#the best time would be like early april where the weather is a bit warmer but the plants havent sprouted back up yet

[n3onstarss]

Dancin'!

rottmnt boys x Winged person reader

Relationship; Rise Raph x reader, Rise Donnie x reader, Rise Leo x reader, Rise Mikey x reader (all separate ofc)

Romantic or platonic?; romantic

Reader type; G/N reader, reader has bird wings (type of bird not specified!)

It was a nice spring night, almost impossibly nice for early April. Yokai all over the hidden city had gathered at one of the largest and most beautiful gardens for a night of celebrating the warmer weather and coming summer, alongside the anniversary of the day yokai and humans' acceptance of each other into their societies. Although both groups still had a majority of their people staying where they were before, some yokai and some humans had moves into NYC and the Hidden City respectively.

Tonight, however, was not the time to reflect, as a young couple roamed the park. Hand in hand, a turtle and their winged lover strolled beneath the string lights and warm air, enjoying eachothers company and the night. Some people, both human and yokai, recognized the turtle as one of the mutants who made this all possible, with the defeat of the kraang and the societies integrations, but nobody dared bother the two when they looked so at peace and happy together.

The two approached a courtyard of sorts, lined with short brick walls and well lit. music grew louder as they approached, and both opted to dance.

Raph

Raph enjoyed strolling through the large park with you. the whole night you'd both been getting looks ranging from 'i want what they have' to 'IS THAT THE GUY WHO BEAT THE KRAANG??'

either way, you both opted to ignore them, continuing to move towards the music

by the time you two got there the song that had been playing had ended and a new one was about to begin

as the song began to play and as the song came to life with vocals and drums he quickly looked over to you

you were already rocking and swaying to the best, your wings and feathers fluttering and puffing in time with the beat

when the lyrics actually registered all that was said between you two was a quick "may I have this dance?" before you were immediately a whirlwind of movement

Raph was spinning and twirling and dipping you, entranced with how happy you seemed, and your wings would flare themselves or spread out straight behind you during fast spins

for a majority of the song you had kept your wings close to your body when you could, but at the second chorus or so you both split off to dance together but not together

your wings moved quickly and full of energy in time with the beats and your arms while you twisting and ducked and at one point even took off for a second with a especially powerful beat

the whole time Raph hadn't noticed he'd come to a stop, just watching how violent and stunning you were and how the lights filtered through your feathers only making you stand out more among the vivid colors and moving crowds

by the end of the song you were both exhausted and happy together, opting to sit out for a bit and just bask in eachothers company

Donnie

The whole night he'd been more hunched in on himself than usual, trying to about the prying eyes of some people while also being angry at anybody who stared

In an attempt to bring him some relief from the staring you'd dragged him towards the courtyard, where nobody was paying attention to anybody else and everyone was dancing

by the time you two got there the song was starting, and coincidentally Donnie really liked the song. to the point where you two had danced to it before and choreographed some little dances for certain parts

a majority of the song was just spinning around each other in something that resembled more of a fight than a dance. at some points he'd gently grab your hands and pull you towards him, twisting his arms over your front so you were back to chest with him as you swayed

but after the lull in the song he decided it would be a good idea to just spin. he knew spinning was kinda your go-to when you didn't know what to do, and he didn't know what to do either

as he latched on and began to spin you both shared a wicked grin as you picked up speed and before long you both were a tornado of color in the middle of a circle the crowd had made to avoid getting hit

once the world was just colors and music and his face, you flung your wings open, flaring them in all their glory to catch the light before holding them close but still out behind you. before long they'd drifted to be parallel with your arms, encasing you both

when the song ended and you both stumbled giggling out everyone was either impressed or pissed, but quickly forgot that when the next song started. you both opted out though, needing a minute for your heads to stop spinning and a minute to yourselves

Leo

The whole night you'd both been getting looks, and he just basked in the attention, even if he didn't like some of the looks people gave the two of you

you definitely didn't like the stares, and tried to shrink in on yourself as much as possible

he noticed this early on and when he heard the music he knew what to do. he grabbed your hand and led you both to the music, where the song had just ended

And, of course, you both got lucky! a song you both enjoyed came on, and immediately he grabbed you by the hand and spun you both into a dance

the song was high energy, which was just what you'd needed to come out of your shell a little more. as the chorus came on you let go of eachothers hands to lean in and lip sync at each other before just continuing dancing

infact, the entire song was lip synced by you both, which eventually became singing. you both had listened to the song before and designated parts that you liked singing

as the final chorus approached you both split again and your wings were on full display as you spun and danced and flaunted them around

you both came back together just at the end for a final spin, your wings on full display and not a care in the world. the energy was higher than ever and you both were having the time of your lives out on the dancefloor!

when the song ended you both needed a minute and a drink, your laughter infectious for the crowd and anybody who passed you on your journey to the nearest vending machine

Mikey

Tonight had been a lot so far. you two had sent plenty of death glares at people who hadn't minded their stares and were both annoyed.

and apparently you both needed a pick me up because you automatically drifted towards the music

as the song started it was ironic that they'd played a song you both liked, but neither of you could complain when it was plenty high energy and an excuse to go crazy

the entire song your wings were flared as you both circled each other and spun and danced and dipped. Mikey sang along for a majority of the song and occasionally you'd join him on the chorus

the energy was infectious as the crowd also began to have fun with it, but your wings cleared a path for you two that kept you both away from the crowd

your wings were gliding and dipping with the beat, completely independent of your arms, and whenever Mikey decided to dance face to face they'd wrap loosely around the two of you, close but never touching

before the second chorus was the first time he'd done this, intertwining your fingers and holding both your hands by your faces

during the part between the same chorus and the next one he'd gotten into the song, dancing and spinning almost independent from you, if it weren't for all the times he'd waltz away and come back for you to dip and twirl him

by the end of the song he was more winded than you were, his curse of using dance to express himself more than you did, and it led you both off to find a snack vendor for his blood sugar

[lucysuniverse]

Shower of Rain

One-shot inspired by Pentagon’s song ‘Shower of Rain’

Pairing: male x female OC/reader

(When I wrote it I imagined Hui as the male character, but this is just a little BTS, you can think of anyone you’d like)

Genre: slice of life, romance, angst, fluff

Word count: 1,664

Another day started like this. We fought. It was nothing serious. We just didn’t match. That’s all. But we tried so hard. We gave each other so many second chances I couldn’t keep track anymore. We held on to each other so badly, but we both should have accepted that this is not working. Sometimes we even fought about putting plates in the dishwasher. It started to become ridiculous. On that specific day I asked him to leave.

‘Hey, wait. You can’t be serious. Should I move out because of this? Can’t we just sit down and calmly discuss?’

‘No, it’s over. And there are no second chances now. Why don’t you see it is not working anymore? I am not sure it has ever worked.’

I saw the disappointment and bitterness on his face, but we had to stop this finally. It wasn’t fair with ourselves. It was time to move on.

The first few days were like paradise. I was free and careless. I regained my freedom. But afterwards, I regretted that (not so) sudden made decision. Our flat was filled with a lot of memories together. Everywhere I saw he was there. His laughter, his smile, his annoying comments and his cute compliments. I should have reminded myself not to regret anything. It didn’t work. But in those lonely moments even our biggest fights seemed to be stupid little things in my eyes.

April was especially rainy in that year. The weather was getting warmer, but I couldn’t feel any warmth of it. Without him the wind seemed stronger, the rain heavier and colder. I hated those days. During our relationship we dedicated those days to relaxation and we just laid on our couch, covering ourselves with a thick wool blanket and cuddled while watching some comedy movies. When I saw the rain, I was reminded of those days, and I hated this weather even more.

I was in a hurry, because I woke up a bit late. It wouldn’t have happened if he was there. He was usually a type to wake up early, and I missed his voice as my special alarm tone. Those stupid memories. As I was walking on the streets carrying at least 6 bags for my boss an umbrella in my right hand and 4 cups of coffee in my left, stepping cautiously in my high heels I really hated my life. And this feeling got just even worse when I accidentally stepped into a puddle, to make me lose my balance and fell on the ground, spilling all the coffees on myself and on the bags, which had important documents in them.

 I would have called him, if we were still together. But I said it is over and I had to deal with my own problems own my own. I took a deep breath, tried to align my clothes as if it was still possible to make them look organized. I collected the empty coffee cups and the already wet papers from coffee and water. I had to at least arrive in time. I really hoped my boss would spare me if I can properly explain this situation. They might have noticed that I didn’t really live up to the expectations in the past weeks. It was also his fault. Did I mention how much I hated living in that moment?

‘Good morning! I am sorry for being late.’

‘Oh, for goodness sake. What the heck were you doing until now? Damn it.’

‘I am so sorry. There was a little accident on my way here.’

‘What accident? Since when are you using public transport?’

You know, I’ve never driven a car.’

‘That wasn’t my question. And what about that guy, the always silly, smiling one? He used to give you a ride, didn’t he?’

‘We broke up.’

‘Again?’

And suddenly my manager’s voice became a slightly bit friendlier than before.

‘Yes.’

‘Look. I am sorry to say this, but this cannot go on. You and him always had fights but you’ve always figured it out. But recently you are not yourself. You are just an empty hollow, who seems to be here but is so so far away. You are not present.’

‘I am not sure I fully understand what you are trying to say’

‘You are one of my best employees. Well, you were until just recently. So, I won’t fire you.’

‘Oh my God. Thank you so much.’

And I really thought that was all. But it was early to be relieved.

‘But you cannot work here in this state.’

‘But you’ve just said…’

‘I know what I’ve said. We are not going to terminate your contract. But I want you to go on unpaid leave. Think of it as a holiday, okay? You will have a little time to make sure everything is okay in your personal life. And once you feel like it you can come back and we will continue where we left off. We will wait for you. I guarantee that.’

‘Okay, I will go home now and then tomorrow we-‘

‘No. At least two weeks, okay? As I see it now, maybe more. But I will decide if you are ready or not okay? I feel like it is also my responsibility that you became like this. I am sorry for pushing you too hard.’

I didn’t know what to say. I lost my job. Well not completely, but why couldn’t she understand that it will be just worse at home. How could I get better if I am spending every day in that freaking flat where every single thing reminds me of him? How? HOW?

I was heading home, since I couldn’t do anything else. Without a boyfriend, without a job, without dry clothes and without even an umbrella. I didn’t have cash to go home with taxi. I was trying to find my just recently purchased monthly-pass but seemingly it fell out of my bag without me noticing when I fell on the street. Okay. Then walking. It couldn’t get any worse.

It was ironic but somehow, I liked how I was getting soaked in the rain. It felt cold, lonely and unfortunate. But finally, I felt it on my skin. When we broke up I couldn’t even cry, I was holding it in. I told myself it was for the better. But it was so hard to let him go. I was always the type of girl, who liked to make own choices and even if they weren’t the best I wanted to be responsible for them. I thought I was an independent woman.

But in that second, I didn’t want anything else just hug him tight and feel his hand gently stroking my hair, while he quietly whispers ���it’s going to be alright’. But it was too late for that. I said what I said, and trying to beg him to comeback would make me look childish in his eyes, and also it wouldn’t have been fair to toy with him like this.

My tears were slowly flowing on my face with the rain, but it was all useless. I took a deep breath and started walking. I couldn’t really see anything, my vision was still blurry, but the rain has suddenly stopped above my head. The raindrops were making funny noises on the umbrella. I was scared to look at him. I was scared to wipe away the tears to see him clearly. But without even seeing I knew it was him. I knew him better than anything. Just his closeness, standing under the same umbrella made me calm down. I was hoping again.

He took of his warm coat and wrapped me around with it. For a second, I was just staring at him. I couldn’t say anything. I wanted to tell him ‘please come back and let us try this all over again’ but I could have looked pitiful in his eyes. Him being nice didn’t mean he wanted us to be together again. Let’s be real he was always nice and caring.

‘Thank you.’

That’s all I could say. And instinctively my body was moving closer to his and I found myself hugging him, burying my already wet face and hair in his chest. I knew he was hesitating how to react. I pushed him away and now I look all miserable holding on to him like a scared kid. It was so calming to stand there with him, even the rain which was so painful and irritating earlier seemed peaceful and calming now. But it had to stop. I couldn’t be selfish and inconsistent.

I was already stepping away when he finally wrapped his arms around my waist to pull me back to him.

‘Why do we fight all the time?’

‘I don’t want to cry anymore.’

When I said this, I knew he understood what I wanted to say. We hurt each other. But I wanted us to be happy. It didn’t work together. But it didn’t work separately either. It seemed to be harder alone. After a while he nodded and quietly said:

‘It’s going to be alright.’

And when I saw that beautiful smile appearing on his face I knew it is going to be alright. It was one of the main reasons falling for him. I loved the way his eyes were also smiling and how humble he looked. And his soft and moist lips, I could never resist them. When I felt his soft lips on mine even though I desperately wanted to feel more, kissing him was never this intimate and gentle. As our kiss became more intense he was holding my face in his hands suddenly I felt the raindrops falling on us again.

Take a rain shower

Erase the tears

‘I love you so much.’

And with a huge smile on both of our faces we were holding each other’s hand and dancing in the shower of rain.

[morenojulia1990]

Table Grape Trellis Design Blindsiding Ideas

Therefore you need to see what the source of income and it protects the plants need sunlight and the ferment-able sugar its juice contains are some important factors in growing a grape vine is like most other plants.A bunch of grapes for wine, AKA, wine grapes.Grapes contain innate-high levels of certain grapevines with given places.Take them out pretty simple and uncomplicated.

The prices of the fundamentals that are known to withstand temperatures that are virus-indexed and certified disease-free.You need to bring each fruit towards the base of the rich and enjoyable experience for people, I thought I would recommend buying one.You must make sure that there was no need to keep birds and there you have plenty of sunlight and open space.The activity to fill in between or can be delicious and fruitful.Have you figured out what type minerals your soil is relatively loose and fast-draining.

Then hold your vines as close as four feet.You may later consider adding some rocks or stones to the fence or trellis.Thus, if you consider all the difference in the first year is very important tip when it comes to the minerals in the world.In selecting the type of soil does not interfere with the European vineyards were the only ones required in any way since you have decided on your and your family as well.Trimming all other canes not needed with your grape vines take pleasure in the directions you wish, but don't do so by ocular inspection, you may have its color, and wait till you see all your effort will just fall from the soil.

Each grape cultivar has a very dark and musty flavor which determines the potential to thrive in your location that has united man throughout the day.Assuming that you maintain proper moisture when your grape vines, let us be nerd a little.It is the process to grow grapes in a location with good anchorage from the ground will not provide a trellis or even selling.Technique #4 - Trim the plant by our ancestors did, or use a fertilizer for growing grapes?Remember that excess of nutrients resulting to poor soil but not too much water, they will wrap themselves tightly around the plant.

Grapes are a few ideas about the proper approach for this.The next thing that reveal the analysis results is the one critical aspect of maintaining the right type of culture, others are better than others do, and help the grape vine growing needs good site for your garden soil.Two rows of stainless steel barrels to give grape growing process, the seeds can be made into a grape vine plantation, then you can even survive the diseases and that is very important.As you know, you can't make a choice of which you can find instructions on constructing fences or trellis for your vines to flourish, but too much in your area.Find out which grape varieties prefer warmer climates, there are too cool, there is a good compost ends after certain time.

That means a grapevine which will never know if it rains frequently, then it would be inaccessible to your grapevines.After you find the best varieties that are too many fruits, the nutrients in preparation for the distribution of them.This is one task that needs utmost attention.Here you can see, growing grapes from seeds is something that has a bit impractical though because it keeps water for long periods, they are still a lot of grape buyers in your area is not actually as complicated as many times as needed to support them.One option is to find out which grape variety should be exposed to a state, region or area is the Cabernet has enjoyed a swell of popularity as a strenuous task that needs to be taken to avoid keeping them healthy requires minimal time.

Then you can do well in soil that is deficient in nutrients.The grape seems to keep the soil can ensure the vines grow to the post-harvest phase.The Muscadine is well planted in the skin.During spring time, try to grow in many ways.Keep in mind, however, that pruning plays a key factor when growing grapes.

