Brick laying machine

http://inhabitat.com/2010/11/15/amazing-brick-machine-rolls-out-roads-like-carpet/new-4-100/

This link will take you to the most impressive new "toy" I have seen in years. It is "brick laying machine". A very simple device which allows the workers to stand upright, and slot the brick pavers in without nearly as much effort!

Of course, the real work never WAS in the brick laying itself, but rather in the sawing, shaping, and fitting of odd sized pavers. But this device takes care of the bulk of it.

Check out the link! Its pretty stunning!

cars....

An all teak and brass car. I want one! Now if it was steam powered....OMG!

Hey buddy...move that snail or I'll boot you off the road. With what you ask? Well this one below!
I wonder where you put the steering wheel?

Above and below...what magnicent sculpture!

Oh wait...here is a good steam punk car! I love it!

Hall costumes

A couple of anime characters. Gee, they their costumes are good, they almost look Asian.

Demons. They get everywhere.

I wonder about this guy. He seems to have issues.....

Two of the reasons I go to these things.

I have no idea. But she WAS very sweet.

Stingrays

Click on these images to enlarge.
Above....Bill and the stingrays.

Very affectionate. This fella kept coming back for scritches.

Handsome little things...

Some NOT so little.

And they come in black too.

The tips of their wings come out of the water, look like little shark fins....

Icicles

These icicles were just so pretty glinting in the sun. I watched them form from little stubs in the morning, to this, about halfway through the day, to about half again as long come the dusk.

Beauty is where you find it

Web Site of the Week

This week's Oh My Gosh cool web site has got to be Grog's animated "knot tying" site. Not quite sure why I like knots so much....and its not like I have on obsession with learning new ones....I only know about a dozen myself, but I do like to use a knot correctly and well. And some of these knots can give you real bragging rights for the show off in all of us, and some....well, like the knot in the illustration, seem to be designed mostly to keep you occupied on long sea voyages.

Grog wants to get people to know how to tie these knots, and his site has all these knots where when you click on them, they tie themselves....in neat and simple steps. You can go back and follow it through again and again with just a simple mouse click.

Please visit Grog's site.....http://www.animatedknots.com/

mother robin

Yeah...most mothers can relate! Most mothers I know get that look from time to time.

This was last week, the kids have all flown now, and the nest is bare. Ready for me to clear it out and prepare for next year.

I have been really lazy about that job...if you look closely, you can see that mother robin has built her nest right on top of last year's nest.

Kodo Drummers Concert

Finally made it to the Kodo drummers concert on Monday night. Tickets had been sold out for more than eight months! Excellent concert! Amazingly enough, at one point, I started to fall asleep! Turns out (by reading the programme) that that particular passage is supposed to relax you to where you fall asleep! (it was a passage which sounded for all the world like rain on a tin roof)

There wasn't a lot of "sleepy" drumming though! Most of it was exciting. I think Brenda perked up a bit when a couple of the well developed drummers stripped down to breech clout to pound on a drum the size of my living room!

I had been to the Japanese drumming concert in Ottawa during the Tulip Festival a few years back, and of course the Toronto Japanese drumming ensemble performed at the Ren Faire in Milton a few years back, but the Kodo drummers are the first and the best. Two thumbs up!

Please link through to their web site. http://www.kodo.or.jp/ There is more to it than drumming, like a martial art, it is a way of life!