Vasa Museet, Stockholm, Sweden

As with everything pretty awesome there's a backstory. Here is the Cliff Notes version.  More detail can be found via The Vasa Museum

1625 (NOT a typo):  King Gustav II Adolf commissions four warships to be built. The first will be the flagship Vasa.

1627-1628:  Vasa's completion (which has been rushed).  On her initial voyage in 1628, she sails approximately 1000 meters, gets caught in a squall and sinks. Appoximately 30 of the 150 aboard perished.

Courtesy of the Vasa Museum

The big question was who was at fault.  The conclusion is the King for ordering many sculptures and cannons to be put on the ship.  The designer for building a tall heavy ship with very little ballast. The captain for not closing gun ports and redistributing weight.

Over the next 300 YEARS:  Several attempts to salvage the Vasa don't succeed, including the actual location of the sinking being lost to knowledge.

1956: The Vasa is located.  Foremast is raised.  The story goes that if not for some last minute campaigning, the Vasa would have been buried in several tons of backfill from nearby development.

1957-1959:  Salvage begins, and the story is very interesting.  Due to the cold/semi-brackish water, the ship is nearly intact, even though it is wood.  Historians and government officials alike realize that they have a time capsule on their hands.  New techniques in pumping out sediments and water and lifting the wreck are developed. Human remains are found.

1961: The Vasa resurfaces after 333 years and floats to her final resting place ON HER OWN BOTTOM.

For the next several decades, preservation of the ship and her artifacts and the building of the museum that will eventually hold her take place.  More is learned on the preservation of marine artifacts.

Here are some pictures.  They are dark.  The museum is in low light/humidity controlled.  Incredibly well done and in about 30 languages.  They manage not only reconstruct her, but get paint samples, sail samples and time capsule like artifacts.  My husband wasn't too keen on the presentation of the human remains, but I thought all in all it was well done. I saw it as these people are now living forever teaching their descendants about their lives.  However, I didn't take pictures of skeletons either.

The sterncastle of the Vasa. Over 400 hand carved wooden sculptures
were on the boat.  Solid wood. Makes her a bit top-heavy.

Modern samples of the pigments they used to paint the Vasa.
It was a bit gaudy by the look of the historians re-creations.

Model showing what they think the original Vasa was painted like.

Something that impressed me to speechlessness.
They recovered SAILS. FROM the 1620s. And were able to preserve the remains.

Several of the blocks off the rigging. They recovered line also.

Closer picture of the sterncastle. I believe 90% of the ship is it's original timber.

Upper view of the Vasa.

I can honestly say that this was one of the more impressive historical museums I have been to so far.

70%

Even though it's been a very benign, pleasant 'autumn'.  I have to admit, I'm twitching.  I miss my blue of the big blue marble.

So, here's to the 70% of the the marble, and that would be the oceans.

I've been fortunate enough to have been able to traverse many of the big blue marble's waters. Alot by another boat I must admit.  Plenty of daysails, and a few day bareboat charters.

And sometimes, just by land...which happens to be by the blue of the big blue marble.

Below, there are a lot of photos from over the years.  Since, I'm too lazy to caption them all, I'll give you these hints.

1. There have been no known sitings of manta rays in Key West.
2. Manatees need a good dental plan, or at least a cleaning once in awhile.
3. Tim has pissed off the entire sea turtle population of the Pacific.
4. There have been no known sitings of humpback whales in Key West.
5. I have had carnal relations with a porpoise (aka Flipper).
6. Have two MaiTais and say this real fast:  humuhumunukunukuāpuaʻa (Trigger Fish in Hawaiian)

The last picture was taken at an aquarium in South Africa and is purely for entertainment's sake.

Flipper says: I hope my mom doesn't see this on Facebook....

 

Bugger off! Stop chasing me!

Seriously, what did I tell you?

Does Obamacare cover dental? 

Taken with a disposable underwater camera.  He was about 8 feet across.

Hey, thanks for putting these out mate. I know they are for the big buggering warships ya got.

I'm not a Pacific Life commercial.

Seriously, this is in the Cape Town AQUARIUM.
Do you know what is int he Cape Town Aquarium.
Great White Sharks.
I say, go for it.  Buyer beware!

Getting Medieval

Last Saturday we got all pissed off after the second AC race was cancelled due to wind conditions. (Well, the whole f-ing lot got cancelled today, but I digress)

So--mainly because his team (Oracle USA) won--husband was elated.  And thus the statement: I want a turkey leg!

However odd that might sound, or maybe not knowing the crowd we hang with, turkey legs were within 20 minutes of us.

Yep, we got medieval. 

The KC Renaissance Festival has been around for awhile, originally it was started in 1977 as a benefit for the KC Art Institute, since 1999 it's now it's own festival and the grounds are static--meaning they don't pack up and move.

In the past 10 years we've seen it expand a lot. It makes for a very cool atmosphere. (Caveat: We go later because most of the kidlings have left). For several years we were lucky enough to get the invite to go to the media night...free booze and food? Seriously, who's going to say bad things? But times and jobs have changed and we lost our free pass.

