On a recent trip to Edmonton I was fortunate enough to get a few good aerial photos of Vancouver. The city looks so different when you view if from above!

Stanley Park is a beautiful oasis right next to the downtown. Vancouver has amazing green spaces but also suffers from urban-concrete sprawl like most large cities!

Kitsilano and the westside of Vancouver have beautiful sandy beaches. Here many people still enjoy an urban laid-back lifestyle that made it so popular in the 1970’s. Unfortunately the real estate has skyrocketed making owning a home in this area a challenge.

Frogs have always interested me! I use to keep them as pets until they started to escape and end up all over the house I am very concerned about this chytrid fungus that is killing many of the frogs on our planet. This fungus occurs naturally but because of habitat loss and the use of leopard frogs in pregnancy tests, frog survival is very much at risk! There is a bacteria that has been used to treat infected frogs but the task is monumental when it comes to the number of infections and how quickly frogs can die when infected!

The following articles go into much more frog detail and are very interesting:

FROG MATTERS

FROGBLOG1: Chytridiomycosis and global amphibian decline

FROGBLOG2:Origin and spread of the frog chytrid

Mandalas are found everywhere…even in my rock garden!

Nora

I am always impressed by the music I hear on myspace…here are a few of my recent listens:

first aid for souls - Hungary

Homeland is true aural candy with many analog sounds of my favorite vintage synths!

Shamanavi - Chicago, USA

Nature spirit music with a futuristic ambience - listen to Restoring a Balance for some infectious rhythms!

Tactic Records - Israel

A lot of the best dance music in the world comes from Israel … thanks again for sharing your special vibes!

Digital Distortion Records - India

Psychedelic dance fun here…lots of interesting electronics thrown in!

EntropiK - UK

A little on the lighter side with lots of acoustic piano and violin!

Check Wrongside of Sunrise for the chillzone!

Shane Philip - west coast Canada

Nice didgeridoo and afro rhythm influences … similar to some Peter Gabriel. I really enjoy Mocha!

Vibrasphere - Sweden

Progressive, electro-minimal & downbeat-chill - give a listen to Erosion and Floating Free - too cool!

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There are so many more great artists to list…another time I will blog more!

Please comment on any other favorite electronic artists you have on myspace!

Nora

I find a lily in my garden that inspires me to do some digital art

Nora

Happy Summer Solstice to all of you who are in the Northern Hemisphere! Those of you in the South will be enjoying Winter Solstice with lots of stars! It is that time of year to reflect on the ancient traditions of our ancestors…enjoy the energy!

Nora

photo courtesy dailymail.co.uk

Earlier this month three British divers took refuge on an Indonesian island after being swept away by currents in the ocean. Amazingly, while stranded on the remote island, they fought off an attack by a Komodo Dragon who was far from friendly!
Here is an excerpt from Dailymail author Alastair Fothergill :

“There is no question that Komodo dragons can be brutal killers: they can act in concert, they move at 15 miles an hour and can scent their prey from miles away.

They have also been known to kill humans. Last year, an eight-year-old boy was bitten in the waist and tossed viciously from side to side, according to a Komodo National Park spokesman. Half an hour later, he died of massive blood loss.

But the truth is that Komodos rarely kill people. The boy was the first recorded human fatality for 33 years and the people of the remote Komodo islands have existed side by side with these living Godzillas for centuries.”

more of the above article here:

dailymail.co.uk

Russian X-ray Girl Natasha Demkina

source: Pravda.Ru

“Natasha Demkina (born in 1987, in the city of Saransk) is hailed in Russia as “the girl with X-ray eyes”. The girl claims to have the gift of second sight, which enables her to see internal organs of the human body. She describes her phenomenal abilities it as follows:”

“I have two sights. I can switch any minute without reason, should I want to see the state of health of a person,” Natasha said. “This switching makes no difficulty to me; I just need to think about it. I can see the full structure of a human body – how internal organs are positioned and how they function. It’s hard to explain how I identify diseases. Afflicted organs produce a kind of radiation. The second sight is active only in the daytime; it does not work at night.”

read more here:

Pravda.Ru

Bees have been very symbolic to me this past week! I love the way they work tirelessly to gather pollen for honey production! I found an interesting article on bee symbolism on Andrew Gough’s Arcadia website :

http://www.andrewgough.co.uk/bee1_1.html

The bees are back! I can always monitor the bee population around here by how many come back to the rockspray. I was lucky enough to catch this one bee for a photo shoot…they move so quickly!

Nora