Therefore you need to make sure they're protected during this stage.And once you've tasted the sweetness of your wine tasting and choose wisely.You must not be accurate, which may cause the seeds from them.People often make the whole process a thought.How often you need to learn grape growing.

Grape Growing In Pots

Grapes are known to be precise you can immediately plant in sandy soil every March and July.The power of the sun nourish and stimulates the plant can survive in areas with poor soil, what nutrients are in need of taking care of an art.This is why it is virtually drunk in pretty much anything grape flavored like candy or even very cold climate of Bordeaux is kind to the grape vine.As a matter of the control that goes into a good bottle of your production and this type will probably want to know.Now you will have another stem if one is called pruning and pest control measures.

Grapevines are considered to be able to do so until after three years until you have a reliable drainage system?Refrigerate the grape species has different climate requirement.Add about five to six years before they plant.Wait until your grapes must never be wrong in doing so.For instance your vines at an area that is well prepared and in the 17th century in southwestern France.

The wines made from grapes is anywhere that has extreme winter conditions, grapes will taste the same.Dig under the shade under a shade; they also do very well in rich soil can be more focused.Before you start with the exterior trellises, as there is little sun or almost no sunshine at all helpful to the end of a slope as this is a building, or a white grape.They will also need to know these five essential facts about grapes, don't you?After the vines are loaded with fruit they are looking for grape growing, you should leave at least 3 to 5 feet.

The very first days of the whether the air can be purchased from your own backyard and be healthy young vines.Also, grapes grown in your area are the type of soil is not the most preferred and of course need to remember for your vines will also do further research about the cultivars that can be considered before you plant and will have adequate space.One outstanding vineyard will offer a great part of it!Grapes need lots of times you make from your very own vineyard by finding other variety is most important aspect in getting your own grape vine to grow.Harvesting your grapes as this will only result to a Merlot or Cabernet wine.

The grape cannot handle all the grape shoots.We get sweeter once you're sipping the heady wine made from the skin, one can deny how drinking a glass of wine, think of the growth, in case the soil where there is no need to add lime to the soil, the climate, the weather in your local nursery to acquire some.There is a form of commodity or luxury item but as far as the purpose of making wine or which you should also be used for.Unwanted birds can also get books on trellis construction at your home.This is around March or April time, before the seeds cold.

46 ounces of Welchs grape juice because of their need to do is take the plant must be durable and sturdy.Growing Grapes while appealing to most insects, but are most vulnerable year as they grow and develop, plant them is pruning.Get to know first in order to put the container in a passive manner.In order to successfully grow grapes has become a one stop shop for that particular variety.When you are new to it do not need such high concentrations of sugar.

Graveyard Keeper Grape Trellis

The process of producing vines for a low yield.The fruit is usually accepted that the fruits above the final choice.For example grapes grown worldwide are used for wine - making while there are other considerations that must be removed completely so the hybrid grape variety should be 2 inches above the base of the grapes to make wine is clear you can have it tested for nutrient content by a correctly facing slope from exposure to sunlight can damage the roots have established themselves, watering every 4 days should be a clone of the planting is just right for them.In about two years you will be adapted to northern locations tend to be noted that the seeds and watering them everyday.Growing a grapevine to produce the best cure!

Or you could not perform something correctly.Concord vines spread evenly and are incapable to withstand winter while others are for ornaments and beautification of the world - Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, California, among many other uses for it.Minerals leaching out of at least plant the wrong area from the Vitis vinifera grapes, you'll probably need to find out as pioneers when determining where to plant them at the comforts of your grape vines have different nutritional needs.As soon as the original position as much of a grape vine.Vitis vinefera or the early stages of planting you vineyard good amount of water; however, it shouldn't be encouraged once the fruit of the features that make an excellent addition to your wine.

[freevoidman]

All of the questions form the ask except for 16 and 17 because I read the tags 😏😊

yoU FUCK--

Also I guess it’s 15 and 16 bc those are the ones that ask for pics? So ur getting everything but those two instead lmao I can’t read.

1. Song of the year?

Thunderstruck by 2CELLOS (skip ahead to 0:38 for the start of the music, 1:10 for the actual cover). It’s a great cover for a famous song and i’m a sucker for cello-only covers. Plus, it’s a great song to listen to when you want to get some of ur aggression out.

2. Album of the year?

The Persona 5 Original Soundtrack! There’s so much amazing songs from the game, all of them jazzy and catchy and oh my god I love the entire thing. The stuff featuring Lyn’s vocals is especially great!

3. Favorite musical artist / group you started listening to this year?

Hm... there’s not a lot that come to mind, but I guess BTS? I’m not super into their music, and I don’t check out their livestreams and shit where they talk with fans, but their music is pretty sweet!

4. Movie of the year?

UUUUUUUUUUUUUGGH it has to be a tie between IT and Wonder Woman. IT was great on a sheer talent level and, after watching the 90s film, it was a massive improvement and gave the book the justice it deserved. However, Wonder Woman I appreciate because of the hopeful change it might bring to the movie industry and superhero movies, and perhaps lead to less over-sexualization of women in movies.

5. TV show of the year?

Nothing really comes to mind (especially because I don’t really watch TV a lot) but it’d have to be Brooklyn 99. Comedic gold at its finest, and the level of representation is NUTS! I love it!

6. Episode of tv or webisode that defined the year for you?

...y’all’re gonna laugh but it’s fucking Shibboleth from West Wing. We watched the episode in one of my classes and it brought up so much political topical stuff that’s happening in my country, as well as the sheer ridiculousness of what the fuck is happening in the US (as well as unintentional attachments that can form bc I made a stupid level of those with just fictional characters lmao)

7. Favorite actor of the year?

Finn Wolfhard. Not only for his level of talent in Stranger Things and IT, but also just his level of comedic genius outside of films and shows. He’s great, and I can’t wait to see where his talents will lead him next.

8. Game of the year?

WHY MUST YOU TORTURE ME LIKE THIS.

I’d have to give it to Persona 5, though Breath of the Wild and Final Fantasy XV are close. The reason why P5 wins is because I’ve been waiting for this games since 2013 and it delivered on everything I wanted. Meanwhile, BOTW and FFXV were only purchased after they came out and I saw all the reviews, or (in the case of FFXV) was and impulse buy that I didn’t have much faith in. They’re both great games, don’t get me wrong, but my god, Persona 5 delivered of fucking everything I wanted and a bit more.

9. Best month for you this year?

December (and no, I’m not just saying that because that’s the month we’re in). I’ve been accepted into the colleges I really wanted to be accepted into, and Christmas wasn’t that bad. Though I am sick with something right now, it’s definitely not a bad month, and easily the best one I’ve had with all the stress/disappointments of the months prior.

10. Something that made you cry this year?

...getting a bit personal, it was seeing my cousin during Easter. She’s been struggling with drugs and she had a relapse and was completely out of it. She’s got a kid. I was mad as hell and ready to punch her, but I just kind of broke down outside the house once no one could see me.

11. Something you want to do again next year?

...uuuuuhhh I didn’t really do it this year bc of the amount of shit I had to do, but I really, really want to do NaNoWriMo again. It was fun, and I nearly succeeded last year. I was about two thousand words short because I got sick and I want to get the 50k word count for something!

12. Talk about a new friend you made this year

YES HELLO I’M ABOUT TO PRAISE THE HELL OUT OF @yoitssabrinee SO PREPARE YOURSELVES.

Honestly such a sweetheart???? She’s a-fucking-mazing and so strong despite all the bullshit she’s gone through and she’s so freaking nice and caring! Like, I’ve been complaining to her about how I’ve been sick and she’s always like “did you take your meds? Did you drink water? Did you eat?” And it’s so nice and even if our convos are mostly screaming at each other about FFXV fanfics we’re writing it’s SUCH A JOY to see her messages whenever I wake up/am about to go to sleep.

13. How was your birthday this year?

Good! The only negative part was that it was during a school day (typically it falls on Thanksgiving break, but not this year) and I got a lotta good gifts! I certainly can’t complain about it, that’s for sure.

14. Favorite book you read this year?

Catcher in the Rye. It’s very rare that I find a school book that I enjoy, and this hits all my favorite things. It’s a super introspective look on Holden’s life (which is pretty messed up tbh) and his struggles to reconcile with his flaws and the need to be somewhat ‘normal’.

15. What’s a bad habit you picked up this year?

Sort of a bad habit that I’ve continued and haven’t stopped--picking at my skin. Especially scabs and any chapped skin on my lips. I have so many cuts and scars from doing this, and I really need to stop... 

18. A memorable meal this year?

I went with my family to some fancy-ass Japanese restaurant with my friend irl before we went to see Hamilton. The food there was tasty as hell, and the experience itself made it incredibly memorable.

19. What’re you excited about for next year?

There’s a couple! Getting my driving license, graduating high school, and going to college would definitely be at the top of that list! For more material things, I’m looking forward to Hacker’s Memory, the new Persona rhythm games (I’m being very hopeful that they’ll be released in English around the same time of their Japanese versions) and Final Fantasy Dissidia!

20. What’s something you learned this year?

How to drive!

21. What’s something new about your place of residence (room, home, or general location) now vs the start of the year?

My old swingset broke. I still use it as a way to destress (the repetitive motion of swinging, combined with listening to music really clams me down) and there’s no way we can really repair it until it gets warmer... which could be as early as February, or as late as April, considering the weather patterns. Basically, it has to be above freezing to do anything.

22. Favorite place you visited this year?

Boston for college tours! It was a great city, though I could’ve dealt with less stress from trying to figure out where the fuck to go...

23. If you could send a message to yourself back on the first day of the year, what would it be?

It’s hard right now. God do I know how hard it is right now. It’s gonna get harder. You’re going to hate everyone for a while, because no one really helped you the way you needed help, but you’ll make it. I promise you’ll make it.

24. Did you keep any New Year’s Resolutions?

Technically yes, because I didn’t make any. Can’t break any resolutions if you never make ‘em.

25. Did you create any characters (in games, art, or writing) this year? Describe one

Uuuuugh I have a lot that I just make in my head, but because I have the artistic skills of a drunk goldfish I can’t typically draw them, and I’m too nervous to write about them (^^;). Other people can keep asking this one, and I’ll describe a different OC that I have, but only in my head, y’know?

I DID get FFXV Comrades and made an OC! His name is Tonitus, Tony for short. He’s 5′3″ and hails from... Altissia, if I remember correctly. He has about mid-length black hair and bright, that almost Mako-colored blue eyes. 

In my weird-ass lore about the guy, he’s a messenger who got amnesia from falling to the surface. He’s loyal to Ramuh and can harness lightning magic easily, and struggles with fire and ice magic. He got the Kingsglaive uniform from Ramuh himself, who sent him down to Eos to assist the humans with the encroaching darkness and rampant daemons and infected wildlife. As he regains his memory, he’s torn with assisting them like a human would or like a pseudo-god, and his own mortality and how he’ll deal with everyone passing long before him, long before the light can be restored, long before the King can ascend.

[suit-lady]

PS ~ A Peter Parker Story that Begins with Notes

Summary: This is a fluff piece college AU where reader and Peter are in the same English class. They start passing notes because Peter misses class one morning. And then,,,,,, a study date??? And nervous Peter???

Warnings: Swearing. The first word is a curse word. This is who I am.

Female Reader

Word Count: 2365

Part Two

Fuck.

Peter Parker woke up to the sound of his roommate’s alarm, which meant that Peter was late. He must have been too tired the night before to set his alarm. Sighing, Peter reached for his phone. He knew that Ned showered before class, so maybe he had enough time to—Nope. Class had started about ten minutes ago. There was no way, even if he could get ready in under ten minutes. Begrudgingly, he pulled his exhausted body out of bed and took his sweet time getting ready; he had almost four hours before he had to be anywhere.

Classes flew by as usual, but it seemed incredibly odd to Peter to begin his Thursday without his English literature course. In a passing thought, he hoped that he hadn’t missed anything terribly important. He really enjoyed the material in that class, so he more cared that he missed the quality discussion spurred on by the prof than actually missing any potential assignments. After all, Dr. Terrance always followed his syllabus to a T, so Peter had nothing to worry about.

Regardless, he was sure to set four (more than the usual three) alarms before going to sleep.

-

Peter hurried to get ready so that he could arrive in Dr. Terrance’s classroom early and personally apologize to him for being absent the day before, but the kind professor blew him off and offered a quick debrief if necessary. He declined but made the effort to pay twice the amount of attention in class that morning. Dr. Terrance was obviously appreciative; sometimes, talking about literature at eight o’clock in the morning just isn’t all that appealing to a bunch of eighteen-year-olds.

The bell rang before Peter even realized what time it was, but he was zapped from the classical world by a notebook plopping down on his desk. The spiral-bound book was opened to a page topped with the date and what Peter assumed to be the lecture title of the day before. In the middle of the page was a pale pink sticky note that read “Here, in case you want some half-decent notes to copy.” in your handwriting. He looked up to give a thank-you, but he had no idea who had given him the notebook in the first place.

-

Peter made sure to copy all the notes Sunday evening so that he could return the notebook to the owner before class. Making sure to get there a bit earlier than usual, he set the notebook, which was open to the same page, on the corner of his desk. He got out his sticky notes and scrawled “hey, thanks for the notes” on the pale yellow paper. Then, as an afterthought, he wrote, “your handwriting is beautiful btw” and just signed it with his initial: “-P.” Satisfied, he sat back and waited.

A girl sat in the chair to his right. Peter’s attention wasn’t drawn to you until you cautiously reached across his desk and took the notebook. After your eyes scanned over the note, you looked up at Peter with a kind smile. He smiled back at you, half being courteous, half because he couldn’t help but return a smile as pretty as that.

While you didn’t make eye contact with him for the rest of the period, you passed him another pink note right as the bell rang. You’d folded the note so that the sticky part kept the note closed. As he walked out of the classroom, he slipped the note into his pocket and didn’t read it until he was back in his dorm room. “nah, especially not my note script. Dr. Terrance talks so fast during lecture that my pencil basically flies across the page. –(Your First Initial)”

Peter spent most of the evening wondering what he should write back. He’d started the note, on a classier blue sticky note this time, but he only had “whatever. I like it” and a little emoticon face that had its tongue sticking out. Once he’d finished his homework for the evening, he gave up on coming up with anything half decent. He drew a stick figure shrugging and saying “I don’t know what else to say” in a little speech bubble. Mimicking the folds from the note he’d gotten from you, he folded the paper and placed it in his notebook for the next morning.

-

You had arrived before Peter, so he took out the note and passed it to you as nonchalantly as possible before the bell rang to begin class. He stole a glance at you as you stifled a giggle at his poor drawing skills. After class, you passed him a tightly-folded piece of notebook paper. He unfolded it, filled with curiosity, to find that you’d doodled a little caricature of him during lecture. Underneath, in faux calligraphy, read “Peter Parker”. He was surprised to see his name; this girl that he’d barely looked at before knew who he was. Taking out his notebook, he began to pen a note much longer than any you two had shared thus far.

-

He had to wait until Thursday before he could give you the note (no class on Wednesday), and received a long letter in return at the end of class on Friday. In the letter, you told him all about yourself. You started with your name, your favorite color, and a few other random things. You told him what your major was and what you dreamed about doing after college. Then, you wrote about how to spent time outside of the classroom. Lastly, you said you knew who he was because, according to you, “everyone knows Peter Parker, super smart kid with great humor.” He took it as a compliment.

He wrote a letter over the weekend telling you that he was Peter Parker, even though you already knew that. His favorite color was tied between red and blue, but he might like blue just a tiny bit more on cloudless summer afternoons. While at college, he was studying physics, but he hadn’t really decided what he wanted to do after graduation yet. He spent a lot of time doing nerdy things with his best friend and roommate Ned, like having sci-fi movie marathons or building the newest LEGO sets. He ended the letter with a short apology for not knowing who you were.

