Arizona's Natural Beauty

My husband and I were on a 3 day vacation this week, We had gone to see the Petrified forest and Painted Desert, located in the NE part of the state of Arizona.The trip told us that the Grand Canyon isn't the only beautiful, natural attraction in the state. Here, I am giving a detailed description of our trip. Photos will definitely follow, but as they number 400 cumulatively, it will take me some time,and loads of patience, to choose the best pics,and put captions.So bear with me.

The drive was approximately 3 hrs, but since we stopped at two-three places on the way, we reached our hotel only by 3:00 p.m. The town where we stayed is called Holbrook. we experienced the true life of small town America. Interesting facts about the town: began to develop in late 1800's- early 1900's. was just a transit point for miners, and other explorers who wanted to see the petrified forest.it was dubbed" too rough for women and churches." has a population of less than 6000 Newspapers come out only twice a week. Imagine my surprise, when on Thursday, 11/20.08, I found myself reading a paper dt 11/14/08, and being told that this was the day's newspaper!!!

Petrified Forest: Fans of Harry Potter and Chamber of Secrets would already know the word petrified. It means- turned to stone. The Petrified 'Forest', isn't a forest like we understand it. there are no tall trees standing that have turned to stone.,Its a vast area of land, taht used to be a lush forest, millions of years ago. A place where floods used to come. Over the years, trees got washed down with the water, the sediments and the volcanic eruptions together formed layer upon layer on the trees.Such taht with time, the cellulose in the trees was displaced and they turned to stone. Today we find only pieces here and there, but whatever is left, after the mindless plundering was stopped in 1906,has been preserved beautifully. In fact, we were constantly warned not to pick up even a piece, because its considered a state and federal offence,and may land you in jail, with heavy fines. The beauty of this is, even though its a forest of many thousands of miles, they have smooth, paved roads leading to every place where visitors are allowed. there are clean restrooms, drinking water facilities, sheltered areas with seats/ benches to sit and eat, information center and museums. These are all wheelchair accessible areas. There are even emergency phone lines installed in place. There are no tour guides. Its a self guided tour, once you get maps from the information center. I am frankly amazed that Americans trust their citizens so much, that they let them explore such national parks on their own. The road that takes you into the park, also leads you out to join the Interstate highway , the way back to the nearest town, Holbrook..This is again a distance of 25 miles. . approx 50kms.

Painted desert: This was at the edge of the Petrified Foprest,and is another vast area of rocks, taht change colour as the sun moves across the skies. Early mornings and sunset times, the rocks glow red,and other times, green, blue, brown,and in the mid dday, usually brown and white.Unfortunately, mid day was the time when we went. However, we have pictures of other historic landmarks in the place, like the In taht was builtentirely of ahnd, handcrafter light fixxtures, woodden floors, roof, etc.

So i have told you about the two main paces we saw. On the way there and back, we saw Meteor Crater,caused by a meteorite falling to this part of Arizona. It took them till 1969 to prove the crater was actually caused by a meteor,and not ot some volcanic eruption. The guy who discovered it in the first place, actually died a penniless man, trying to prove it was indeed a meteor that caused it.
We stopped to see the HOMOLOVI ruins of the ancient Native Indians, called Hopis, The History buff in me didnt let me go through this without seeing it. So dragged Madhu along. The excavations of one part of the ruins are open for tourists. the others aren't. They in fact, stopped excavating any more, leaving it for future generations. In summer, you can also camp out there in the area.

Our journey took us on the Historic Route 66, one of the first freeways to be built in modern America. It goes across the country, from Chicago to Los Angeles. For people with enough money, leisure and spirit of adventure, a road trip on route 66, isthe "thing to do" atleat once in their lifetime. So, I hope I have given you enough information, and a lesson in geology, geography, history, tourism that you can enjoy the pictures , armed with this knowledge.

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USA historic election win

November 4Th, 2008.This date is going to be etched in history for generations to come,because an African American has gained the presidency of the United States.Barack Obama, a first time Senator, had enough confidence to run for the post of President of the most powerful country in the world. I say this about the country, because my father has a favourite saying.. "If America sneezes, the whole world will catch a cold ". This proved none the truer, when the US Dow Jones index crashed 7000 points,and the effects were felt worldwide the very next day. I don't know whether to call it a ripple effect, or a multiplier effect..since its effects were so widespread and devastating for all major economies of the world. However, Senator Barack Obama, promised change,and this time the voter turnout proved that he has been successful in convincing millions of Americans, that he could deliver on his election promises.
Barack Obama's win has people rejoicing in all cities of USA, had many African Americans in tears, because of the huge symbolism of the moment for them, and in Japan, too. japan has a town named Obama, which in Japanese means, Little beach. So according to CNN, the town officials plan to cash in on the president-elect, by promoting tourism in their little town. Of course, what are the odds of having a town in some part of the world named, Bush, or McCain??Personally, I am quite happy. As a student of history and human rights, I have read enough USA bashing articles,and commentaries, have read about the Civil Rights movement, argued about racism in class debates,and now, sitting here in USA, I am glad the country has shown the spirit ,and voted for a 'person of colour', as next President. They have dared to change, make things right, and this is proved b the 95% voter turnout, from the African American community this time. (again CNN figures).Martin Luther king Jr.'s efforts have been successful, about 40 odd years after his 'I have a dream' speech. Another factor is, India has managed to elect a female president in 2007, in 60 yrs of Independence. So it was only apt that US also give a chance to an African American to lead the country. I also really admire Sen McCain, for his beautiful speech, giving in graciously to Sen Obama, congratulating him, and exhorting all his supporters, to do all they can to help the new President. Let us hope this is a sign of good times to come. Only the next 4 years will tell.

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Pets-why should they suffer?

