SOME NEWS ABOUT A PHOTO COMPETITION AND NEW TRAVEL PLANS

As my blog readers know, I also edit/publish a new Travel e-zine TRAVEL THRU HISTORY
www.travelthruhistory.com
I'm thrilled with the response I'm getting from this site, including the excellent contributions of travel writing from all around the world.

One of my contributors, Paolo Fornari, has some of her photos in a contest and would appreciate you having a look. It's an interesting concept, this collection of photos. Here's a little blurb that Paola sent me to explain it:

Come and share how expat women see their itinerant lives!

Voting is open in the photography competition of the Italian section of expatclic.com. The aim of the competition is to build bridges between Italian women abroad, to communicate our life experiences outside our borders, to observe our host country and share it with our friends scattered around the world, and to transmit through images the feelings which surround expatriate living.

In order to vote, you need to register: it’s a simple procedure, and your data will be protected. You will receive no spam. It’s simply to avoid people submitting multiple votes: you can vote for up to three photos.

Simply go to: http://foto.expatclic.com/ then click on ‘registrati’. After that you can login, click on Il termine per l'invio delle foto è scaduto. Sono aperte le votazioni’, and vote!

Take a look. There's some wonderful photos on display there!

On the new travel plans news: I'm leaving on Tuesday for a road trip, by Greyhound, to California. It's been several years since I was there except for passing through LAX. The main purpose of the journey is to attend the graduation of my grandson Mike from the U. of Santa Barbara. But I decided to make it a real 'family reunion' trip, so I opted on taking the bus so I could stop first at San Francisco to visit my cousin Harold who I haven't seen in 30 years, and after the grad at Santa Barbara, I'll go on to Bakersfield to visit my Auntie. While I'm down there of course I'll keep my eye open for good travel stories, and I'll try to post on this blog so you can share in my adventures. Stay tuned! I'm anxious to get out of this cold, wet weather and I hear it's 80 in S.F. So I've packed my swim suit and sun-block and away I go, riding into the California sunshine!

MUSIC ON THE LAKE

In the heart of Stanley Park is a small lake known as Beaver Lake. The lake began as a shallow lagoon cut off from the ocean by the land and eventually turned into a barren and dry bog, then a forested bog and finally, about 10,000 years ago, a freshwater pond that we know today as Beaver Lake. Today the 'lake' is truning back to a bog which is covered with a lovely blanket of yellow water lilies. There are trails in the surrounding forest, one of them "The Beaver Lake Interpretive Trail. Along this interesting route you will experience the various ecosystems of Stanley Park. On Sunday, when my friend and I paid our first visit in years, there were dozens of ducks with their fluffy little ducklings providing entertainment for the visitors. A long-legged heron waded among the water-lilies searching for a snack. Red-wing blackbirds chirrped from the tall reeds. There couldn't have been a more appropriate or lovely setting for the event which we had come there to attend.

"Shafer on the Lake" was an afternoon concert performed by the lakeside by a vocalist, flautist, clarinet and trumper player celebrating the 75th birthday of eminent Canadian composer/librettist/artistic direct and environmentalist R. Murray Shafer. We took along a little picnic lunch and sat on a bench enjoying the strains of the music as it echoed back and forth across the still pond enhanced by the bird sounds. Quite an enjoyable way to spend the afternoon.

A little black squirrel came to join our picnic. He refused the carrot we offered him but chowed down on the scraps of chicken wings and kept coming back, standing up on his little hind legs begging for more.

After the concert ended we walked back along the trail, through the tall Douglas firs. There were wild flowers blooming along the path
and the tall ferns uncurling their fronds. It's certainly worth a visit to Beaver Lake and perhaps the next time I'll take along the "Interpretive Trail" brochure I picked up so I can follow along and see more of the flora and fauna that surround it.