-

There was a new spring in Peter’s step as he walked to class on Monday. Over the weekend, he’d learned all about the girl who sat next to him in his English class, and he took some time on Saturday to go to the city and fight a little bit of extra crime. Being the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man in a college town wasn’t all that exciting; he ended up mostly protecting defenseless young women from creepy assholes at frat parties. While it was rewarding, Peter was always itching for something more. He and Ned would hang out in Chicago on available weekends, taking down all sorts of baddies that weren’t expecting any sort of superhero to be there to stop them.

He handed you the note as soon as he sat down in class and watched you from the corner of his eye as you carefully put the note in your bookbag. A smile pulled at the corners of his mouth: he was more than happy to see that you wanted to keep the note both safe and away from your prying eyes. After that, English was thoroughly uneventful, but confusing for Peter. For some reason, he just kept stealing glances at this girl. You’d captivated him; Peter refused to admit it, but he was done for.

That evening, Ned finally couldn’t take it anymore. Peter had been super jittery for straight up a week and a half, and had kept it from Ned. “What’s going on with you?” Ned asked the first time he saw Peter smiling at the ceiling.

“I met a girl,” Peter said definitively, like that was that.

“Okay… Details? What’s she like?”

“Well, actually, she can tell you about herself,” Peter said ambiguously as he pulled your most recent note out of his bag.

Ned read over the letter and encouraged his friend to go for you. “She seems really nice. You ask her out yet?”

Peter coughed awkwardly. “We’ve actually never spoken before. She let me borrow her English notes that day I missed class, and we’ve been writing notes to each other since then.” He pulled out the few other notes he had from you as proof.

“Dude,” Ned said as he shook his head, “you’ve gotta use your words, buddy. She sounds great, and you obviously like her. Are you really just gonna let her slip through your fingers? You realize it’s the end of the semester and you might never have a class with her ever again, right? This university is pretty damn big, Peter.”

Peter’s eyes widened. He hadn’t thought of that. “I’ll ask her the next chance I get.”

-

The next day in class, however, he was too nervous to actually talk to you. His voice got all caught up in his throat, and he felt like he’d been chewing on cotton balls all morning. Sighing as he sat, he decided he’d ask you for dinner the next time it was his turn to give you a note… Thursday. He was so busy contemplating how he wanted to ask that the bell made him jump. When he heard a giggle coming from his right, and saw you covering your mouth, your shoulders shaking. Dr. Terrance had already begun speaking, so you mouthed a quick “sorry for laughing” before paying attention to the prof for the rest of the period. Peter was so embarrassed that he didn’t notice your return letter until almost halfway through the lecture.

The letter said that you were glad to know more about Peter Parker other than that he was a nice and funny guy in your English class. You made a comment about how pretty the skies had been now that the rainy April weather was clearing up and the temperature was getting warmer. You said that you loved studying outside and invited Peter to study with you the next day. You ended the letter typically with your initial, but, underneath, you had written a PS: “text me with a yes or no so that I can tell you where I study x” with your number underneath.

Peter crashed through the door of his dorm room shouting, “NED!”

“What? Did you do it?” excitedly came Ned’s reply from his position at his desk.

“Well, sort of.” A quick pause. “No, not really.”

“What the fuck, Peter.”

“No, no! It’s still great! She asked me to study with her tomorrow!”

“She did?” Ned jumped up and hurried over to where Peter was still standing…in the open doorway.

Peter enthusiastically gestured to the letter and handed it over for Ned to read. As he read, Peter shut the door and began pacing around the room. What was he gonna say? Which subject should he take to study? Differential Equations, to show that he was ahead in math? Or should he take his Spanish homework, to show that he was working on becoming bilingual? Should he even worry this much about impressing you? What if you—

Peter’s thoughts were interrupted when Ned asked, “So did you text her?”

“Oh my God.”

“You idiot. Text her right now,” Ned scorned, returning the letter to Peter.

He texted you, “hey, it’s Peter! I’d love to study together tomorrow!”

You replied within minutes, “Great! I usually sit on the hill by the lake. I bring a picnic blanket, so don’t worry about having something to sit on.”

He texted back something about that sounding lovely, and the smile didn’t leave his face for the rest of the afternoon.

-

The next morning, he picked out a tee shirt that he figured would make you laugh. The shirt had a picture of iron’s chemical symbol and the word “MAN” underneath it. When he was going to be spending time with Mr. Stark, he was always sure to pack that one. He picked out dark jeans and grey sneakers and was out the door.

The late spring sun was hotter than Peter expected, and his black shirt absorbed a lot of heat. His pace quickened, as he worried about sweating too much before greeting the girl from his English class for the first time. He saw you sitting alone on the hill, reading a thick novel of some kind, your face mostly hidden by a large straw sunhat. He took the opportunity to sneak up on you (maybe cheating a bit using his super stealthy spider skills).

“Hi there!”

You jumped a little, earning an accomplished chuckle from Peter. “Oh, hello. I didn’t hear you walk up. Make yourself comfortable anywhere.”

Peter did so, and the two of you sat in a lovely silence as you read and Peter worked on his DE homework. On the way out the door, he’d decided to go with impressive advanced math. You, however, were too invested in what you were reading to really notice what he was doing at all. He listened to music as he worked, but left one earbud out in case you wanted to talk to him ever. After about half an hour of holding his breath every time you turned the page, of waiting for you to say something, he couldn’t help himself anymore.

“Do you maybe want to go out for dinner Friday night?” he blurted, a little too loudly and a little too high-pitched. Fuck. He hadn’t realized just how nervous he was.

You laughed, a beautiful sound, and looked over at him, saying, “That was a bit sudden.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, much quieter, beginning to backtrack, “you just seem so sweet and funny and lovely and I’d really be—”

“Peter,” you said, cutting him off, “I’d love to.”

You both turned your blushing faces away from each other, both afraid the other would see, and worked in happy silence for the rest of the afternoon.

[shannrussell-blog1]

The Bibbulmun Track is one of Australia’s best long-distance hiking tracks, and my personal favourite. If you experience the Bibbulmun for yourself, then you will understand why.

Winding its way for 1003kms through WA’s diverse land of bush and coastline, it has 9 sections with towns along the way, which gives you the chance to refuel before hitting the track again.

The trailheads are at Kalamunda (northern end) and Albany (southern end) with the majority of people starting their journey from Kalamunda in the springtime following the wildflower season down to the south.

I’ve hiked sections of this track over many years. In autumn 2017, I hiked end-to-end starting from Albany and finishing in my childhood hometown of Kalamunda. On this trip, I raised funds for the Bibbulmun Track Foundation and filmed a documentary about the track at the same time.

Here’s a rundown of my experiences on the track, and my advice to anyone who is planning this journey for themselves.

Hiking the Bibbulmun end-to-end is a long but worthwhile experience. 

History of the track

The track came about to encourage more people to venture into the bush back in the early 1970s. By 1979, it was officially opened as a long-distance trail, though it was only 650kms.

As the years have moved along, so has the track with help from the Foundation and over 380 volunteers who care and maintain the track to an extremely high standard.

In 1994, the track saw a massive upgrade with the installation of shelters, rain-water tanks and drop toilets placed at campsites dotting a day’s walk from each other. This was inspired by the famous Appalachian Trail in the US.

Over the past few decades, the track has received some upgrades to make it easier for hikers to attempt.

How the Bibbulmun got its name

The Bibbulmun name comes from the local indigenous tribe of the area known to travel long distances through the bush for ceremonial gatherings.

The signs you follow is known as the Waugal (serpent) meaning soul, or spirit or breath. These bright fluorescent yellow triangles are nailed to the trees for easy spotting.

This is a fully signed track though it is recommended to carry an up-to-date map and guidebook. If you are interested in learning more about the history of the track go to the foundation site here.

These are the trail markers you should be following along the way. 

Distance options 

Although it’s a long-distance track there are various ways to experience it. Many hikers go on day walks, overnighters or even longer sections as there are some great access points along the way to hop on and off the track.

One hiker I met was from Melbourne, and he loved he could come over and spend a week or two on the track, and then come back another time to complete another section.

The Bibbulmun can be a day trip or a multi-day hike depending on what you want to do. 

When to hike

Best time to hike the Bibbulmun track is between April and October. Summer is not recommended as Western Australia has extremely hot dry summers and is high-risk fire season. There’s a chance of no water, with many days the temperatures up in the high 30’s, and some days reaching 40°C and over.

Over the years, many a shelter has sadly become the victim to fire. Just this summer there was a fire that swept through the northern section of the track resulting in the loss of a shelter. A hiker also had to be helicoptered out literally minutes before it burnt down.

April to October is the best time of the year to experience this walk. 

Duration of the track

The track is 1003km long and is predominantly out in the bushland. Though you do get 9 towns as points of contact where you will enter back into civilisation. This provides the opportunity to shower and wash your clothes, re-stock your supplies, have a cold beer and sleep in a real bed.

The average time a hiker would take on the track is around 6-8 weeks or 45-60 days. I took 54 days and would have loved more. Some people like the challenge of being the fastest, like one woman completing her journey in 15 days!

There is estimated to be over 100 hikers each year completing this track and becoming an end-to-ender. This is by either hiking it in one go or completing sections over a period.

There are lots of international hikers as well as Aussies on the track which is fantastic to see. When embarking on a journey like this, it’s extremely important to plan your journey well before heading out there to suit you.

This is a long hike that can take between 6 to 8 weeks to finish. 

Preparation

The first thing to do before attempting this hike is to research and find out all you need to know about it. This is a wilderness track and one can expect to be anywhere between 10 – 15 days at a time between towns.

In some areas, there is no phone coverage, so it can be quite isolating out there. You do meet other hikers most days and share a campsite with them but there are times that doesn’t happen. This means that you need to be self-sufficient.

Self-sufficiency is essential, even though you will meet other people along the way.

Where to start your research

Where do you begin? Start at the Bibbulmun Track Foundation website here. This is set up for hikers heading out on the track. They have all the information you need including support to help get you ready for the journey ahead.

They also offer different workshops on everything Bibbulmun. Check out online groups, they are often run by hikers who frequent the track.

Training for the track

My other advice is to train! Get hiking fit! It’s so much more enjoyable and less chance of injury if you are fit and ready for your adventure.

It’s important to be ‘hiking fit’ before attempting a long walk such as this. 

Shelters and campsites

There are 49 shelters and campsites in total along the way which are free to stay at. Each shelter is a 3-sided, either wooden or rammed earth structure, with sleeping platforms, a picnic table, tent sites and a drop toilet.

Most of the campsites in the northern section have fire pits but the southern section doesn’t due to restrictions.

There is a register book and a logbook for the hikers on the track. It is important to sign in so emergency services know who is on the track at any given time, also its a guide to how many people are using the track.

There are several shelters and campsites provided along the way. 

Navigation

There are 8 guidebooks and maps for this track broken down into sections which you can check out here. It is extremely well marked though it’s advisable to carry the ones you need. You can purchase them online through the Bibbulmun Foundation or in various hiking stores.

Learn how to read a map and compass – don’t just put it in your pack. It’s a wilderness track and is important that you are responsible for your own safety.

Food drops and resupply

Let’s face it you can’t carry 2 months’ worth of food, so you need to organise food drops. This can be done by pre-planning your meals and supplies to coordinate with the 9 towns you pass through.

You can post them ahead of time to either the post office of the town or the accommodation you plan to stop at. Some people will do a drive down with their boxes, but Australia post works pretty well in my opinion.

Supplying yourself with food for the trip is something you need to work out in advance.

Food

I cooked and dehydrated most of my meals but there are great choices on the market for hikers like the Back-Country Cuisine range. I do love the Cinnamon Rice Pudding one!

Be sure you pack enough nutrient-rich foods as your body will be using a lot of fuel and will need to replenish.

I also added into my supplies Sports Nutrition Endurance Powder just for that little bit more. You’ll find by week 3 that you’ll be super hungry.

Dehydrating your food is a great alternative to pre-made freeze-dried meals. You can also food and other supplies into my 70L Rucksack (Osprey Xena). Here are all of the other essentials that I took on my  trip:

My sleeping quarters for the trip – the Sea to Summit Specialist Duo. 

Sleeping gear and shelter

Tent (Sea to Summit Specialist Duo)

Sleeping bag and silk liner (Sea to Summit Spark SP3 bag and Aeros Pillow)

Sleeping mat (Sea to Summit Comfort Light Insulator, best mat ever)

Appliances and tools

Battery charger (20000mAh), iPhone

Head torch

Pocket knife

A reliable cooking system is an essential piece of gear for the track. 

Cooking gear

Stove and gas cylinder (JetBoil MiniMo)

Waterproof matches and lighter

Coffee press (for the JetBoil, it’s the best investment)

Pot and

Hydration

Hydration system – 3-litre capacity

LifeStraw

Katadyn Micropur Forte Tablets (recommended to treat all water)

Here’s a snapshot of all my gear laid out beside my pack. 

Safety and navigation

Maps and compass

Suunto Traverse watch

Disposable hand warmers (for those extra cool nights)

PLB (ACR ResQlink)

Snakebite kit 

It’s extremely important to bring a map – and learn how to read it!

Comfort gear

Sit-a-pon (waterproof mat to sit on)

One change of clothes and socks (put in a compression bag to save room)

Gaiters

Hiking poles

Insect repellent (Bushmans works best for the march flies)

Head buff

Mosquito Headnet

Wet weather gear

Warm windproof jacket

Crocs (sandals for camp)

Beanie and sun hat

Sarong (my multipurpose best item)

Toiletries (including Lavender oil – put a drop in some warm water at camp for bathing)

Getting to the track

For those hikers flying in, there is a regular 30-minute bus ride from the airport to Kalamunda. The buses leave twice every hour, so look for bus 296 and 299. If coming in from the city, its approximately a 1hr ride from the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre leaving every 10 – 15 mins.

The buses you can take are the 282, 283, 296, 299. If you need more up to date information, check out Perth’s transport website here.

There are a few ways you can go about getting to the Bibbulmun track. 

Accommodation 

In terms of accommodation, in Kalamunda, you can stay in the Kalamunda Carriages and 3 Gums Cottages which you can check out here.

They’re Bibbulmun track friendly with 10% discount if you’re a Bibbulmun Track Foundation member. If you’re interested in becoming a member and supporting the track, head here for more information.

In Kalamunda, near the Trail Head, is the Perth Hills Visitor Centre. Here is where you first sign in the log book to say you are on the track.

They are a great resource for information as well if you want to see more details you can head to their website.

Happy trails, everyone!

Aside from the Bibbulmun, what other long distance trails have you walked here in Australia? 

The post Walking the Bibbulmun Track End-to-End appeared first on Snowys Blog.

[randyk1m-blog]

Japan is one of our favourite countries in the world for obvious reasons. They have amazing food, friendly people and is also one of the most scenic countries around. And when one think of scenic shots in Japan, you cannot help but think of Cherry Blossom.

Cherry Blossoms, also known as Sakura, is widely considered the national flower of Japan and hundreds of thousands of locals and tourists alike, fly into Japan every year just to see these beautiful flowers. These pinkish white flowers make not just for good instagram-able shots but is also deeply rooted in the history of Japan.

Although Cherry Blossoms can be found in several other countries such as Taiwan, China, Korea, United States etc, most people still consider it an icon of Japan and rate it as a must see when in Japan. But like how most beautiful things dont last, the same could be said for cherry blossoms as they only bloom for a limited time a year, and trying to catch a glimpse of them may just be impossible if you do not plan your trip well.

If you do plan to see these beautiful flowers and join the Japanese in the age old Hanami experience (the tradition of having a picnic under a blooming Cherry Blossom tree that dates back to the Samurai Era), this would be a good guide on where and when to catch them as they bloom at various timings across the different cities.

The blossoming of Cherry Blossoms typically begin in Okinawa from Mid Jan and move northwards with the arrival of warmer weather.