Since getting my own dog last year, I have become increasingly sensitive to the plight of animals. I always was, but now I feel even more aggravated.

One of my neighbours here, has a 3 yr old poodle. Pure bred.
every time I have seen him ,and its been atleast 4 times till now, he has mentioned atleast twice to me, that he paid a 1000 bucks for him. Bought him from a breeder, for his daughter, additional pet insurance etc...ANd then his daughter decided she really didnt want a dog. So now he has to take care of it. He and his wife divorced,and the daughter livs with his ex-wife.

Its getting colder at nights, there is a breeze that accentuates the chillness in the air. And on top of that, this guy, leaves his poodle out in the balcony, in the cold evening air. That dog whines everytime it sees some one go past his house. I walked my dog at 5:30 p.m.this evening, he was out in the balcony, and again at 8:30 p.m., the dog is out still.

I mean , what did the poor dog do to deserve this? This guy bought it for his daughter, like a mechanical toy,and the daughter decides she doesnt want the toy, so he has to keep it now. He pays a 1000 bucks for this poor dog, and leaves it out in the cold to shiver, till His Royal Highness decides its time for him to come in. This man decides to pamper his 10yr old's wishes, and now 3 yrs later, laments that she doesnt even enquire about the dog.
Aur bhugto. listen to a immature 10 yr old, then pay for it.

I am sure the dog would not have wanted this , if he had a voice.
He is such a friendly little guy.

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website on Indian Doctors

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I had been looking for a credible website on Indian doctors, where they would give the names of specialists in various fields in various cities of India. On Google,there was this website, www.Indian-Doctors.com I was browsing through.
At the very outset, what put me off was the spelling mistake of the word "Diseases" on their website home page. I mean, for a medical directory, please do not make the spelling mistake in the very word Doctors treat.So I immediately wrote out a note on their "Contact Us" online form.

I continued browsing through the website, saw that they have a number of articles on health issues from all over the world. Good for them. But again, I was disappointed. I searched for doctors in ob-gyn, in Chennai. just like that, to see who were listed on their website. Turns out, there are only two entries, both ladies. On clicking the link of one doctor, I am told she has 4 yrs experience. Good. Then, nothing in achievements, articles written, etc. In her personal details link, I , the casual visitor, am told she is unmarried. Isn't that absolutely great info for me???? And here, I am being sarcastic. Make no mistake about it. Instead of giving details about the lady's clinic address, clinic hours, which hospital she is associated with, if any, or whom she practiced with or trained under in her initial years, I am told she is UNMARRIED. Do you think the average patient is interested in knowing the marital status of the doctor he/ she wants to see?I am sure it will be more informative to give any news feature or article where the doctor was mentioned.

I do not know where they got their info from. However, they could have the doctors sign consent forms, agreeing to release the info about their clinic etc.This way, they are making their whole website a joke. Being the nit-picky person I am, I wrote off another note to them, citing the above. I hope the website moderator takes due notice.

Our first baseball game in USA

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Saturday the 19th of July, 2008, was memorable, for 2 things. we did a overall cleaning of our home, including taking out the washer-drye to clean there,a dn turns out my dryer timer has stopped functioning. It keeps running, unil we go amnd push it to stop mode.

The second thing was, Madhu and I went to our very first baseball game in US. The games in AZ are held in a large baseball filed, called as ball park here, in Phoenix. The one we went to is called Chase field, after the Chase bank.

the game was between Arizona Diamondbacks, Az home team,and the Los Angeles Dodgers, from California. The fiels is huge, the biggest flaty screen HDTV available for such games is here, I believe, adn tehre are lots of display screens that keep coming out with sponsors details,a dn getting the crowd to participate. These display screens would suddenly come out and show things like, Make some Noise, or Beat L.A., or Clap your hands, Lets Go Dbacks, eyc,a dn the crowd would obligingly do just that. Any time the ball came near the audience, everyone would stand up and look where it was going. Like Cricket, if a ball kept on rolling, adn hit the ground boundary line, its called a home run. And that got enthusiastic cheering from the audience

Madhu and I were caught up in the frenzy,and we also cheered and booed, with the audience. We were also accompanied by our friend, Mary, and her son. Her son was one who told us the basic ground rules of the game, and was thinking of new slogans to shout back at the supporters of the other team.

How did we get to enjoy all this? Courtesy of the American Red Cross. The Phoenix chapter of the Red Cross had its volunteer recognition event, recently,and all volunteers got passes for the home game of Diamondbacks( a home game is when the team plays in its own state). So we went,and took our friends too. Volunteering with the Red Cross does have its perks. Oh, and did I tell you, the Dbacks won!!!

Dog Writes Book on How to Live With Humans

source: Annanova

Dog writes book on understanding and living with humans

A pet dog has been promoting her debut book offering fellow canines advice on living with humans.

Dennis Fried says his dog Genevieve "bark-tated" Memoirs of a Papillon to him.

Both owner and dog signed autographs at Miami Book Fair International which hosted more than 200 local and international authors.

Mr Fried from Sarasota says the book is a must read for dogs wanting to learn about the minds of their owners.

"She barktated it to me, and I translated it from dog into English. It's all true. Genevieve may have exaggerated once or twice, but she didn't make any of it up," he told the Miami Herald.

The 158-page book offers driving tips for dogs, discusses the tragedy of doorbells in TV commercials, and how to convert a house into an agility course.

AN INSPIRATIONAL STORY

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*THE CRACKED POT *

A water bearer in China had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which he carried across his neck.. One of the pots had a crack in it, while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, thecracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to his house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After 2 years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, and because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house." The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you've watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house"

*/Moral: Each of us has our own unique flaws. We're all cracked pots. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. You've just got to take each person for what they are, and look for the good in them./*