One interesting thing you can easily do here in Santa Barbara is whale watching. Gray Whales, Blue Whales, and Humpbacks all migrate through the Santa Barbara Channel at various times of the year and there are a number of boats out of the harbor here and down in Ventura who will take you out for …
Author: Steve Bodio
Around the Web
Not much time to blog– Matt just swooped through (and I expect will have pics and maybe video soon) and guests plus Mr. and Mrs. Peculiar are coming for Thanksgiving. But here are a few tidbits to tide you over. Attention houndmen: PETA is trying to steal your dogs. HT Patrick of course. As I …
Betsy
Twenty years ago Saturday, Betsy Huntington died. She accompanied me from Boston to New Mexico, where we made a home,and where I still live. She was the first person I knew to use the word “querencia”, and she is the single biggest influence on who I am today. I am not sure how much I …
The Matter of Borat
As I am a known Kazakh- o- phile, everyone wants to know what I think of the Borat phenomenon (and I have also been asked if they do indeed drink horse urine: NO). I am no fan of gross- out movies and am obviously a big fan of free speech so I thought I would …
Update
Reader Rasmus Boegh has identified the source of the eagle photo in this post of May 24. “The animal on the photo is, without any doubts, a Red Fox. Furthermore, it is actually part of a series that was shot in Finland by Pekka Komi. This photo could give the mistaken impression that the Golden …
Around the Web
Things stack up when you are busy! Nanny state part one thousand and ???: Britain now is suggesting compulsory training in nursery rhymes for inept parents. Can’t make it up… While Beijing is pursuing a compulsory one- small- dog policy— not that Albuquerque mayor Marty Chavez wouldn’t do the same if he had the power. …
One More
Gorbatov is working on illustrating a monograph on the sakers for a German scientist. He knew I would like this one because it depicts petroglyphs at Tamgaly in the Kazakh steppes, where we have both seen sakers. (See “Sunhead” and other posts below). He confirms a rumor I have heard: these images are of horses …
Gorbatov 2: Sampler
Just a taste. A Turcoman falconer: “Sandstorm, Karakum Desert”. “Young Hunter”: Gos over water. “Berkutchi”: relatives of my dogs– really! “Seton’s Lobo”– for a Korean edition of the classic. Vadim painted these illustrations– in a two- page format– from backgrounds we sent, before he had ever been in New Mexico. Can’t wait to see the …
Gorbatov’s Visit
We have just been graced by a visit from Russia’s greatest wildlife artist, Vadim Gorbatov, “guided” by our friend Peter Reshetniak of the Raptor Education Foundation in Denver. It was a whirlwind — we attempted to show him all of our corner of New Mexico in one- and- a- half days, plus cook two good …
The Apotheosis of Chairman Mao
Beyond irony: Mao Tse Tung is now considered to be a diety dedicated to making people rich. Hat tip Chas.