Is it Exotic?

Just what is exotic?  Do you know?  I do or thought I did but after thinking about it for a while, I realized that what is exotic to one person may not be the same for another person.  I checked the dictionary and came up with three definitions.
a.  From a foreign country. 
b. Introduced from abroad but not fully acclimatized.  Not native.
c. Strikingly unusual or strange in effect or appearance.

Let's look at some of these exotics.  To me when we talk about being exotic as in the first definition, I might be talking about someone from Japan who has chosen to wear the traditional garb for a parade.  On the other hand, it might refer to an animal found in the zoo such as a tiger or a lion or a baboon.  Most of us who live in the US never see these animals outside of the zoo.


I love visiting the zoo because its filled with all sorts of exotic animals, I'd never see otherwise.  So if you visit a zoo in a place where there are elephants that run loose, would you find any in the local zoo?  Or might you find something like a seal that might not be found locally?

Zoos are the epitome of exotic because they are filled with animals and sometimes plants you see nowhere else.

The second definition is that it is not native but introduced from abroad and is not fully acclimatized.  We see this when plants from one location are transported to another location and just exploded growth wise.  There is a story about the Volcano National Park on the Big Island of Hawaii.  Apparently the wife of the park superintendent was visiting Nepal years go and found this beautiful ginger plant and took it back to the park.  She planted it and it turned out to be an extremely invasive plant.  Today, the park is fighting to eradicate the enemy and are barely able to keep it in check.  

Another plant is the Kudzu vine also known as the "Vine that ate the south".  It was imported and used to help curb soil erosion but has taken over much of the south because its extremely invasive nature.  Apparently, in its original location, it dies back due to cold but in the south, its too warm to freeze back so it keeps growing.  

Finally  is the third definition of exotic where something is strikingly unusual or strange in appearance or effort.  We often refer to people when using the third definition.  They often meet our definition of exotic.  What about the floating marketplace in Thailand where vendors have their wares in boats?


I think exotic is often used to describe people, places, or things that are out of our normal sphere.  For me many of the fruits I grew up eating are considered exotic by others.  I grew up on mangoes, papaya, lychee, rambutans, guavas, star fruit, passion fruit, and all sorts of other things that are exotic to many people.  

I've seen bamboo forests in several different places but not like the one I saw in Blaine, WA.   Someone planted bamboo a long time ago but its pretty much taken over the property and started invading the neighbors.  The owners have cut enough of a pathway to get their cars in the yard and they are able to get into the house but the bamboo is so thick, I don't think they get sunshine into the house.

So this begs the question, "When is something no longer  exotic?"  All I know is that what is exotic to me, may not be exotic to someone who grew up on it.  What do you think about this topic?  Please feel free to leave your opinion.

11 Place You Can't Visit.

Did you know there are places on this planet that you cannot visit?  Period!  No Way!  They exist but they are not always a city or country, or state.  They are famous locations that are kept secret for various reasons.

1.  The Coca-Cola Vault - Yep the place that houses the secret recipe for the famous drink.  You can pay to look at the outside of the vault but you cannot venture inside it at all.

2.  Disney Club 33 which is a very private, very exclusive club at Disneyland that is not open to the public.

3.  The Chapel of the Ark of the Covenant - Ethiopia.  Many people believe this is the final resting place of the Ark of the Covenant that holds the original 10 commandments.

4. The Google Data Center which has trillions of bytes of data stored in a secure location.

5. Jiangsu National Security Education Museum in China which allows only Chinese citizens to visit because there are secret and classified documents on display there.

6. Lascaux Caves - France.  This is the place of all the famous drawings from the Paleolithic age.  These drawings are over 17,000 years old.

7. Bank of England Vaults in London, England. These vaults house gold and is the second oldest central space in the world.

8. RAF Minworth is a communications complex that provides data for the UK and US.  It is located in Harrogate, North Yorkshire.

9. Pine Gap, Australia is a monitoring facility run by both the Australian Government and the CIA.

10. Snake Island Brazil is uninhabited except for a healthy population of deadly snakes.

11.  Vatican Secret Archives which is filled with historical church documents that are technically owned by the Pope.

I did not include those places like Area 51, the Moscow underground, and the North Korea 39 because they are the things that legends are made of and I'm not sure they are real.  Just think, these exist but do not allow visitors because they each want to protect something.

What If?

  Every so often, I think about how neat it would be to have something I see in the movies that might make life easier.  Today is one of those days.

I woke up to a blizzard blowing snow across the landscape so I could not see much.  I saw the building where I worked so I popped over for a short time but wished I had a way to pop there and back without getting wet and cold.

When I got home, I watched the latest Star Trek video and voila, the way appeared.  What if we had transporters in real life so we could live anywhere we wanted and just transported to our job every day.  If we needed to meet with a client, you could cross the world in a split second, meet, and head home to sleep in your own bed.