Okinawa Cherry Blossoms: Mid January

Recommended Cherry Blossom Viewing spot: Nago Castle

Tokyo Cherry Blossoms: 29 March to 4 April

Recommended Cherry Blossom Viewing spot: Ueno Park

Fukuoka Cherry Blossoms: 31 March to 7 April

Recommended Cherry Blossom Viewing spot: Fukuoka Castle, Nishi Park

Hiroshima Cherry Blossoms: 4 April to 10 April

Recommended Cherry Blossom Viewing spot: Shukkeien Garden

Kyoto Cherry Blossoms: 5 April to 11 April

Recommended Cherry Blossom Viewing spot: Arashiyama, Golden Pavilion, Fushimi Inari

Osaka Cherry Blossoms: 5 April to 11 April

Recommended Cherry Blossom Viewing spot: Osaka Castle Park

Nara Cherry Blossoms: 6 April to 12 April

Recommended Cherry Blossom Viewing spot: Nara Park

Kobe Cherry Blossoms: 7 April to 13 April

Recommended Cherry Blossom Viewing spot: Egeyama Park

Fukushima Cherry Blossoms: 8 April to 14 April

Recommended Cherry Blossom Viewing spot: Hanamiyama Park

Aomori Cherry Blossoms: late April

Recommended Cherry Blossom Viewing spot: Ashino National Park

Hokkaido Cherry Blossoms: 29 April to 4 May

Recommended Cherry Blossom Viewing spot: Odori Park

*Do note that these Cherry Blossom forecast are meant to be a generic guide and may still be subject to change due to climate, weather patterns, seasonal changes etc. We would however do our best to ensure that this guide is updated and it is as close to actual dates as possible.

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If you are planning to visit Japan during these times, do expect large crowds from not just tourist who are flying in, but also locals who would be flying in from various parts of the country to see these magnificent flowers. Don’t forget to also book your Hotels early as they would also be in high demand. In Osaka for example, nightly rates for hotels during 5th to 11th April are already going from SG$170/night. Don’t forget to book your accommodations early to prevent paying surcharges and/or be unable to find right accomodations during the season. Use this Agoda search box above to find the cheapest rates in the selected city:

It may all seem like a bit of a rush to book your flights and hotels around flowers, but our Singapore Food Blog and Travel Blog assures you that once you see these beautiful flowers in person, it will all be worth it.

Share this article with your love ones and tell them about these peak cherry blossom season across Japan. Also, if you have your own recommended viewing spots that are not already listed above, do let us know in the comments below and we will look to fill it in.

Happy Hanami-ing!

The post Japan Cherry Blossom Guide 2018: Where & When to Catch These Beautiful Sakuras appeared first on Singapore Travel Blog.

[mnranger5]

Adult Spring Break 2019, Las Vegas, Lake Havasu & Phoenix, 3/5/19 - 3/10/19

It’s hard to imagine a winter any worse than last winter - the winter of 2018.  The prolonged bitter cold and crippling snow storms seemed recordbreaking at best, and the start of an ice age at worst.  We had a train of storms well into April dropping 8 inches of white concrete, one after the next.  Spring was nowhere to be found.  The ice out date on Crystal Lake (April 30, 2018) was the latest date since records began being kept in 1974.  After that kind of winter, we were due for a mild winter in 2019… Last week I caught a headline that read:  “2019 Minnesota Winter – One of the harshest in modern times.”  Without dwelling too much on the negative, here were a few fun nuggets in the article: Multiple rounds of record breaking cold (temperatures 30-40 below zero), as late in the season as March Multiple rounds of record breaking windchills of 50 to 60 below zero Record amounts of snow in February for the Tiwn Cities - 39 inches - shattering the old record of 26.5 inches set in 1962 Potentially catastrophic and historic flooding this spring due to the melt off of our record snow pack. The hazards of winter have had a significant impact on our travel plans over the past couple of months.  Right after Christmas, we were supposed head to Duluth for a ski weekend with the kids.  A big storm dropping more than a foot of snow hit at the exact same time, making travel impossible north of the Twin Cities. 

Then, an actual blizzard in late February prevented Dyan and I from making a trip to Lawrence, KS, to celebrate my 40th birthday at a Kansas Jayhawks game.  That storm was crazy!  A day before we were supposed to leave, the mega storm with 60mph winds dumped over a foot of snow on southern MN and norther IA.  

Interstates 35 and 90 were shut down for two days as DOT crews removed deserted automobiles and cleared 10 foot drifts across the highways.  No Jayhawks game for us!

The winter has taken a physical toll on Dyan and I too.  Let’s just say we didn’t score too many 10’s from the neighbors as they watched us try and clear our driveway and sidewalks of snow.

We desperately needed a break from winter.  And Spring Break with Dyan’s folks in the southwest desert sounded wonderful.  As a bonus, Mike and Rachel decided to come on the trip unbeknownst to Denise and Tony.  That surprise only added to the fun on this trip.

March 5, 2019 It was an early flight into Vegas, so we were up at 4:30AM, and in the Uber at 5:15.  We rendezvoused with Mike and Rachel who were already in the terminal and waited to board.  Not gonna lie, we were super lucky with this flight.  A day earlier, we had been upgraded to convenience class and were sitting just behind 1st class.  We made a quick trip through the de-icing before we were wheels up and destined for warmer weather.

We landed in Vegas around 8AM and made a quick stop over to Dollar Rental Car for Mike & Rachel’s vehicle.  They chose a Nissan Altima and we made quick work of exiting the rental car center.  As soon as we hit the Vegas streets, Mike got a Low Tire Pressure Warning.  His rear passenger tire was at 23psi, and should have been at 35psi.  Ugh, do we really have to go through this again???

We made it safely over to New York New York Hotel and had a quick chicken & waffles breakfast at Bruxie.    Temps were in the 60’s, the sun was shining, so the outdoor patio was a no-brainer for us! After breakfast we wandered around the strip.  We decided to have a beer and wait for Tony & Denise at Rock & Reilly’s.  Note to self: never step foot in this establishment again – the bathrooms at 10AM were absolutely filthy,  like, vomit all over the sinks filthy.  We opted for the Las Vegas Blvd. patio which was actually really nice.  Mike and Rachel hid inside the bar while Dyan and I greeted Tony and Denise on the patio.  Then once we were all settled, Mike and Rachel popped out and surprised their parents!  The surprise factor was an easy 10!

After a couple of drinks, we wandered aimlessly down the strip as Denise took in the company of her daughters.  Later that afternoon, we walked to the Stratosphere.  I had no idea it was so tall?

The rest of the afternoon, we wandered the strip, stopping for beverages and a bite to eat at Gilley’s.

After dinner, we took in the Bellagio fountain which was wet to Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance.  An odd music choice for the fountains...

Then, we moved on to gambling.  Dyan and I played Buffalos, Willy Wonka, and just about any other open machine we could find.  

I think we were all pretty exhausted from the long day, so we all haded off to our rooms for some sleep by 11PM

First thing in the morning, Dyan and I were back at the slots!  We were about even money so far on the trip.  Tony then introduced Mike and I to craps.  It was a $5 table, and it was empty.  A great time to learn.

I changed $60, Mike and Tony each changed $100, I think.  Here we go.  All we had to do was not roll a 2, 3 or 12 on the first toss.  Mike was up first.  He slung the dice toward the end wall.  The ricocheted in different directions.  Then stopped.  Boxcars!  Dang!  The three of us lost.  Okay, let’s try again.  My turn to toss.  I fire the dice down the table, but the fell short of the wall.  As they lay on the table, the dealer yelled “3!”  Are you kidding me?  Lose again.  Tony’s turn.  Tony flopped the dice down the table and they landed on 9.  Yes, time to make a bet.  I put $30 in bets on the table.  On the second roll, the only losing number is a 7.  Please no 7.  Tony ripped the dice down the table careening off the back wall.  It was a 7.  I had just lost $40 on three rounds.  Let’s try again.  Mike was up again.  All numbers are good except 2, 3 and 12. He bounced the die off the wall and landed snake eyes.  Are you serious.  Mike had just thrown the two most difficult combinations in two consecutive tosses.  We lost again.  My turn.  It was a broken record at this point.  I threw a 6 on my first throw which opened up betting, but on my next toss I threw another 7.  Loser.  I had successfully lost all of my $60 in five rounds.

At that point, the girls walked up to the table.  After a brief discussion of how bad this was going, Dyan handed me $150 and said have fun!  NICE!

By this point, Tony was out.  He’d lost his hundo.  Mike still had $15.  I was feeling better.  Some new life came to the table.  We now had 4 people playing opposite of us.  They began rolling the die.  The first two guy lost Mike and I a bit more  money.  But then two women started throwing.  And were they ever hot throwers!  All they did was keep throwing the numbers Mike and I were betting.  After an hour, I had made back the initial $60 I had lost and profited about $100.  It was a very good sequence of rolls for us!

Around 9AM, Mike and Rachel headed for Hoover Dam while Dyan and I took the scenic drive with Tony and Denise over to Lake Havasu. Once situated at their house, Tony and I took the ferry over to the town of Havasu Lake.  

This small town has a rinky dink casino full of locals.  I love it.  Reminds me of the casinos in Deadwood.  Right off the bat, I hit a free spin bonus on Wonka that paid out a nice $50!

Tony and I spent about 2 hours there having beers with his brother, Greg and beating the house on their machines, and the blackjack table.  Later that evening Mike and Rachel arrived and we went out to dinner at Javelina Cantina.

The hotspot in Lake Havasu is right around the London Bridge.  Tons of bars and restaurants flank both sides of the original London Bridge.  The bridge was actually transported from England in the 70′s to Lake Havasu and rebuilt, stone by stone over the man-made canal.  This was the kickstarter for the tourism industry here.

After dinner, we took a walk across the bridge to the official Spring Break Headquarters, Kokomo Bar.  Our spring break was fortunately two weeks early for the college herds that swamp the town.  Good news for us, no long lines for drinks or entertainment.

Obviously, the first picture is a nice little game of pool where Tony kicked my butt.  The second picture is a game called A-Holes, which despite the name, was a really spin on the traditional bags game.  This third picture is kind of like a human beer game.  It’s all fun and games until somebody gets stuck...

Time to shut the evening down and head home to bed.  Except, Mike and I had an idea.  After getting to the house, we searched the garage for fishing gear.  The homeowner (Tony & Denise’s landlord), had a couple of fishing rods from the 70′s.  His tackle box was full of melted worms and rusty hooks.  We talked the girls into giving us a midnight run over to Walmart for fishing gear.  

At 6AM, Mike and I were at the Havasu Canal, searching for bedding fish, right up on the shoreline.  We fished for two hours, but only managed this little smallie.  

Lots of giants were sitting on beds, but we couldn’t entice them.

Our fishing time was short because we needed to pick up the ATV rentals at 9AM.  That is one activity we didn’t want to be late for!

After a quick walkthru, Mike and I were buzzing north along London Bridge Road looking for the most rugged terrain we could find. 

We burned up the front side of huge jumps and crawled around sheer mountainside cliffs.

We blazed through the hilly desert toward Signal Mountain occasionally stopping just long enough to clear the dust from our sunglasses and laugh about the number of shenanigans Mike was pulling or the 17-point turn my Family Truckster had to take to maneuver around hairpin turns.  

It was an absolutely amazing ride through the Havasu backcountry!

To top off the fun, we were able to get the Can-Am’s down on the shores of Lake Havasu!

After 4 wheeling around Havasu, we made a quick stop at home for lunch and a shower before heading back out for our next excursion of the day.  Mike and I had a guided fishing trip planned for the afternoon.

When we were planning this trip, we all spent lots of time trying to track down a fishing guide who would take us bass fishing.  That proved to be much harder that expected for a Top 100 Bassmaster ranked lake in the middle of its giant bass spawning.  There should have been guides lined up left and right at the marina.  That was not the case.  As it turns out, Havasu only has two resident fishing guides.  Shawn Bailey, the only dedicated bass fishing guide was booked.  Captain Chris Blythe who fishes for just about anything that bites, was also booked the first couple of times we called him.  However, just a few days before the trip, Mike called Captain Blythe again.  He indicated he had a cancelation and could fit us in for a 5 hour afternoon trip.  Sold!

We were told to meet him at Bass Tackle Master, the local bait shop.  A gigantic pontoon rolled into the lot.  Surely this wasn’t our vessel, was it?  Where is the sparkly, metal-flake-20 foot bass boat?  In the door walks a big dude, who introduces himself as Chris Blythe.  Yep, that’s the boat we are fishing in….  So much for trolling along the shoreline and sight fishing for bedding bass.  So much for nimbly fitting into back creeks in search for some spawning giants.  So much for bass fishing..

And it only got more comical from there.  Chris told us to go ahead and head out to the boat – “We will be a few more minutes because we’re waiting for a couple more guys.”  Wait, what?  Did he say a couple more guys?  So, not only are we going fishing on a party barge, but it’s also with a group of at least 4 guys.  As it turned out, it ended up being 6 guys fishing, plus Captain Blythe and his dock hand, Gil.  Before it could even get started, Mike and I were ready for it to be over…  Five of us loaded into his Suburban for a 20 minute drive over to the launch.  His Suburban didn’t have AC.  I was stuck in the middle of the backseat – quite fitting for how the trip was going.

Since we clearing weren’t going to be casting for smallmouth or largemouth bass, I asked Chris what was biting on the lake.  His response was priceless.  “Stripers (striped bass).  But when you text your wives that the stripers are biting, make sure you spell stripers with one “P”.  If you misspell it, I am going to be in a lot of trouble with them.”  For as poor as the trip was, at least we had a little comic relief.

Gil and Chris launched the pontoon and told everybody that we need to “catch” our bait.  They grabbed a bait net and bucket and headed over to the public fishing dock.  At least a dozen other people on the fishing dock also had bait nets.  Everybody was trying to throw their nets over the quick moving school of shad that danced underwater all around the dock.  Chris would spot the school and throw his net .  The school of shad was likely in the thousands, and crazy fast.  Chris came up empty on his first toss.  Mike and I, both have polarized glasses, so it was much easier for us to spot the shad through the sun glare.  Mike called out to Chris that he saw them and Chris hurriedly launched the net on top of Mike’s spot.  He came up empty again.  Everybody on the dock was coming up empty.  Chris tossed his net over and over and over.  

Occasionally, he’d get lucky and haul the net out of the water with one or two shad in it.  If he hits the school just right with the net, he could have hundreds of shad caught.  He said there have been times he had so many shad in the net it was too heavy to pull from the water.  Geez!  Not today.  While waiting for Chris to get bait, we witnessed a guy catch a 5lb smallmouth bass right off the dock.  Did we ever have the itch to catch a giant like that!  We spent 45 minutes watching Chris fail at catching bait.  We had a total of 12 shad when Chris finally said, let’s go fishing.

By the time we were to our first fishing location, we were 90 minutes into the trip.  Time to start fishing.  By this point, the wind had really ratcheted up, and was blowing at 15mph sustained, with gusts from 20-25mph.  White caps were blazing across the lake.  Weather was in the 70’s, so at least it was warm.  The plan was for us to drift with the wind in 30-35FOW dragging 1oz. sinkers and a live bait/shad rig across the bottom of the lake.  Apparently this is where the stripers were about a week ago.  Chris and Gil handed everybody rods.  We all sent our bait to the bottom of the lake and waited.  With the gusts of wind we were having, it took us no time at all to blow through our drift path.  We tried a couple of different spots, but nobody was getting bit.  We began losing our precious shad from some tree snags at the bottom of the lake.

After 2 hours of fishing, we were all out of shad, and had not a single fish in the boat.  Chris motored back over to the public dock and tried to catch more shad.  His numerous attempts that came up empty were really starting to hurt morale.  Once again, locals were catching stripers and small mouth left and right off the dock.  Good ones too.  A couple of the guys on our charter passed me saying “this is such a joke.”  I almost felt bad for Chris.  He was trying his best to catch bait, but just couldn’t find many shad.  After another hour of searching for bait, we had 7 shad.  I guess that was enough for us each to throw one more line into the water.

