Northport

Mmmmm. It just doesn't get any better than this....

Cardboard Chairs

Every once in a while I'm seriously wowed by things my students do. I love to have days where I feel like the future of the world is in good hands with the young adults that are sitting in front of me in charge. Today was one of those days. For the past two weeks they've been working on a project to design and build cardboard chairs with no tools, no tape, no staples and be assembled in 5 minutes or less. The chair needed to hold a 125 pound woman with her feet up. That would be me. Some didn't hold me, but most did! They needed to make a schedule, a scale model, a magazine ad, a billboard ad, and assembly instructions. WOW! The creativity and energy that I observed over the past two weeks has been phenomenal. Today was the due date. I got assembly instruction in english and spanish, magazine ads that made me laugh til I cried, chairs with cup holders, chairs that could hold 4 large young men, matching foot stools and only one small bruise from a collapsed chair! The room has been a mess, but it was worth it!

My favorite. With the scale model on top.

Madison

A friend of mine once said that everywhere you go in Wisconsin is like a picture on a calendar. He may be right. Someone else said it's like a hip town dropped in the middle of a cornfield. Hmm. Pretty close too.
The first farmer's market of the year surrounded the capital. It wasn't completely hopping as it's early yet, but there were lots of vendors and customers.

Fried cheese. Yum. A bit like saganaki (flaming cheese in Greek town.)
Stella's Famous Hot Cheese Bread. Notice the shelving at right. They just drove it up, unloaded them from the truck and there was an instant line to purchase the steaming loaves. We had to get one too. It was an awesome foot wide soft bun jammed with cheddar and monterrey jack and a touch of hot pepper. Mmmmmm...
The Glacial Drumlin trail starts out our back door.
The road riding is beautiful rolling farm country.....

with cheese shops everywhere. America's Dairyland even has cheddar cheese cows with chocolate cheese feet. Blurry, but you get the idea.

Belize Trip Report

Wow. That trip was just what I needed. Hot sun and warm water. mmmm. Been sick for 6 weeks. I forgot what it felt like to feel healthy. Should have gotten those antibiotics weeks ago. The diving was spectacular.

Stayed on a Peter Hughes luxury live-aboard. 138 foot ship. Eat sleep dive repeat. On the boat for the entire week. Can dive 5 times a day if you want.
Dive deck.

Lido deck. Inside.

Lido deck. Outside.

Sun deck.

Typical day:

7am breakfast

830 dive

1000 snack

1030 dive

1200 lunch

130 dive

300 snack

430 dive

600 dinner

800 pm dive

I have no tan. No time for laying out. Well, maybe 10 minutes per day per side.

Flew into Belize city. 20 minute drive to port. Took boat to the south of the Turneffe Islands and up to Lighthouse Reef and down to Half Moon Caye over the course of the week. Sat out the first couple dives. Still a bit stuffed up and sick, but the views were very nice. Read three books. mmmm.Sunsets every night. No green flash though. Bummer.

Self portrait.Not a self portrait. Ditto.Nicola. One of my dive buddies.

Ben. Another dive buddy. Scary aye?

Yellow tube sponges. These were the most amazing color of purple! I wonder if I can photoshop the color back in...Blue tang feeding frenzy with a large blue parrot fish involved. Coral formations were very dramatic. The walls were amazing. Sheer and beautiful.
Huge loggerhead. ~60 years old and a head bigger than a basketball. Swam right at me. I had to get out of its way!
Swam next to him. Could have reached out and touched him. Notice the green moss growing on his back. French Angel Fish. Some think they mate for life. Awww. Peacock Flounder.
Porcupine fish. Social feather dusters.....they're worms that will suck in to their tubes if you get too close.
Spotted moray eel. Just a baby. Coral banded shrimp.
Queen angel. Green moray eel. Not a bad shot considering I was laying on my belly in the sand with my hand stuck into the overhanging crevice as far as I could just hoping one of the pictures would be pointed at him....and hoping he wouldn't decide to bite of that same hand.
Dove the famous Belize Blue Hole. It's 1000 feet diameter and about 465 feet deep. Used to be a limestone cave that collapsed. You can allegedly see it from space.I dove it before so I knew what to expect. Deep, dark and very cool stalagtites. This is me near a stalagtite. There were also Caribbean Reef Sharks hanging around as well. Did a surface interval on Half Moon Caye after diving deep at The Blue Hole. It is a protected island because it's a nesting ground for the rare red footed booby. (It's a bird). There is a campground where you can stay for the week and dive, but nobody else lives there except the rangers.

Some of my favorite moments...

Hawksbill turtles were everywhere. (Yes, that's me!)

Saw spotted eagle rays a couple times. 6-7 foot wing span. mmm.Me again!

And, for the very last dive, a sting ray the size of a .... a...... well, it had about a 7 foot diameter. You figure it out. Huge anyway.
I got so close to it I got scared. Then it got scared of me and took off. Watch the beautiful wings undulating.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5gujATUgNw

Friday we got back to port about noon so we had time to explore. I went to the Mayan ruins called Altun Ha.