As usual, we drank, inadvertently became part of a show (or two), almost bought costumes (because the spouse likes bustiers) got turkey legs, yadda yadda yadda.

Then, we had the BRILLIANT idea of learning to use medieval weapons. Seriously what can go wrong here?  HA! NOTHING did, fooled you!  However, I did event new ways to shoot a bow and arrow. But, we were laughing so hard we didn't think of taking a picture of the target. It's called the Special K horizontal bullseye.  (or Velcro Robin Hood)

I'M KATNISS!!!
(Hunger Games for the rest of you...)

Tim tried his hand at hatchet throwing, but I know my limits at handling sharp pointy (or bladed) objects.

He's actually behind the guy in front, but no way was I going to stand behind to take a picture.

What? Don't you walk your llamas home from work?
Sheesh!

I tried to take more pics, but as soon as a camera is seen they want you in the picture. No thanks.

But, still, LOVE going to the RenFest.

Playing about in the neighborhood

We live outside Kansas City, it makes it very convenient to bomb over there for cool concerts, shows and other events.

Kansas City has also done a SUPERB job with re-gentrifying their downtown area, I remember when I first moved here, think, OMG, this ain't good.

But, since then, the Sprint Center and accompanying Power & Light District has gone in.  The mainstays such as Country Club Plaza have stayed strong, they just completed the beautiful Kaufmann Center for the Performing Arts, Union Station has great revolving exhibits and there are more fantastic restaurants than you can shake a stick at.

And no, folks, KC is not known only for its barbecue.

One of the areas, that is slowly gaining steam and getting better and better is the Crossroads Art District just south of the downtown area. You can actually walk downtown to Crossroads nowadays without feeling you are going to be mugged every two steps. BIG improvement.

Besides some fabo restaurants coming into the area, they've had a great live music venue for some time now.  Great local and national acts.

What's better, they even do FREE shows once in a while. So, in a last minute decision we run over to see The Rainmakers and The Nace Brothers.  Great show, starting to feel a bit old tho'!

Before hand we walked around found some interesting artwork and a nice little joint called 'The Brick', funky little place that was evidently featured on Guy Fieri's Diners, Dives and Drive-Thrus.

Meet my little robot friend.

Warning: Total Geek Alert.
Inside The Brick, MST3K artwork.
Seriously, HOW COOL IS THAT.

Our yummies for the evening. Tim had the house specialty wings.
I had a ham and cheese on rye that was really, really good.
And you can get veggies and hummus as a side. BONUS!

Straight from Kansas.......wine?!?!?

My husband brought this home yesterday.  He actually bought it because of the picture on the bottle. More on that later.

First, lets get a visual:

Eastern Kansas is starting to develop quite a few local wineries.  I have to be honest, I have not traditional been a fan of the wines that come out of here and Missouri.  But, part of that has to do with my taste preference.  I'm not a wine snob, I don't care if the wine came from the Bordeaux region of France or Eudora, Kansas.  It's all about taste.  And for the record?  My heart lies in the Malbourough region of New Zealand, with Oregon and Washington starting to cover some ground.

So back to why my spouse bought the wine.  The picture on the bottle is by a Native American artist, Brent Learned http://www.buffalobullhowling.com/   really, he has some interesting work reflecting his heritage.

So, what's a Seyval.  If you are wine snob, it's the demon spawn of hybrid grapes.  If you are not, the Seyval Blanc hybrid produces quite a crisp taste at least in this vintage.  So, what I am trying to say, I am impressed with this little winery literally 6 miles from where I live.  Kudos to you.  If you are interested in viniculture, look up Seyval Blanc.

The midwest uses a lot of hybrid grapes, mainly I believe because of the incredible harsh environment the midwest can throw at you (heat, cold, the plagues of Egypt...and I'm not kidding)

It's a young winery, and you can tell by the taste, but once again. I am impressed.  (I got an 'age of the grapevine' lesson in Napa Valley once..)

If you are wondering about the name, I'm pretty sure it's an American Civil War reference.

So, whereever you are, go explore your local offerings.  You may be surprised!

Perseverance

But wait, is that a picture of a......dandelion?

Yes, yes it is.

This fella has been here since last June.  June 2012.  Since then, he's (I don't know why it's a he, but it is) been blasted with Roundup at least twice; endured several days of 100+ temps with no rain, packed in between patio bricks and a hot foundation; buried under a foot of snow at least twice.

Yet, her he (or she) has remained green and growing the entire time.

So, in all ironies, I cannot seem to keep a plant, outdoor annual or ornamental bush alive, but Percy (perseverance, yah?),  being subject to attempted herbicide and extreme weather conditions is still here.

And I think that's pretty damn cool.

However, the spouse says Percy is going to have a date with Roundup pretty soon.

Long live PERCY!

(Paid for by the Save Percy Foundation)