor is correct: it is not viewed from ground level. And that’s the first day’s hint.
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Re: Road Trip, Day 2: Mendocino Coast Botanical Garden
It is, DrF. This from Janet at the garden by email this morning: "Thank you for sharing your blog (and beautiful pictures!!!) We appreciate your help in getting word out to folks about our wonderful gardens." Best, Janet Ferraiolo Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens
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Re: A Road Trip Gallery: Jane's Garden
Of course, I don't know the actual size of Jane's Garden, but I have the sense that it isn't huge. And yet, the variety of shapes, spaces, textures and things you've shown could keep even a much larger space "busy!" Thanks for a great morning view!
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Re: A Road Trip Gallery: Jane's Garden
I think you may be projecting the intimacy of the photos onto the whole garden, which isn't small. I'm trying to be ruthless in my choice of images, editing to remove duplicates and the second rate, to improve the whole. While it can be painful during the process, I'm happier with the result in the end and I think it adds, not subtracts, interest. Leaves 'em wanting more, I hope.
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Re: A Road Trip Gallery: Jane's Garden
I'm not sure why I leapt so quickly to the idea of the garden being deceptively small—it may have to do with the intimacy of the images, and my mental image of "cottage," but it also may have to do with my comfort in smaller, but not spare, spaces. In either case...spectacular choices. It greatly cheered my morning chores.
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Re: Strictly for the Birds...
While searching for some other photos, I came across these two that might have joined the birds above. One is a scene of well-mannered pigeons on a rail at the Musee Rodin in Paris, perhaps waiting their turn to annoy diners in the garden cafe; the other is yet another of those ironic meetings of statue-fied dignity with feathered pit stop...
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Re: Where in the World is TravelGumbo (#124)
Old Stone Mill at the New York Botanical Garden? Could that be it?
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Re: Travel for Garden Lovers, Part I
It's apparent that tea is an important component of these images. I'm curious -- does having tea enhance your garden experience?