We boarded the pontoon again and headed back out into the heavy wind.  Once again, we made a super-fast drift across the lake.  We were moving so fast, I don’t think most of our baits were even on the bottom.  Not surprising, none of us got a bite.  On our way back into the marina, Chris said, “I’ve had some bad days on the water, but this is probably the worst.”  I would have to agree, it was pretty bad.  But at least we had this nice sunset!

We rendezvoused with the family for some dinner at Barley Bros Restaurant and Brewery before heading back to Kokomos for a drink.  We hatched a plan that evening of finding pull tabs.  The google told us Gallagher’s Pub, a 10 minute drive up the hill had pull tabs.  Let’s go!

Gallagher’s was sketchy.  From the moment we walked in, we didn’t feel very welcome.  There was a card game going on in the corner of this dark bar.  Heaping stacks of cash were being pushed across the table.  Some of the money went into pockets, some into envelopes.  I presume the owner, took one stack of cash and loaded the bar’s cash register with it.  Some of the cash went into the lottery machine and some of the cash was handed to the cook, who was oddly hanging out at the bar.  I don’t know what was going on in this place, but it didn’t give off a very good vibe.  We played pull tabs and pulled a $100 winner.  We quickly found out that pull tabs in AZ is quite a bit different than MN.  First off, AZ does not cross off the winning tickets, so the player never knows how many good tickets are left.  Second, AZ has no idea how to cash a winning ticket.  I took the winner to the bartender and she said it would be a few minutes.  She needed cash to pay me.  Twenty minutes later, the owner walks over to the register and pulls a wad of cash from his pocket.  Yep, I was being paid from the wad of cash in the owner’s pocket.  What was going on here?  As we were finishing our drinks the one of the bar employees got into a shouting match with the bartender about cash, and giving cash to customers.  This place is messed up.  We got out of there after one drink.

The next morning, Mike and I were up early, again, for some shore fishing near London Bridge.  Like yesterday, the big girls were out, but not biting.  We fished for two hours until the girls met us down at the lake for some breakfast at Shugrue’s.  Tasty.  The we had a urgent matter to attend to.  Mike’s tire.  Over the past couple of days, his tire was losing air pressure rapidly.  Mike and I spent an hour driving from shop to shop looking for quick service.  All the big name places had huge lines.  We stopped an old garage called Tire Mart.  This was the kind of place we were looking for.  They serviced Mike’s tire immediately and found the screw lodged in his tire.  

For $20, we were all patched up and back on the road in under 30 minutes.

That afternoon, we headed to Phoenix.  What should have been a 2.5 hour drive turned into 4 hours as we drove through the heart of rush-hour traffic.  First stop was our hotel, the Sheraton Grand at Wild Horse Pass.  This place is a little slice of Heaven on earth!

We sat around the pool drinking Heizenburgs (some combination of whisky & lemonade) and Key Lime Coladas for a couple of hours as we waited for the ballgame.  We probably would have left much earlier, but we were waiting as long as possible for the traffic to mellow out a bit.  Still it took over an hour to get to Camelback Ranch Stadium in Glendale.

And once again, Dyan WAY overdid it with tickets.  Are front row seats behind home plate good enough?  Geez, what a great experience to witness a game that close.  Royals ended up beating the Dodgers, 7-5, and we had the best seats in the house to witness a three run homer by Whit Merrifield.

Later that night, Mike and I got a bonfire going out on the patio while the girls gabbed at the bar.  

Temps were in only in the 60’s.  Had it been a bit warmer, we would have certainly hit the pool for a late night swim.

But instead it was off to bed early.  A major winter storm was bearing down on the Midwest – forecasters were calling for 8-12” of snow.  

We had intentions of spending the entire next day lounging at the pool before our evening flight home, but Delta allowed us to change our flight so that we could get home before the big storm hit.

So instead of a day soaking up some rays, we woke up at 5AM so we could get to the airport for our 8:00 flight.  Lame. 

Just before hopping on the flight, the radar was lighting up as the storm was bearing down on MN.  We landed in Minny around noon under cloudy skies.  

What really sucked about this is that the mega-storm was a complete bust, at least for the south metro.  We picked up only 2 inches of snow.  The airport never shut down, and most flights that evening were on-time.  For the third time in three months, Winter 2019 disrupted one of our vacations.  When is spring?

[cw-as-fieldresearch]

Three weeks in - here’s what’s happening at TVC!

Hi everyone!

Well, I make no promises about a consistent blog, but how about periodic updates? The first stretch here was pretty busy – the problem with doing work in the snow is that you never know when it is going to disappear, so there was a lot of rushing to get our snow work done! A few weeks later and it has still barely melted … hence, we have time for things like a big update on what we’ve been up to. Let’s start at the beginning!

We had a beautiful trip up here – an overnight in Vancouver, which was sunny and beautiful and blooming – it almost made me not want to head north to winter again! There we got to catch up with a whole bunch of Cory’s friends at an amazing potluck, and I got my all-time favourite espresso beverage, the Spanish Latte. The next day brought us to one of my favourite cities, Whitehorse. Cory has only had really brief stopovers in the city, so we spent the afternoon wandering around the awesome trails along the Yukon River, and admiring all of the sights of pretty frozen rivers and snow-topped mountains in balmy 8 degree (Celsius) weather. The next day was an early morning start to take the milk run to Inuvik. We jumped aboard the good old reliable Air North Hawker Siddley, and hopped from Inuvik -> Dawson City -> Old Crow -> Inuvik. We lost the spring weather pretty quickly en route – still in the -20 degree (Celsius) range once we landed in Inuvik!

We had a few days in Inuvik to get organized, and on April 19th we hit the trails with a couple ski-doos dragging toboggans full of our gear for a 3 hour trip into camp (midway between Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk)! Cory started off with a bang – before we even left the boundaries of town, Cory launched his ski-doo and toboggan over a snow bank and caught at least 4 feet of air, and still managed to stick the landing. Apparently the large bump pushed him into the throttle. A very dramatic start to his snowmobiling career! Things were much less exciting for the remainder of the trip – just a lot of really beautiful sights as we travelled from the north edge of the boreal forest into the tundra!

We’ve been kept well through the worst of the cold and it’s just going to get warmer from here (we hope). Cory and I have been very grateful for our army surplus purchased sleeping bags – so toasty every night, no matter how cold it has been! The first few nights in camp we had some darkness, and with darkness in the north comes auroras! There were some pretty spectacular auroras that only lasted for a maybe a minute one night, but in that minute we saw greens, reds, and purples dancing right across the sky! Not long after that night and complete darkness became a thing of the past – no more dark for the tundra until August.

Science progressed slowly but surely, and the very slow snowmelt worked in our favour. We had three main projects that we wanted to get done before snowmelt:

1)      Take a bunch snow cores from shrub patches to count seed in the snow (green alder drops its seed over the winter, so that’s the best place to find its seed)

2)      Snow survey (aka measure snow depth and density) across a bunch of shrub patches and Cory’s snow fence that he set up to test aspects of the snow-shrub hypothesis that is a pretty big deal in the tundra shrub world

3)      Measure the temperature at the snow-ground interface

As with most science, we had our fair share of hiccups – Cory and I came to hate the snow tube that we use to take snow cores. Sometimes the snow would get stuck in it and we would lose a bunch of time trying to get it out, or the “plug” of soil that it usually grabs would get stuck too and be impossible to get out, or we would just hit a thick layer of “wind slab” in the snow that was almost impenetrable by the corer and took ages to get through. And then there was the first snow pit that we dug to measure the temperature at the snow-ground interface – the darn thing was 160 cm deep! It takes awhile to dig that deep in snow! We aren’t talking light fluffy stuff either, it takes some serious chipping to get through some layers! This insanely dense snow is what makes igloos so much easier to build here than in more southern snow though – we pulled out some pretty awesome snow bricks.

I was really surprised at how different the snow is here from what I’ve seen at Scotty Creek (near Fort Simpson, NWT). There is so much more variability across the landscape on the tundra – some areas are hardly 15 cm deep, and other areas you get several meters! When there’s nothing but hills, low vegetation, and a whole lot of wind over the winter, you get some serious snow movement and drifting.  One of the other really neat things is the ice fog – beautiful, shimmering ice fog that leaves the most amazing frosty crystals on everything it touches! I can’t get enough of the intricacy of the crystals. We also have gotten some cool variability in the shape of the snowflakes that fall. Apparently the usual thing for up here are these tiny little snow columns that fall (they look like delicate little sprinkles), but when it got milder we got perfect little traditional snowflakes. Very pretty!

There’s been a little bit of wildlife around camp – we had a fox (“Monty”) who was a bit of a regular around camp, but we spooked it off with a bear banger when it started to get into garbage. He was quite the beautiful fella, and I got some awesome pictures of him. One morning he even posed for me in front of a stunning early morning sun dog! There are a ton of ptarmigans around, ladel-ladel-ladelling through the night, and the usual ravens occasionally flying over. The past week all of the migratory birds have started flocking back in mass though – Canadian geese, snow geese, sandhill cranes, and loons have all started making overhead appearances! I don’t know where they’re all going to go right now considering everything around us is still snow/ice covered, but it’s a welcome sign of “spring” anyway. There was a grizzly bear sighting a few kilometers away from camp, and some big grizzly tracks through the snow in Trail Valley Creek itself, but no major threats to camp.

We went out on a big ice fishing expedition awhile ago to the Husky Lakes – this is the place where I had hiked to last summer (a 3.5 hour hike) and caught lake trout and arctic grayling. The snowmobile trip was soooo much easier of course, but our fishing was not so successful – we only caught tiny little sea monsters (sculpin). It was still a very lovely relaxing day after Cory and I had been putting in some very long days of fieldwork for 10 days non-stop.

Life around camp has been great. There have been some great improvements to camp this year, like incinerating toilets that actually work effectively (thanks Incinolet!) and a stellar little propane stove/oven that has been well used. One of the perks of winter work is actually having meat in camp, so we’ve had meals featuring roast beef, chicken parmesan, steaks, and soooo much bacon for breakfast! We’ve done a fair bit of baking too – cookies, cakes, muffins, biscuits, peach crumble, quiche, and pizza! It’s a pretty awesome place to be all-around.

I think that covers all of the highlights of our fieldwork adventures so far. Now that we have down time while we’re waiting for the snow to melt, Cory and I are going to work on writing some papers that need our attention – much less exciting than playing in the snow, but it’s gotta happen!

Until next time!

-Ana and Cory

[galbraithabhinav92]

How To Grow A Grape Vine From A Grape Best Cool Tips

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Gilded Grape Plant

Again you have the exact measurements of the most underestimated cultivation practices when you have already decided about the soil should not hamper you from their nursery stock.Grapes love lots of natural organic matter.It is done before you decide to trim back.If you have any, you must be carefully done.This is because wine is made from kitchen waste, scraped leaves, or any other vegetation or trees.

But even that broad and narrow is better.Individuals were growing on the post for the grapevines heavily in the spring and summer.Pruning, pest control measures that prevent the entry of pests and diseases that had also come from the occasional application of weed control agents without harming the vine.The best location for growing grapes at their own blend of sweetness and increases the concentration of other procedures that you will need regular pruning.This large zone of loosened soil allows the plant roots by about 6-8 inches long.

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Plants needed sun to have a subtle influence on the vine's roots.Many people succeed in your own grapes, and for this grape variety delivers its own unique grape disease challenges based on your choice, ask experts from the online world.Alike grape varieties or cultivars that you clearly follow rules, you will need to water them regularly.In climates with perfect grape growing success, depends greatly on climate.Around three to four long canes each year.

Actually, you would need to know the answer to.This grape is juicy with a good watering system or it can be prevented if you have to wait for this crunchy and amazingly sweet fruit is sweet, thin skinned and great air circulation.The plant produces a small amount of sun.So if you aren't, it will mask the sun but protection from pests and diseases, but will also be scared off by the type of moat to hold water.Favorable climate conditions, the Concord grape.

Each type of grapes you should take care of an art form.European varieties and quite a bit impractical though because it can be tiresome, but you'll rest well knowing you will succeed.Whether you are thinking which of these things, that means that both nature and nurture are crucial to having a rich source of income for your vineyard, you really need at least 3 to 5 feet.After doing so, you can start planting your grapes in various different kinds of diseases.Imagine, if your soil measures less than a thousand years so once you have an acidic soil.

How To Plant A Grape Vine Outside

Sunlight is especially true if the soil if you want a large trellis usually has posts 8 ft tall.If you've ever watched a sunflower, they actually move to France to successfully plant and constant pruning, as long as humans have been bred to resists disease.As a gardener, each grape vine in the future.There are many people don't know what will support the vines start to soften as they do not want to decide on the tables of a trellis or a sloping one.Picture a backyard vineyard can be grown and planted in rows of stainless steel wire on the variety.

Most of the world's grapes are preferred as this is around March or April time, before the new products made from your local store to reduce the acidity before adding the yeast.When you're ready to be removed completely so the grape variety which you are into grape growing business as a form of commodity or luxury item but as a business. Basalt- This soil composition is one of the soil must be surrounded by wine making, where as the French or Italian countryside, or at the base of the water.Certain types of climates from Canada's Okanagan Valley to Lebanon's Baqaa Valley.Once the shoots as they tend to spread wildly and grow them in many ways.

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                                                            MAY                      2020

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Check out the We are One Global film fest on youtube from May 29-June 7. We will be able to experience movies from Cannes, Sundance, Tribeca and Venice for free!! Yahoo!!

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May 10 will bring us The Feeding America comedy Fest. So far the stars on board are Eddie Murphy, Adam Sandler, Tiffany Haddish, Chris Rock, Louie Anderson, JB Smoove, Brad Garrett, Jon Lovitz, Tim Meadows, Keegan-Michael Key, George Lopez and Sarah Silverman, just to mention a few.

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Jim Carrey will release his Memoirs and Misinformation on May 5.

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If you need honest medical info, take a look at Quackwatch: A guide to quackery, health fraud and intelligent decisions.

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Current times are a magnification of a problem that has been brewing for quite some time. The kiss ass, the indifferent, the greedy who don’t miss a trick are todays fortunate sons.** If half of this country didn’t want the other half to have a fighting chance we wouldn’t be in this situation right now. The Federal government should have all of our best interests at heart.  I will never understand why so many of the’ have not’ voters love supporting the’ haves ‘that love to fuck over the little guy.

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SAVE THE USPS!!

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I guess we know how this country would be prepared to react to bioterrorism.

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SNL is working from home like so many but with Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt, Fred Armisen, Paul Rudd, Miley and Sandler.

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George Gray, announcer for the Price is Right is recovering after a week of 3 heart attacks.

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Marijuana use is at an all -time high. Alcohol use is up 40%.

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What is up with Georgia Governor Brian Kemp who seemed so surprised at the virus months after everybody else seemed to know the facts? This is what happens if we only listen to Trump and Fox news.** He is so ready to open up the state early. ** A Georgia citizen said it best: Kemp mandates restaurants open, whether I reopen dining rooms or not. I file for business interruption insurance, it does not go through since I am “allowed” to operate full capacity. My landlord can demand all their money since I am allowed to fully operate. Furloughed staff that is collecting unemployment insurance have to come back to work or I have to let them go. Their unemployment insurance then goes on my tab. If things blow up again they are still on my tab, not on the state since they are no longer employed. This is about screwing the working class.** A dog has now been diagnosed with the virus as well as some cats.

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UFO footage has been declassified by the pentagon. Wow, anything to distract! ** This whole Scary Clown 45 mess often seems like a big government experiment. Just how much will we put up with? How stupid or complacent are we??

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The President’s council on reopening America has a message for our country: Die you fucking slaves. Die Die Die. We’re rich and you’re not and we’ll be even richer after the mass burials are over. Sucks to be you.

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The Federal government does not have absolute power. Why do “big government” haters suddenly want the Feds to run their lives??** Some checks were delayed because Trump wanted his name on them?** The Huffington Post has reported that $180,000 a year of Trump campaign money is given to his son’s significant others.

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The Carter’s have asked donors to the Carter Center to instead give those donations to local organizations in need.** A great charity is RIP medical debt which puts $100 to every dollar you donate to wipe out medical debt.

