Florida Keys and Miami

The Florida Keys and Miami have a diversity of landscapes from Art Deco Hotels in South Beach to Sunset shots on the Keys. Check out these pics.

Winterlude snow sculpting in Ottawa

“ Saskatchewan Team goes to National Competition in Ottawa for Winterlude 2010”
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Feb. 01, 2010 Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert

The National Capitol Commission has invited a three-person team from Saskatchewan to compete in their National Snow Sculpting Contest in Ottawa/Gateneau

Location: Jacques-Cartier Park, Gatineau Québec

Time: Feb 9, 2010 to Feb.13, 2010
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This year’s theme is “Winter Fun”, for Winterlude Canada’s national winter festival. With that in mind team leader Jack Jensen of Prince Albert has selected a snow-carving project entitled “Toboggan Hill”. The Saskatchewan team is comprised of three members, Jack Jensen who is from Prince Albert, specializes in paper/bronze and snow sculptor, Darren Gowan, a nationally recognized First Nations stone and antler carver from Saskatoon and Bob Friedrich from Regina who has acted as the logistics coordinator.

The National Capital Commission invites teams from each of the provinces and territories to compete for a number of prizes. The participants start with a block of snow 16 feet high, 12 feet wide and 12 feet long. They are regulated by a series of strict rules and must complete their work in order to qualify for the prizes.
This team’s strength lies in the fact that both Jack and Darren have participated in similar though smaller events before. Jack intends to make the sculptor more impressive by increasing the height by the allowable 2 feet making it eighteen feet high. The team will leave from Regina, and Saskatoon this coming Monday and will be in Ottawa for the duration of the week, returning Sunday.

Here are some additional details as outlined in the National Capital Commission’s website on Winterlude

“With the theme of “Winter Fun,” teams representing Canada’s provinces and territories will demonstrate their artistic talent and creative expertise. The competition takes place from Tuesday, February 9, to Saturday, February 13, 9 am to 9 pm daily, with the exception of Saturday, when carvers will finish sculpting at noon. (For safety reasons, there will be no access to the sculpture site.)

The snow sculptures will be on display from Saturday, February 13, at 1 pm until Sunday, February 21, at 6 pm” see website http://www.canadascapital.gc.ca

Team leader Jack Jensen is quoted as saying, “that the competition is the most rigorous he has ever entered”, to that end he has been training hard both physically and mentally for this event. Darren Gowan has a special reason for entering this event. Ottawa was home to Darren for a good many years, and he looks forward to returning to the adopted home of his childhood. The team feels confident and looks forward to competing in this national effort.

Bob Friedrich of Regina will supply part of the raw labor to make Toboggan Hill the sculpture's name successful.

First Impressions of Havana

This my wife and I’s first trip to Havana. Our guide is the coolest guy. He starts the morning trip from Veradero with a pit stop at what he calls the best Pina Colada bar in all of Cuba. Now we are instant family; he is Papa and we are the kids. “Kids” he tells us, “I need to tell you a few things about Havana. Once you get there, pretty ladies are going to come up to you in the square and want to take your picture and ask you for two convertible pesos. These pesos are worth 25 times the real Cuban pesos so be prepared, its all fun”.

As we enter the city he tells us about one of Cuba’s engineering marvels the tunnel under the harbor. As we emerge from the tunnel he says, “look back at the Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña.” It is a huge Spanish Fortress rising dramatically from the ocean guarding Havana.

Now we are at one of the oldest squares and sure enough the cigar-smoking ladies arrive in traditional dress, and grabbing my camera they take my picture, one of them plants a big wet one my cheek. Yikes, what a welcome. Everywhere we see built heritage, even an underground water system. Winding down the streets we end up at Ernest Hemingway's hotel the Ambos Mundos. Papa tells us that this is where the best Mojito’s are made, and he is not kidding. Out into the street again we encounter many architectural styles: Neo-classical, Colonial, Baroque, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Eclectic, and Modernism. As we wander along we are introduced to the last remaining Chinese restaurant in Havana, a testament to the many Chinese migrant workers who came to Cuba. Papa takes us back to the bus and we travel down Havana’s spectacular ocean drive called Malecon Avenue, here we see a number of the hotels built in the 1940’s and 1950’s. This is truly one of most impressive ocean side roads I have seen.

Finally we arrive at Plaza de la Revolución where Fidel delivered one his record speeches, lasting over 7 hours. The buildings surrounding the square are solid blocks of concrete housing numerous ministries of the Cuban Government. Interestly enough several display huge pictures of Castro and Che Guevara on them.

Finally papa takes us to the piece de resistance, the old Capitol building. Standing in front of this replica of the Capitol Building in Washington, Papa reminds us that it is taller than its twin in Washington. It is here that I spot her flying over Havana, an angel suspended in the sky. I take a few steps closer; I can now see her twin suspended over the Great Theatre of Havana. Their glory is unlike anything I have ever seen before. Havana is full of surprises and these angels are the most unexpected. If you ever want your fill of eclectic architecture in one city don’t pass up Havana.