Transporter pads could be placed around like transit centers located in towns.  You pop over there, pay for the trip, get zapped to your destination,  complete your business and head home.  All for the cost of a round trip ticket.  Maybe these could operate like buses with a per trip ticket, monthly pass, or even a yearly pass.  You wouldn't have to worry about weather interrupting or delaying your trip.

It sounds like Utopia, doesn't it?  Going anywhere anytime, but what if there were side effects we hadn't thought about.  Since theoretically, your body is broken down to an atomic level, moved around and then reassembled on the other end, how many times could this happen before mutations start occurring?

Would the mutations be minor at first and increase later or?  How often would the machines be cleaned so people's patterns disappear?  What happens if your atomic stream is interfered with by atmospheric occurrences such as lightening?  Would you have a scan on file somewhere so if the transporter malfunctioned, you could be reassembled in totality?  How often would you need to update your scan?

Could you at some point when you are old and gray, take a trip and use a pattern of yourself from the age of 25?  Would you actually be young again or would your body be old with a new cover on it?  Could you take a trip if you were ill with cancer and use a scan from when you were healthy to reassemble a cured you?

Would you still be you after being taken apart and reassembled on a regular basis?  Such a way of travel opens so many questions and possibilities.  As long as we believe it could be, there is always a chance someone will figure out how to build one.  The future has yet to be written.

Enchiladas and Eggplant

  The other day, I was trying to figure out what to cook for dinner.  I always look in the fridge to see what is open and needs using.  I found half an eggplant, half a can of enchilada sauce, and a partial bag of grated cheese.

I checked the cupboard for bread crumbs but didn't have any.  I did find some Bisquick. My mind raced through the internal recipe file and you could have seen a light bulb flash over my head.

I poured a bit of sauce into the Bisquick for flavoring, thinned it with water so it would cling to the eggplant slices when I dipped them into the mix.  I do not fry eggplant.  Instead, I put it on a cookie sheet with each piece close to the next and baked it  at 350 for about 25 to 30 minutes until the eggplant slices are getting soft.

At this point, I pulled the cookie sheet out, poured enchilada sauce onto the slices, topped them with a sprinkle of cheese and returned it to the oven to bake until the cheese on top was golden.  I allowed it to cool a bit and then served it to myself and my neighbor.  She loved it.  I really enjoyed it and it made a nice change from the traditional Eggplant Parmesan.

Last night, I made enchiladas but not the traditional ones. I had a bunch of kale, spinach, swiss chard, mushrooms and onions.  I chopped all of these up into small pieces, fried in some walnut oil and finished off with a bit of enchilada sauce.

I make stacked enchiladas so I don't have to roll them.  I put a layer of sauce in the bottom of the pan, laid down a softened corn tortilla, added a bit more sauce, the filling, and cheese.  Continue till you've got a stack as tall as you want and put a softened tortilla on top, add sauce and top with cheese.  Bake at 350 till the cheese is nice and brown.

I've gotten to the point, I seldom fill my enchiladas  with "standard" fillings.  I use whatever in the mixture I have handy.  I've made a mushroom, black bean, and corn filling that I adored.  I always enjoy spiced sweet potatoes or a chili - potato mixture with eggs and cheese.  Tonight I might throw together zucchini, red peppers (sweet), mushrooms with a few greens.

I just love trying out different combinations to see how it works out.  I'm wondering about feta cheese, beans, rice and olives?  In a sense cooking is like playing, you get to try a variety of different flavors and have fun.

Did You Hear The One About The...........!

  Did you hear the one about the fellow who was caught with turtles down his pants?  It sounds like a joke doesn't it?  Well, it isn't.

Back in 2014 a man decided he wanted to bring a few turtles home with him from a trip.  He purchased  them in the United States and tried to take them home to Canada.  At the boarder he ran into a problem when they discovered he had 38 turtles hidden in his pants.

Yes, you read that right.  This man was caught illegally transporting 38 turtles in his pants as he crossed the border.  He placed them in bags and taped the bags to his legs under his pants.  Although there was never any indication of the turtles size, it was stated he carried 5 different varieties of turtles.  That sounds like an awkward method to move life stock. It would have been hard to walk.

At the Niagara Falls crossing,  he was arrested by the Canadian government and charged with illegally importing reptiles into Canada.

The man was convicted in February 2016.  As a sentence,  he received a two year probation, a fine of $3500 Canadian, has been banned from owning reptiles for the next two years and is required to perform 50 hours of community service.

Apparently, he's not the only one who has tried this and been arrested.  This past December another man was caught trying to import 50 turtles by taping them to his leg and ended up in front of a federal court in Michigan.