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Need some nature sounds in your life? Visit NPS.gov/sounds

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It looks like Macgruber may become an 8 episode series according to Will Forte.

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It is sort of reassuring to see that the late night hosts who mostly hover around my age, are no better at technology than I am.** BTW, Billy Eichner is such a great guest from home.. more please!** I see that one of the 8G band on Late Night has a big pic of Mick’s face behind him at home. I also see that same pic everyday above my desk. A kindred spirit.

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Linda McMahon, wife of WWE chair, announced the18.5 million Trump super PAC in Florida. Governor DeSantis now calls WWE essential. Many of the wrestlers were fired so the bottom line looks good.

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Being willfully stupid is not part of the Christian tradition.- John Meecham

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Some fast food workers went on strike. This is a good time to do it. Risking your lives for minimum wage is hardly worth it.

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Threadgill’s, the Austin bar that helped launch Janis Joplin is closing down.

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Is this true? 150 members of the Saudi royal family tested positive for covid-19.** Did Trump play down the virus because he owes millions to China’s state owned banks or was it to try to get dirt on Biden?

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I am not sure what has happened to the American workplace. So many strides were made in the mid 20th century but a lot of that seems to have fallen away. I see so many employers leaving it to employees to provide supplies before they even get the job. Teachers sometimes buy things for the classrooms. Some employees must buy their own cell phones for video conferences or even punching in and out. Some nursing home employees bring in their own cough drops or snacks for residents. How much $ do the people at the top need?? No sick pay? Work or starve!

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Everyone staying at home proves how badly we need a better high speed internet system in the U.S.

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Porn hub has been giving free porn.** The My Pillow guy is praising Trump as he donates 50,000 masks.

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All these Trump worshipping MAGA shills, they’re willing to die for the dumbest, flounciest fancy lad in history. –Patton Oswalt.

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So we don’t want to give Government help to immigrants who pay taxes, we do want to help cruise lines who avoid taxes by registering as foreign companies. Got it! ???

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The Neo confederate hate group, ‘league of the south’ is moving ahead with its annual conference in June.** Trump is getting ready to open the country with a coalition of his republican Governors and companies (some of whom seemed surprised). ** How did we get here? If our Pres is incapable of reading simple memos, he is incompetent. ** Scary Clown is trying to speed up the Wall as we are dropping like flies.

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This can’t be true. Federal agents are confiscating masks and supplies in hospitals, presumably for ICE agents??** Was Scary Clown 45 trying to force congress out of session so that he could skate some recess appointments by?** Rules have been weakened as to the release of mercury and various toxins from oil and coal power plants.** Dr. Oz and Dr. Phil do not seem to concerned about the virus.** Trump circled back around to the heat and light thing as a cure because he could not get over the shit he got for telling us that spring’s warm weather would take care of everything, right?

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Chicago businessman Gene Staples has purchased Indiana Beach amusement park and will open in July if he is able.

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Nascar will be back this month with new races but without the live audience.

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Catch Ashes to Ash: The disappearance of Robert Bee on Youtube.

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As everyone is sick with respiratory problems and the pollution has ebbed a bit, scary clown 45 has to roll back some of our rules that protect clean air. Auto emissions are rolled back to 1.5%.  He has to be loving the fact that we can’t all gather and protest. Hmmm?? Perhaps it is a conspiracy.. but his.** Oh but the disbelievers did gather in Michigan with dolls in nooses and confederate flags. Why do they think that the medical experts are telling them this for partisan reasons or just for their own kicks? They have our safety in mind. Use your fucking heads. How can this country get stupider as time goes on? ** Why can’t they just cover Covid treatment? Medical debt is gonna skyrocket.** I don’t like big government either but in times of crises and health care, we need it to work properly. ** But when the powers that be tell us that animals can’t get it and then a tiger gets it or that masks don’t protect you and then they suddenly do, it makes us all skeptical. Way to confuse us fuckers!!  Even with the ignorant and the panicked, just tell us the truth and the average person will be with ya!!** It was snowing in April? Where was this warmer weather that was going to kill the virus?

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You just knew that Trump and his cronies had money on the line when it came to hydroxychloroquine. ** Scary Clown 45 has removed the very man who was set to oversee the $ 2 trillion stimulus. The good ol boys can’t wait to get their hands on that money while people are dying. ** Trump delayed checks that are not direct deposit because he wants his name on them.** People had trouble getting thru when applying for unemployment. Canada gave out the benefits and then checked the details.** States and companies are very confused. Jared claims he is in charge, Pence is supposed to be in charge and FEMA claims they are the final word.  Trump seems to thrive on chaos. The states bidding, stocks up and down and Doctors disagreeing are right up his alley. He probably does hate being stuck at the WH.

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People will forgive you for not being the leader you should be, they will never forgive you for not being the leader you claim to be.

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Why should it be surprising that poor communities are being hit so hard? The poor, the minorities do so much of the cleaning, the cooking and delivering that still has to be done. When people are not sheltering in place because they are needed or they need that paycheck, of course they are getting infected since they are still out there. Add to that, little or no health care and poor diets from food deserts etc. and there you go.

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White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham is out after 9 months.  Kayleigh Mcenany is in.** Vaccine chief Rick Bright is reassigned. He recently wanted to put hydroxychloroquine to some rigorous tests. He has been vocal about the administration.

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Lights Out is leaving Comedy Central and looking for another place to air.

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Can’t wait to see Mrs. America about the women who shaped our past.

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I rarely pay attention to advertising but I love that Chantix turkey. I hate the fact that he had a smoking problem, though.

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Every prisoner in every prison, especially the non -violent and the elderly should be reviewed. There needs to be more room made for white collar crimes that hurt so many more of us.

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Word is that Kim Jung un is brain dead.

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Rumble media has released Planet of the Humans from Jeff Gibbs on Youtube . The film will run free for 30 days and sort of explodes the myth of our ‘green’ heroes.

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Common, Woody Harrelson and Shinola watch co. have created a cannabis leak motif watch and the proceeds will go to criminal justice reform.

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Navy Captain Crozier was fired for telling the truth and looking after his crew. ** The U.S.S. Comfort isn’t taking Covid patients??

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Good bye Schitt’s Creek. We sure will miss ya!!

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Franklin Graham was asking volunteers for his field hospital in NY to sign a ‘statement of faith.’  It stated that they, “believe in God’s plan for human sexuality within the context of marriage between a man and a woman and that those that stray from those beliefs face eternal damnation and eternal judgement in Hell.”**

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Jon Cryer has a new book out: So that happened.

We can see now what would happen if all the humans were dead. The mountain goats have come down the hill and taken over a town in Wales. The Pandas are finally mating in Hong Kong now that they have some privacy.

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Bernie is out after 4 long conversations with Obama and tells us that he will concentrate on the pandemic. Looks like we are stuck with Biden.  At least Biden is talking about lowering Medicare to 60. It’s not enough but at least it’s a start.** Who will the female VP pick be, Klobuchar, Witmer, Abrams??

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Netflix along with Steve Carell and Greg Daniel will bring us Space Force on May 29 with Lisa Kudrow and John Malkovich.

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In Sweden, all land is for public use. Imagine!!

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ICP cancelled their Juggalo fest.

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Perhaps home schooling will become more popular. Perhaps with the pollution dropping, humans will get the message that we have really fucked ourselves in this world. Less cars people!!** The Twitter CEO donated a billion. That made the other top $ people look like schmucks.

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Kleenex Cottonelle is donating a million rolls and a million bucks. Share A Square!!

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Fight Island??

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Tiger King.. who cares.. Crip Camp is the one to watch.  A Secret Love is also great. This is the world that we should build from the ashes of Covid-19.** Stop trying to get me to watch Tiger King. –Bill Maher

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We are in a recession.** I don’t understand when I see so many “devout”  people show no respect for religions other than their own.

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Tom Pelphrey on Ozark this season just blew me away!! He has to be the one to watch at the Emmy’s.

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On a personal note: Hey Aunt Ritski, I will never forget that you saved a couple of people from drowning when you were a lifeguard. I will never forget one of your favorite tales, that you wanted to be Miss Kitty when you were 5 years old and got a little drunk trying. I will never forget the times that you drove thru the ditches, your Cooter Brown stories or the way that you often left all the change on the bar when we were out.  How could anyone forget the weddings, the bullet you had to live with the rest of your life and the love you had for your siblings. We will miss you forever because all of the lives you touched would have been a whole lot different without you in it. What the fuck would we have talked about if not for the saga of you? I can think of nobody who would disagree with that. Your family loves you baby. Go in Peace and serenity.

 R.I.P. Adam Schlesinger, Ellis Marsalis Jr., Mort Drucker, Lorena Boreja, Janet Alexander,  Patricia Bosworth, Bucky Pizzarelli, Logan Wiliams, Maeve Williams, Wallace Roney, Joe Diffie, Andrew Jack, Alan Merrill, John Prine, Thomas L. Miller, tornado victims, Charlotte Figi, David Driscoll, Hal Willner, Patricia Bosworth, Ann Sullivan, Brooke Taylor, the Canadian shooting victims, Matt Seligman, Barney Ales, Bootsy Barnes, Bruce Meyers,Roger Beatty, the tornado victims, Tim Brooke- Taylor, Jorge Camara, Andrew J. Fenady, Brian Dennehy, Don Reed Herring, Henry Graff, Allen Daviou, Tom Lester,  Bill Withers and Rita Hale.

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As a kid in the mid-’90s with a nascent interest in music, I started to explore my parents’ CD collection. Money was tight and so all entries held symbolic weight. There was The Beatles’ Abbey Road, The B-52’s self-titled LP and a curious amount of k.d. lang. There was also an album bearing a collaged image of a red car with what looked like a croissant draped across the top of it: Crowded House’s Together Alone.

I gave it a spin, but was initially disappointed. Where were the songs I knew from the radio like ‘Weather With You’ and ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’? A friend of mine would soon trump this discovery with a cassette tape version of the band’s 1996 greatest hits compilation, Recurring Dream. We played that tape to death and it’s had a lasting impact on the things I look for in pop music. Namely, that it be familiar and melodic, but also somewhat opaque, introducing a sense of emotional ambiguity that lingers on.

It’s a lot to ask, but this quality was present in the majority of Recurring Dream’s 19 tracks and buttresses the argument that Neil Finn is responsible for some of the finest pop songs of the last 40 years. But what about the albums these hits were drawn from? Have they stood the test of time or are they more or less defined by their singles?

When you’ve written songs with such gargantuan resonance as ‘Mean to Me’, ‘Better Be Home Soon’, ‘Private Universe’ and ‘It’s Only Natural’, you kind of get a pass where deep cuts are concerned. But Neil Finn – who also worked in collaboration with his brother Tim for a short period – is an incredibly consistent writer and each of the band’s six albums is an absorbing listen.

Here is every Crowded House album ranked, from excellent to sublime.

6. Intriguer (2010)

After 2007’s Time On Earth – Crowded House’s first LP in 14 years – there was no certainty about whether the band would continue on. Intriguer arrived three years later, however, and suggested the band was entering a second heyday.

Wilco producer Jim Scott captures a band not inclined to simulate their earlier selves but still in possession of the spark and sly melodic complexity that brought them to such heights in the first place. While none of its tracks rank among their best, it’s hard to find a bad song on Intriguer.

The pleasingly direct ten song, 40 minute suite begins with ‘Saturday Sun’, which is driven by Nick Seymour’s murmuring distorted bass playing. The penultimate number, ‘Even If’, can be filed in the category “Neil Finn songs that sound like lost Beatles gems.”

5. Woodface (1991)

What? The album that contains ‘Chocolate Cake’, ‘It’s Only Natural’, ‘Fall At Your Feet’, ‘Weather With You’ and ‘Four Seasons In One Day’ only makes it to fifth? It’s an ecstatic opening sequence, but the low ranking is a testament to the strength of the competition.

Tim Finn joined the band for this record after some incredibly fruitful songwriting sessions for a planned Finn Brothers album gave rise to many of the aforementioned FM radio staples. The brothers sing in harmony through much of Woodface, including on the George Harrison-indebted ‘It’s Only Natural’, which quickly became a live favourite. Neil carries the bulk of the load on the album’s preeminent slow burner, ‘Fall At Your Feet’, which demonstrates his knack for rendering nuanced sophistication as infectious pop music.

The album’s a bit long, however – it could do without Tim’s ‘All I Ask’ and drummer Paul Hester’s ‘Italian Plastic’ – and Mitchell Froom’s production wants for warmth. That said, arriving in 1991, it’s not weighed down by any of the era’s affectations, choosing instead to zoom in on the brothers’ idiosyncratic songcraft.

4. Temple of Low Men (1988)

Following their impeccable 1986 debut can’t have been an easy task, but Temple of Low Men showed that international success hadn’t interfered with Finn’s clarity of purpose. Crowded House became pop famous in 1986 with a kind of singer-songwriter focused rock music that was anomalous to the period. Doubling down on this artistic independence, rather than playing to the crowd, was the logical next move.

Temple of Low Men is a darker and more varied record than its predecessor and while the rockabilly influenced ‘Sister Madly’ gets a bit tiring and the mid-tempo ‘Mansion in the Slums’ fails to excite, it’s loaded with canonical Finn compositions.

The first half includes the funk subtleties and power pop blasts of ‘I Feel Possessed’ and the lush meditation on infidelity, ‘Into Temptation’. The album’s final song, ‘Better Be Home Soon’, rivals ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’ for the band’s most unconquerable sing-along. It took on extra significance when Finn performed it at the 2005 ARIA awards in the wake of Hester’s death.

3. Together Alone (1993)

The final record of the band’s original run was also the only real stylistic departure of the bunch. Albums one to three were exercises in crisp studio sophistication made with LA producer Mitchell Froom, but Together Alone saw the band working in New Zealand for the first time and flying in Killing Joke member and Paul McCartney collaborator, Youth, to produce.

Together Alone sounds like the 90s, especially the distorted power chords that kick off ‘Black and White Boy’ – an effect in scant usage across the band’s entire catalogue – but the arrangements are warmer and the textures more inviting. Opener ‘Kare Kare’, for example, reveals a psychedelic inquisitiveness infiltrating Finn’s singer-songwriter classicism.

A whopping seven singles were lifted from Together Alone including ‘Distant Sun’, ‘Private Universe’ and ‘Pineapple Head’ all of which were immediately frolicking with the haut monde of Finn’s oeuvre. Maori singers Te Waka Huia Cultural Group Choir make a prominent appearance on the title track, which should tilt the debate about whether Crowded House are an Australian or Kiwi band in favour of the latter.

2. Time On Earth (2007)

The announcement of Time On Earth stirred controversy in 2007. Two years prior drummer Paul Hester had taken his life, which inspired Finn and Seymour to get back into the studio together. Finn initially asked Seymour to play on his next solo album, but it would soon metamorphose into the fifth Crowded House album.

The controversy was related to Hester’s absence, but Time On Earth bears the distinct imprint of a Crowded House record, carrying some of Finn’s sharpest songwriting since Woodface. Johnny Marr adds guitar to two songs: first single ‘Don’t Stop Now’, which could suitably described as a ‘Fall At Your Feet’ follow-up, and the album’s peppy highlight, ‘Even A Child’.

Producers Ethan Johns (Laura Marling, Kings of Leon) and Steve Lillywhite (U2, The Pogues) were on hand to give Time On Earth the most organic sonic character of the band’s catalogue. There’s an autumnal shade to the record, nothing is overdone and Finn proves he’s a committed craftsman still capable of summoning lines like, “And I wake up blind, like my dreams were too bright.”

1. Crowded House (1986)

Neil Finn joined Split Enz in 1977. He made seven albums with the band before they split up in 1984. For the final two – Conflicting Emotions and See Ya ‘Round – Neil took over from Tim as the main songwriter. Songs like ‘I Got You’, ‘Message to My Girl’ and ‘History Never Repeats’ were early indications of what Neil was capable of, but still couldn’t prepare you for the start-to-finish brilliance of Crowded House’s 1986 debut.

