Our Journey has Begun!

After getting everything secured, getting fed tasty homemade spring rolls for leaving our Volvo with our son (fair trade wouldn't you agree?), our cat Weasel, Russ and I left for North Carolina late yesterday afternoon.  Today we drove thru New Orleans... a thriving city with definite remnants of the ravages of Katrina very visible.  On the east side whole apartment complexes and office parks lie unclaimed.  And many well kept neighborhoods can't shake the harsh reminder with at least one home peeling and empty.

The hi-way across Louisiana and Mississippi are masterpieces of engineering over endless water and cut through lush forests with (I should have counted) umpteen huge bridges to allow for river traffic.  As an engineer Russ was fascinated by the structures while I marveled at the trees.

Now it's time to catch some zzzz just outside Atlanta.  Oh yes, although not the best of travellers our cat did really well today and enjoys her freedom to explore every inch of the motel room.

No Plastic Wild Animals?

Yesterday while picking up a few things at the local store I ran through the toy section.  Our grandson needed some small wild animals for his wildlife video (for the Nikela Video Contest).

To my surprise I found Legos, Barbie, all kinds of Action Figures, space and alien stuff and of course dinosaurs.  However, not one REAL plastic animal!  No zebra.  No giraffe or elephant.  Not even a lion or a leopard!

I had to stop by the local zoo to pick some up, and even there, the selection was limited.  What's happening?  We're getting so caught up in the sur-real that we're missing the beauty we have and don't even realize that it is slipping through our fingers?

There's nothing quite like the real thing.  As I write this four humming birds are chattering away as they joust for a turn at my bird feeder.  Such amazing little things all dressed in fluorescent green using their tiny long beaks to drink up the life giving sugar water (when they're not using it as a jousting lance).

In Just a few weeks Russ and I will take wing to South Africa and walk with some of the most magnificent creatures on earth... the South African wildlife.  You can join the adventure if you like by following us here.