What is interesting is that a person can import turtles into Canada if they have the correct paperwork. From what I read, the man should have gotten:
1. Apply for a permit from Canada.
2. Own the turtle for 3 months prior to importing.
3.  $35 per species of turtle unless the turtle looks sick and then it costs $185 per species vet bill.
4. Only the person who applied for the permit can bring the turtle into the country.  The permit does not allow you to breed or sell the turtle.
5. The importer must also fill out the appropriate US documents and the turtle must pass an examination before leaving America.

There is a market for turtles in both the pet and food trades in Canada so I'm guessing he didn't want to go through the legal process so chose to try to import them illegally.  As a result of incidents such as this, both the Canadian and American governments are working together to eliminate this type of illegal activity.

I still can't get the image of turtles down his pants out of my mind.  Its just too funny.

The Top 10 Most Popular Dances.

  I absolutely love to dance.  I am the world's best dancer in my own home.  I rival Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in my mind as I sweep around the living room.  I can follow Margo Fontaine as I sway  and twirl to the music.

The reality is, I will never be a professional dancer.  I enjoy social dancing where perfect form is does not take a priority over pure enjoyment. 

I began wondering about social dances and which ones are the most popular so after a bit of research I present the top 10 popular dances of recent life time?

Here goes beginning at 10th place and counting down, we have:

10. - The Time Warp - one of the most famous dances springing from the Rocky Horror Picture Show.  I know people who do it all the time at balls while in formal dress.  Image couples in tuxedos and long formal dresses bouncing and wiggling around the floor doing the Time Warp!

9. The Loco-Motion - the dance that was created to go with an existing song.  Did you know the song made it to the U.S top three, three different times by three different artists?

8. Gangham Style - originated by PSY, the Korean rock star.

7. The Macarena - A Latin flavored dance made popular in the 90's and seen all around including on television commercials.  Its even been done to Eskimo dance music at village dances.

6.  Y.M.C.A - from the Village People and done by everyone from 5 to 95.  Its danced at weddings, proms and all other types of fun get togethers.

5.  Disco - This is a class of dances that became popular with Saturday Night Live.  It covers the Electric Boogaloo, the Bump, and the Hustle.

4. Line Dancing - again covers a group of dances including "Cotton eyed Joe" or Achy Breaky Heart.  You don't need a partner to have fun doing it with others.  There is always someone in front of you or next to you to follow.

3. Swing Dancing - as its known now but it was the dance done by our parents and grandparents back in World War II.  Spanned a period from the 1920's to the 50's.

2.  The Moonwalk - made famous by Michael Jackson and emulated by so many others.

Finally, the top dance!
# 1. The Twist - a dance that anyone can do and made famous by Chubby Checkers.

Yes, I admit, I've done several of these at various functions.  They are all fun and you don't have to be fantastic, you just have to enjoy yourself and have fun.

Its Spring

  This morning, I realized that it has changed to spring outside.  Spring in Alaska is not like most places as we still have lots and lots of snow.  Its not the greening of the grass, not the flowers emerging from ground that signals spring.

It is a change in the world outside.  The filter covering the world changed from dingy to bright and clear.  Its as if someone cleaned the sky and got rid of all the dust and grime.

 I haven't used my sun glasses since October because it never got too bright but now I need them. The world now shines so clearly that my eyes ache if I don't wear my sun glasses.  The temperature is rising so the snow is getting a bit softer.  Pretty soon, sublimation will occur and the piles of snow will slowly sink into nothingness.  Sometimes, the snow looses its underpinnings and your foot plunges through to the ground as you walk across it.

This morning, as I walked to work around 7:30, I noticed lighter streaks of blue near the horizon. That tells me that it won't be too long before the sun will be rising at a reasonable hour. The sky always starts changing from a deep cobalt blue through so many shades of blue until it is light and the sun is up.  I think we are gaining in the 4 to 6 minute per day so the sun rises before 10 AM and sets closer to 7:30 PM.  On the shortest day the sun is not up till around noon and sets by 6 PM so we are making progress.

I love this time of the year because its brightness makes me feel alive and my over all attitude improves.  My step becomes springy and I feel less stressed.  Its like the world has been born again, offering new adventures and each day promises to be beautiful.

It won't be long before the frozen lake thaws and I have to take the long way around to the post office in my rain boots.  The road changes from frozen to soft mud that sucks at your boots wanting you to stay put.  Each step is a fight to move forward but you tell yourself you are getting your exercise in as you struggle to walk.

People will try to ride their snow machines as long as they can before giving in to the lack of snow and going back to their 4 wheelers (ATV) or walking.  It means sleds are put away and you start having friends take your packages back to your house

Soon, the daylight will take over to the point, where it is no longer dark most of the day and the temperature makes it comfortable so you are outside till midnight without realizing it.  Welcome to my world.