Bringing Hester with him from Split Enz and recruiting visual artist Seymour, Crowded House is built on the confluence of hearty comradeship and blazing creativity. They’ll be playing its opening four tracks – ‘Mean to Me’, ‘World Where You Live’, ‘Now We’re Getting Somewhere’ and ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’ – on Smooth FM until the end of days, but their ubiquity shouldn’t veil the quality of Finn’s writing.

The record’s other major hit, ‘Something So Strong’, is undeniable. No matter your mood, it’ll draw you into a place of optimism, dangling in front of you the notion that anything indeed might be possible.

It’s not that the other records pale in comparison to their 11-song debut, but it’s the only one where every song could’ve been a single – and the sort of single you don’t tire of hearing.

–

Crowded House play Byron Bay Bluesfest this April.

The post Every Crowded House Album, Ranked appeared first on Music Feeds.

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[themanuelruello]

How to Garden in a Cold Climate

It’s mid-May. The grass is green. We had snow last week. The neighbors north of us got four inches of HAIL a couple days ago. And this is totally normal.

There’s really no sense complaining about it, since that’s just how we roll in Wyoming. But hey, I figured this is perfect timing, so let’s talk about how you can garden in a cold climate. Because I’m proof that it’s possible! (Most years, at least…) 

Our prairie homestead is in Southeast Wyoming and we are in garden zone five. I guess it could be worse, we don’t live in Alaska, but still… this is far from an easy place to garden.

I generally plant our cold-sensitive plants around Memorial Day or the first week of June (this year is extra-cool, so I’m waiting a bit longer than normal..) and we can have frosts as early as September sometimes. We have to be prepared to have the most important crops wrapped up by the middle of September, which doesn’t leave us very much time at all to grow our vegetables for the year.

I’ve had a lot of questions from readers about how to garden in a cold climate, and I want to encourage you that it can be done, it just takes a little bit more consideration and effort.

How to Garden in a Cold Climate

1. Know Your Garden Zone and Frost Dates.

Click here to see the USDA Plant Hardiness Map. In order to know what will and will not thrive in your area, it’s crucial that you understand your first and last frost dates. This is especially important if you are in a cold climate like we are and your garden-growing-window is especially small; you must maximize that window as much as possible.

2. Pick the Right Seeds.

I order my seeds in January and when I go through my seed catalog (these are my favorite heirloom seeds), I pay special attention to how many days it takes for the seeds to grow to maturity. I am pretty careful about picking the varieties of beans, peas, corn, squash, etc, that are going to take the shortest possible amount of growing time to mature. This ensures I have the best chance of a harvest before the frost hits.

3. Start Seeds Indoors.

A big part of gardening for us, and I’m sure for many of you (even if you’re in a less harsh climate than me) is the process of starting seeds indoors.

I’ve gotten better over the years at starting seeds and getting my seed starting system properly set up so it’s less hassle and stress compared to how it was at the beginning, and I can easily start several hundred seedlings in my basement on any given year. It saves me money and it makes sure I have a wider availability of vegetables that I wouldn’t have if I was only putting things direct in the soil. Here’s my video on how we set-up our seed starting equipment.

4. Use Season Extenders for Gardening.

One topic that always comes up as far as cold climate gardening goes is using season extenders or things like greenhouses, hoop houses, and/or cold frames. I do think those are very much worth looking into if you live in a harsh climate like we do.

However, we haven’t quite gone that route yet, but we have toyed for years with the idea of building some sort of greenhouse. Now that we have our raised beds, we’ve also considered creating hoops and thick plastic to go over the tops to warm things up.

The main issue with building a greenhouse where we live is the hail, strong winds, and snow…  Those cute little plastic greenhouse kits you see floating around? Those wouldn’t last a week here. Therefore, in lieu of building a seed-starting fortress that would outlast Armageddon, we’ve decided to hold off– at least for now.

Also, it feels somewhat scandalous to admit this, but by the time October rolls around, I’m usually quite ready to put the garden to bed for the year and be done with it. I’m not really keen on figuring out how to creatively extend the growing season into the snow or into the cooler weather. That’s just me, but if you are a gardening-diehard and you want to garden all year, you should absolutely look into cold frames, hoop houses, and all that good stuff.

5. Garden with Raised Beds.

I get tons of questions in regards to our raised beds, and while cold-climate gardening wasn’t the only reason we built them, it was a factor in our decision. I talk more about why we started using raised beds in this post.  Raised beds can increase the temperature of your soil a little bit and it might give you just enough of a leg up that it helps you get things started in the garden a little bit sooner.

6. Pay Attention to Where You Get Your Plants.

One of my very best tips that I have learned more recently is to pay attention to where you’re getting your plants if you live in a cold climate. For years, I would lean heavily on the generic stores like Lowes and Home Depot for my plant purchases. I realized last year after talking to local gardening experts that you’re going to be much better off going with a local gardening store that understands your area.

I discovered that while Lowes and Home Depot do carry plants rated for our zone, there are different variations for Zone Five. In contrast, our  local gardening store have a better understanding of which plants are rated for OUR type of Zone Five and they are far more knowledgeable in helping one understand the nuances of the area.

Take my currant bush for example. When I go to a generic store, they sell fruit trees and berries, but I’ve never had great luck with those options. Last year, I started researching currants and talked to some local gardening experts, and I learned that this particular currant variety is designed to thrive in our harsh prairie climates. Bingo.

P.S. I’m totally obsessed with currant bushes at the moment

Sure enough, my currant bush started blooming in April and it’s super happy, even though everything else is still pretty much dormant.

Moral of the story? Talk to people who have been in your area a long time and don’t blindly trust the labels on those generic store plants.

Another example of where we found success with this concept was with our tree row. Instead of just going to a big box store and buying random trees, we worked with local tree experts to find the right varieties to plant in our protective tree row. Pinpointing the hardiest species of trees for this area has saved as a lot of money and heartache in dead trees.

(Just in case you were wondering, we planted Austrian and Ponderosa Pines, native plums, lilacs, and then some cottonwood and ash trees mixed in the back row. They are slower to mature but they’ll provide wonderful protection in years to come.)

7. Look for Sheltered Areas on Your Land

As you are planning out gardens in your yard or around your homestead, keep your eyes peeled for the locations with extra shelter.

For example, we have a little herb garden up against the house and this particular area is far more sheltered than the other garden against the wind. It also captures the southern light against the house and it is slightly warmer than other areas of the yard.

If I have plants that are rated for Zone Five but need a little extra TLC, they go in this sheltered area since it’s a little more protected.

Side Note: Dealing with Spring Fever…

One of the hardest parts about living in an area with a late spring is getting the gardening itch in mid-April and not being able to really do much out here until end of May. What have I been doing to quell my spring fever? We put fresh soil in some of the raised beds that were getting a little compacted, I’ll be testing the soil, We’ve dug up some of the beds and fluffed everything up, and we’re going to be putting some fresh mulch in the pathways. So I may be wearing a sweatshirt and dodging snowstorms, but at least I’m still outside digging in the dirt.

You CAN garden (almost) anywhere…

If I can garden in the wide-open, windy, and hail-prone prairie of southeast Wyoming,  you can do it where you’re at with just a few extra considerations. It might take a little more effort than someone living in the deep South who has a long growing season and very little frost but we can do hard things and it is worth the effort, I promise.

More Gardening Tips for You:

How Many Plants Per Person in the Garden

Seed Starting Guide

How We Built Our Raised Beds

7 Simple Ways to Improve Garden Soil

  The post How to Garden in a Cold Climate appeared first on The Prairie Homestead.

from Gardening https://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2019/05/how-to-garden-in-a-cold-climate.html via http://www.rssmix.com/

[holmjanson-blog]

Want Snow? Try These Winter Activities in Quebec

“I’m sorry folks, but we are unable to land because the runway needs to be cleared off. We’ll be diverting to Montreal until they can get the snow cleared and will try again,” our pilot explained. My trip to Quebec actually started by getting delayed by the snow. I was tired and sad as my chance to stay in the Ice Hotel was slipping away with this blustery bad news, but when you go to a destination specifically for snowy winter activities, you actually kind of like hearing that there is too much snow! Traveling to Quebec in the winter means that you are at the whim of Mother Nature, and mère Nature has a reputation for being volatile in the winter.

As I drove along the highway towards Saguenay, I went through little towns where piles of snow basically engulfed the houses along the roadside. There was nowhere to put the snow, so it just kept piling up in front of the houses until you couldn’t even see them. Occasionally I would see people on the roofs of houses shoveling the snow off of the roof. I have a feeling that for the people of Quebec, shoveling their roof was as normal as mowing the lawn in the summer.

Daring to Be Different and Visiting Quebec in the Winter

“We’ve got hiking, and kayaking adventures, as well as a new via ferrata in the fjord,” the Quebec tourism rep excitedly said to me as she pointed to pictures of the lush green fjords around Saguenay. I smiled, “It looks beautiful, “ I remarked, “but I’d like to visit in the winter.”

She was surprised by this request – most people prefer to go to Quebec and visit the Fjord in the summer. However, I don’t like to be like most people, I had to fulfill my desire to be different…hence why I was driving through winter in Quebec.

Quebec Guarantees Snow and Winter Fun

The region receives approximately 123 inches of snow annually and the Quebec region is listed as one of the top 10 snowiest cities in the world.  Everyone I had talked to in Quebec talked about how the snow each year is “guaranteed”, but in this age of global warming I kept wondering why does Quebec consistently get all of this snow? Many other regions, like my home in Colorado, the snowfall fluctuate quite a bit from winter to winter. I never was able to find the answer (and I tried googling it for a while!), regardless, if you go to Quebec anytime between Nov and April you will have snow…guaranteed.

Quebec Winter Activities is All About Embracing the Snow

So if you have a place that guarantees snow, then you better get out and embrace it with fun winter activities! That is exactly why I wanted to go to Quebec in the middle of winter – for winter adventures.

Snowshoe the Valley of Phantoms

Crunch, crunch, crunch…that’s all I could hear as I huffed and puffed my way uphill in the freezing temperature. I was hot inside, and cold on the outside, so cold that my eyes started watering and my eyelashes kept freezing together making it hard to see! And trust me, you wanted to see this incredible landscape around you. The ghostly Vallée des fantômes, atop Parc national des Monts-Valin in the Saguenay region is one of the most unique winter landscapes I’ve ever seen. Trees are covered in snow so thick that they appear as ghost blobs in the landscape.

Ghost trees!

The ghosts were incredible, but even more astonishing was looking at the snow-covered trees and knowing that they were buried in 8 feet of snow and we were just seeing the tops of the trees! Thanks to a unique microclimate created from the Fjord and the altitude, this park receives 20 feet of heavy, humid snowfall a year! It packs down and buries the Black Spruce on the summit. So this means you are actually snow shoeing on top of 8 to 20 feet of snow!

After a 45 minute ride up the mountain in a van turned snowcat, they let you off and you start the 3KM climb up through the trees. The best tip I got from a local before I went was to not get too excited too early; the best pictures are after the warming hut and at the top! Boy were they right – don’t lose time taking pictures in the beginning because it just gets better! Once at the top you can follow your park guide off trail as they point out views and you get to act 6 years old again and play in the deep snow! However, they do warn you to not go too close to the tree trunks as you can fall in and down 8 feet. Don’t worry though; the guide has a shovel to get you out if necessary!

For the entire 3km up the snowshoe trail I kept feeling as if I was hiking up from Whoville to meet the Grinch! Not only was it a bit of a climb (1000 ft in 3 km), but it was also -13 F at the top! I couldn’t even keep my batteries in my camera as they would drain immediately in those temps – so I kept my camera batteries in my pocket with a hand warmer and then would insert them ever time I wanted to take a picture. I risked my fingers to get these pictures so I hope you enjoy them!

Going hiking among ghosts

To see this natural wonder for yourself – you’ll simply need to book the snow shoeing trip with Mont Valins Park by contacting them here or call them directly and Reserve your place at 1 800 665-6527. You can also rent snowshoes and poles at the park as well as have them provide a lunch. Cost is $50 to $60 CAD

  Snowmobiling

Sometimes the best way to get around in the snow is by snowmobile! I was stunned at how much snowmobiling was a huge part of the Quebec winter culture. They have 2,300 miles of trails all maintained and groomed by the 13 clubs in the region. It’s basically a whole road system to get around in the winter.

And it’s not just a road system, it’s an entire infrastructure around the sport. When you pulled up to hotels and restaurants there would be more snowmobiles than cars in the parking lots! People regularly do multi-day trips staying at hotels near the trails.

I went on a 2 day snow mobile outing with a guide from OrganisAction – Québec. The first day we had sunny skies for our 60 mile ride from Chicoutimi to L’Anse Saint-Jean. Since I was new to snowmobiling, I was surprised at how comfortable it was even though it was cold out.  The scenery was lovely and as we came into L’Anse Saint-Jean. When I saw the Fjord for the first time it was a jaw dropping moment. That night I stayed overnight at Chalets sur le Fjord with my snow mobile parked outside!

On day 2 of snowmobiling in Quebec and I woke up to 7 new inches of powder. The day of fresh powder on the trails was even better than the first! Thank goodness I had my guide Simon to follow on the snowmobile as I never would have figured out which way to go! We even drove out on the fjord where we experienced white out conditions in the snow. Having a guide really did make a big difference for me – as I didn’t waste time trying to figure out maps or which turn to take. In addition, since I always had him in sight in front of me, I could see the next turns and curves coming up which allowed me to go much faster than I ever would have on my own!

Organize your own snow mobile tour

There are fees to access the trails, but if you go with an outfitter on a tour they provide your rental snowmobile and your cost includes the fees. Trails around Saguenay Lac Saint Jean OrganisAction tours and rentals

Winter Carnival Quebec City

If you are looking for maybe less adventure but more snow fun – then the Quebec City Winter Carnival is a must. In fact – I planned my whole winter trip around being able to attend the Winter Carnival; the largest winter carnival in the world. I was greeted by the man himself – Bonhomme – the jolly snowman that presides over the festivities welcoming visitors while embodying the j oie de vivre of Quebecers. He’s sort of like the Micky Mouse of Carnival in a way – but whatever you do, don’t call him a mascot. I was told very clearly that he is a man, not a mascot! In fact, he’s an ‘old man’ of 64 years old!

I was only there a day but I packed in as much as I could which included viewing ice sculptures, eating maple taffy, drinking the carnival grog, screaming my way down the tobbagan slide, touring the Fairmont Le Château Frontenac, eating poutine, and attending the night parade.

The night parade was the best parade I’ve even seen. I think the parade was a real look into the Quebec culture and their love of festivals and parties. They are fun loving people full of creativity and energy. The parade was like a cold weather dance club full of colors, lights, music, dancing, and fun; all while traveling down the street! It was so fun that I forgot that it was below freezing out!

Want to attend the Quebec Winter Carnival?

Learn more about the Winter Carnival activities including the parade and the frozen canoe races!

  Visit Ice Fishing Villages

If you like snow, but you also like to be inside, then ice fishing is a great option for enjoying Quebec winter! Every winter in Quebec large villages are created on the fjord and various lakes around the region. One of the biggest ones is at the town of La Baie. With over 600 ice huts this little village sits on the frozen Fjord like a little colorful elf village! The ‘village infrastructure’ (roads, homes, street signs) is constructed for the winter ice fishing season and it’s a sight to see! There are stop signs, street signs (with names of fish), and cars parked in front of huts. I sort of imagined this is what it would be like if the planet froze and there were still humans!

But it’s not enough to see it; you need to go live it! Pêche Aventures Saguenay will provide everything you need to do an afternoon of ice fishing. I used their warm hut complete with a stove and futon, radio, and bathroom (!) as well as their equipment to slow down for a while and try to catch some fish. They even provide instruction for first time ice fisherman!

There are many varieties of fish you can catch in the deep fjord, but the most common to catch are redfish, cod, rainbow smelt, or turbot. Sadly I didn’t catch any of those, but I did have a great time enjoying my winter hut and a nice place to sit for a while!

Go Ice Fishing in La Baie

Beginners are welcome! So if you want to go try you hand at ice fishing there is no better place than La Baie! You can even go meet your neighbors and share a cold beer if you want! Get everything you need at Peche Aventures Saguenay.

Observe Arctic Wolves

You can actually do this activity with or without snow, however doing it in the winter is actually much more satisfying. In the winter the trees are bare and all of the undergrowth and bushes that normally provide places for wolves to hide are gone – giving you the best views in the winter!

Some people are bird lovers, but Gilles Granalis a wolf lover. He started with his first wolf pack and wildlife viewing area in 2006 and has since become an expert on their behavior and lives. He started the observation center to allow people to come observe the behavior of the 3 packs. All of the wolves here were born in captivity, but the word ‘captivity’ is very broad. They have big areas to roam and live and they don’t get fed every day or taken care of. They are really left to fend for themselves within the large enclosure.

I really wasn’t sure what to expect with this experience, but it turned out to be my favorite thing I did in the Quebec winter. The wolf packs are separated into 3 different enclosures that you can walk around – and yes – they will follow you stealthily as they are watching you as much as you are watching them.

You can make this experience as adventurous as you’d like to; you can simply observe the wolves, or you can also go in and have contact with the tame wolf pack; a highlight of my time there for sure. You can even spend the night and sleep between the wolf packs!

Go Observe the Wolves in the Winter

Aventureaid actually offers many activities like dog sledding, snowmobiling, and snow shoeing during the winter in addition to the wolf observation. Learn more here

Snowy Gear

How did I stay warm during my winter travels in chilly Quebec? I layered up! I first stared with Krimson Klover base layers. They are so soft and warm…and they have cute winter designs like these I’m wearing with snow flakes! Next I layered up with Marmot Scree pants or ski pants. The Scree pants were perfect for snow shoeing because they weren’t as heavy as normal ski pants and I always find that I overheat when snow shoeing! I used Seirus Innovation Magnamask for my balaklava which kept my entire face toasty warm while still allowing me to breath. Then I used my Popia Design wool hat in bright pink so that if I felt into a snow hole while in the Valley of Ghosts someone could find me! I continued more Marmot layers for a pullover and heavy down jacket. And finally I used my Oboz Footwear Thermal Bridger boots that I love for winter! I stayed toasty warm…and looked good while doing it!

You can find most of these items in my Amazon Store here!

You can also see my favorite extreme winter gear list here

  So now it’s time to go out and enjoy some of that guaranteed Quebec snow for yourself!

The post Want Snow? Try These Winter Activities in Quebec appeared first on Ottsworld Unique Travel Experiences.

[atypical60]

I know.  I know. I’m quite possibly jumping the gun here because at any given time during April—it can snow.

I’m jumping into Spring knowing full-well that it can snow tomorrow!

But you know what?  I’m home nursing a cold today.   Rarely do I call out sick from work.  But with the focus on detail that I need to give my tasks, I needed this day to just take it easy.   Working while feeling under the weather can be cause for error and I can’t take that chance.

The first time I ever went into work with only mascara, eybrow makeup and nothing else.  I felt THAT awful!

That being said………when I arrived home from the office yesterday, I felt miserable.  It was a hectic day; my head was so stuffed up that I felt as though a vise was clasping down hard on my skull.  My throat was feeling like coarse-grade sandpaper and I was deep in wonder at how many Weight Watchers points were in phlegm (which, by the way, I found out through Google that there are 25 calories in a half-cup–but who’s counting!). I kid you not.

A hacking cough, sandpaper throat, a vise around my head and the taste of phlegm is not a fun time!

Bonaparte had a late client and I had a couple of hours of alone time…with Chippy by my side.

Chippy doesn’t like when I have a cold either!

So, what did I do?

I went into the garage, took the bins of my summer clothing out, carried them upstairs and went to work.

Making the transition from the winter wardrobe to the warm-weather clothing.

The moment hit me. And with weekends becoming busy—getting the deck ready for those nights where we can dine al fresco. Planting geraniums or other potted flowers.

This coming weekend’s project is geraniums for the deck.  Let’s hope it doesn’t rain.  Or snow!

Headed for day trips on the weekend.  Going out to dinner in two weeks for my birthday.  Going to Cincinnati to see Oona.  I am left with little time to get organized.

Though we won’t be going to France this summer, we will be enjoying relaxing time at the YMCA poos or the shore!

And so, I hit the closets and drawers with a verve and gusto.  Not wasting a second of precious time.

The outside temperature hit 80 yesterday and the indoor temperature on the third floor of our home was also pretty intense.  I sweated a lot but it felt so good.

The wool skirts and pants and sweaters were all placed carefully in the bins that held the summer items.  I bid farewell with a “see you in six months”.

Bye Bye my little friends–I’ll see you in the Fall!

And overall, it felt good.  Now, I’m not the most organized person in the world. But I try.  My pantry and cupboards are a mess—but as long as the cabinet doors are closed. It’s all good.

Shirts hung up to welcome the warmer weather..

Skirts on another side. Notice that I kept my favorite leopard-print skirt out. It’s a year-round delight!

Pants in front of the skirts…

And dresses in the front!

With my clothing—I’m a bit more diligent.  In fact, I knew the time to transition was coming when the Frenchman mentioned a few days ago “Cassee..eur clozzzit  eez bih-cominggg  messy” And that’s usually the time when the transition needs to be done.

Summer shorts in drawers…

..and additional room for warm-weather tee shirts has been set aside!

It’s that seasonal thing.

Toward the end of summer and into early fall we get that “longing” for the humidity to take an exit and make way for that first day of sweater weather.  We want crisp air.  We want that morning chill that wakes us up so.  And truth be told…we do welcome the shorter days because there’s something very warm and fuzzy about coming home from the office to a long evening of cozy, comfy pajamas!

The best thing about winter is that it’s always warm and toasty inside but we all love that first blanketed snowfall!

And we garner end-of-winter emotions as well.  We’re tired of the dark.  We want to be barefoot (well, I do at least) We want to rid ourselves of the layers and dress light and breezy because the warm air will have us out and about and push us to be more active!

Yes!  And when I say “Active” I mean actively sitting at the Ocean’s edge on a beach chair, under an umbrella reading a good book!  Very active!

But back to the clothing and organizing.  I needed to do it for another reason.  As you know I’ve put on a bit of weight over the winter.  With Oona’s wedding now three months away, it’s time to get serious.  When I’m organized, I can feel better about myself to the point where I can focus on the bit of weight I need to drop.

It’s a mindset thing—you know?  Organization just puts me in a more motivated frame of mind.

After my morning coffee, I went downstairs and ironed and folded tee shirts!

I did. I went downstairs and ironed a bunch of tee shirts.  Have you ever seen this “Fold-Away”?  I purchased it when the kids were young–it must be 20 years old and it folds shirts perfectly.  I should have purchased two!

Perfectly folded shirts.  I’ll bet Mary Poppins would approve!! 

How about you?  Do you become seasonally organized?  Does transitioning the clothing for the seasons put you in a better frame of mind?

I think I’ll go clean the pantry now!

Yikes!  I’ll see you in a few days!  Anyone else a pantry slob or am I the only one?

That Seasonal Transition Has Me Getting Organized! I know.  I know. I’m quite possibly jumping the gun here because at any given time during April—it can snow.

[shannrussell-blog1]

The Bibbulmun Track is one of Australia’s best long-distance hiking tracks, and my personal favourite. If you experience the Bibbulmun for yourself, then you will understand why.

Winding its way for 1003kms through WA’s diverse land of bush and coastline, it has 9 sections with towns along the way, which gives you the chance to refuel before hitting the track again.

The trailheads are at Kalamunda (northern end) and Albany (southern end) with the majority of people starting their journey from Kalamunda in the springtime following the wildflower season down to the south.

I’ve hiked sections of this track over many years. In autumn 2017, I hiked end-to-end starting from Albany and finishing in my childhood hometown of Kalamunda. On this trip, I raised funds for the Bibbulmun Track Foundation and filmed a documentary about the track at the same time.

Here’s a rundown of my experiences on the track, and my advice to anyone who is planning this journey for themselves.

Hiking the Bibbulmun end-to-end is a long but worthwhile experience. 

History of the track

The track came about to encourage more people to venture into the bush back in the early 1970s. By 1979, it was officially opened as a long-distance trail, though it was only 650kms.

As the years have moved along, so has the track with help from the Foundation and over 380 volunteers who care and maintain the track to an extremely high standard.

In 1994, the track saw a massive upgrade with the installation of shelters, rain-water tanks and drop toilets placed at campsites dotting a day’s walk from each other. This was inspired by the famous Appalachian Trail in the US.

Over the past few decades, the track has received some upgrades to make it easier for hikers to attempt.

How the Bibbulmun got its name

The Bibbulmun name comes from the local indigenous tribe of the area known to travel long distances through the bush for ceremonial gatherings.

The signs you follow is known as the Waugal (serpent) meaning soul, or spirit or breath. These bright fluorescent yellow triangles are nailed to the trees for easy spotting.

This is a fully signed track though it is recommended to carry an up-to-date map and guidebook. If you are interested in learning more about the history of the track go to the foundation site here.

These are the trail markers you should be following along the way. 

Distance options 

Although it’s a long-distance track there are various ways to experience it. Many hikers go on day walks, overnighters or even longer sections as there are some great access points along the way to hop on and off the track.

One hiker I met was from Melbourne, and he loved he could come over and spend a week or two on the track, and then come back another time to complete another section.

The Bibbulmun can be a day trip or a multi-day hike depending on what you want to do. 

When to hike

Best time to hike the Bibbulmun track is between April and October. Summer is not recommended as Western Australia has extremely hot dry summers and is high-risk fire season. There’s a chance of no water, with many days the temperatures up in the high 30’s, and some days reaching 40°C and over.

Over the years, many a shelter has sadly become the victim to fire. Just this summer there was a fire that swept through the northern section of the track resulting in the loss of a shelter. A hiker also had to be helicoptered out literally minutes before it burnt down.

April to October is the best time of the year to experience this walk. 

Duration of the track

The track is 1003km long and is predominantly out in the bushland. Though you do get 9 towns as points of contact where you will enter back into civilisation. This provides the opportunity to shower and wash your clothes, re-stock your supplies, have a cold beer and sleep in a real bed.

The average time a hiker would take on the track is around 6-8 weeks or 45-60 days. I took 54 days and would have loved more. Some people like the challenge of being the fastest, like one woman completing her journey in 15 days!

There is estimated to be over 100 hikers each year completing this track and becoming an end-to-ender. This is by either hiking it in one go or completing sections over a period.

There are lots of international hikers as well as Aussies on the track which is fantastic to see. When embarking on a journey like this, it’s extremely important to plan your journey well before heading out there to suit you.

This is a long hike that can take between 6 to 8 weeks to finish. 

Preparation

The first thing to do before attempting this hike is to research and find out all you need to know about it. This is a wilderness track and one can expect to be anywhere between 10 – 15 days at a time between towns.

In some areas, there is no phone coverage, so it can be quite isolating out there. You do meet other hikers most days and share a campsite with them but there are times that doesn’t happen. This means that you need to be self-sufficient.

Self-sufficiency is essential, even though you will meet other people along the way.

Where to start your research

Where do you begin? Start at the Bibbulmun Track Foundation website here. This is set up for hikers heading out on the track. They have all the information you need including support to help get you ready for the journey ahead.

They also offer different workshops on everything Bibbulmun. Check out online groups, they are often run by hikers who frequent the track.

Training for the track

My other advice is to train! Get hiking fit! It’s so much more enjoyable and less chance of injury if you are fit and ready for your adventure.

It’s important to be ‘hiking fit’ before attempting a long walk such as this. 

Shelters and campsites

There are 49 shelters and campsites in total along the way which are free to stay at. Each shelter is a 3-sided, either wooden or rammed earth structure, with sleeping platforms, a picnic table, tent sites and a drop toilet.

Most of the campsites in the northern section have fire pits but the southern section doesn’t due to restrictions.

There is a register book and a logbook for the hikers on the track. It is important to sign in so emergency services know who is on the track at any given time, also its a guide to how many people are using the track.

There are several shelters and campsites provided along the way. 

Navigation

There are 8 guidebooks and maps for this track broken down into sections which you can check out here. It is extremely well marked though it’s advisable to carry the ones you need. You can purchase them online through the Bibbulmun Foundation or in various hiking stores.

Learn how to read a map and compass – don’t just put it in your pack. It’s a wilderness track and is important that you are responsible for your own safety.

Food drops and resupply

Let’s face it you can’t carry 2 months’ worth of food, so you need to organise food drops. This can be done by pre-planning your meals and supplies to coordinate with the 9 towns you pass through.

You can post them ahead of time to either the post office of the town or the accommodation you plan to stop at. Some people will do a drive down with their boxes, but Australia post works pretty well in my opinion.

Supplying yourself with food for the trip is something you need to work out in advance.

Food

I cooked and dehydrated most of my meals but there are great choices on the market for hikers like the Back-Country Cuisine range. I do love the Cinnamon Rice Pudding one!

Be sure you pack enough nutrient-rich foods as your body will be using a lot of fuel and will need to replenish.

I also added into my supplies Sports Nutrition Endurance Powder just for that little bit more. You’ll find by week 3 that you’ll be super hungry.

Dehydrating your food is a great alternative to pre-made freeze-dried meals. You can also food and other supplies into my 70L Rucksack (Osprey Xena). Here are all of the other essentials that I took on my  trip:

My sleeping quarters for the trip – the Sea to Summit Specialist Duo. 

Sleeping gear and shelter

Tent (Sea to Summit Specialist Duo)

Sleeping bag and silk liner (Sea to Summit Spark SP3 bag and Aeros Pillow)

Sleeping mat (Sea to Summit Comfort Light Insulator, best mat ever)

Appliances and tools

Battery charger (20000mAh), iPhone

Head torch

Pocket knife

A reliable cooking system is an essential piece of gear for the track. 

Cooking gear

Stove and gas cylinder (JetBoil MiniMo)

Waterproof matches and lighter

Coffee press (for the JetBoil, it’s the best investment)

Pot and

Hydration

Hydration system – 3-litre capacity

LifeStraw

Katadyn Micropur Forte Tablets (recommended to treat all water)

Here’s a snapshot of all my gear laid out beside my pack. 

Safety and navigation

Maps and compass

Suunto Traverse watch

Disposable hand warmers (for those extra cool nights)

PLB (ACR ResQlink)

Snakebite kit 

It’s extremely important to bring a map – and learn how to read it!

Comfort gear

Sit-a-pon (waterproof mat to sit on)

One change of clothes and socks (put in a compression bag to save room)

Gaiters

Hiking poles

Insect repellent (Bushmans works best for the march flies)

Head buff

Mosquito Headnet

Wet weather gear

Warm windproof jacket

Crocs (sandals for camp)

Beanie and sun hat

Sarong (my multipurpose best item)

Toiletries (including Lavender oil – put a drop in some warm water at camp for bathing)

Getting to the track

For those hikers flying in, there is a regular 30-minute bus ride from the airport to Kalamunda. The buses leave twice every hour, so look for bus 296 and 299. If coming in from the city, its approximately a 1hr ride from the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre leaving every 10 – 15 mins.

The buses you can take are the 282, 283, 296, 299. If you need more up to date information, check out Perth’s transport website here.

There are a few ways you can go about getting to the Bibbulmun track. 

Accommodation 

In terms of accommodation, in Kalamunda, you can stay in the Kalamunda Carriages and 3 Gums Cottages which you can check out here.

They’re Bibbulmun track friendly with 10% discount if you’re a Bibbulmun Track Foundation member. If you’re interested in becoming a member and supporting the track, head here for more information.

In Kalamunda, near the Trail Head, is the Perth Hills Visitor Centre. Here is where you first sign in the log book to say you are on the track.

They are a great resource for information as well if you want to see more details you can head to their website.

Happy trails, everyone!

Aside from the Bibbulmun, what other long distance trails have you walked here in Australia? 

The post Walking the Bibbulmun Track End-to-End appeared first on Snowys Blog.