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Lao Cai
» New Release: Adventure: 16 DAYS IN 'NA
New Release: Adventure: 16 DAYS IN 'NAM. Starring Uncle Ho, Auntie Thuy & Us
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Lao Cai
December 14th 2011
Published: January 9th 2012
Photo 20
I tried. I tried hard. But the obligatory urge to imitate Robin Williams' "Gooooood Moooorning Vietnaaaaaam!" as we crossed the border from Cambodia, was just too difficult to suppress. After all, the amount of visual connections I had with this place were hardly in plentiful supply. Sure, I'd seen the majority of the war movies (and a Top Gear special) but aside from a bunch of yellow-star-on-red-T-shirted backpacker types we'd seen travelling in the opposite direction, Vietnam was one big lesson waiting to be learned, and I was the geek in the front row with my pencil sharpened.
We began in the south, crossing the border into Ha Tien and as quick as we'd arrived in Vietnam, we were leaving again -well leaving the mainland at least- hopping on board a ferry to Phu Quoc island. And yes readers, in case you're wondering, the pronunciation really is 'Poo Cock'. Aside from its painfully unfortunate name, Phu Quoc (titter titter) -which is actually closer to the Cambodian coast than to that of its own mainland- is by all accounts, Vietnam's rather crude attempt at creating their own tropical island tourist trap, following in the footsteps of Thailand's Phuket and Ko Samui,
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seemingly without much care or caution. There was building work going on at every turn, and while some did look tasteful, most lacked any real soul, casting murky concrete shadows over the incredible natural beauty that Phu Quoc has to offer. Our feelings of unease subsided as our family-run beach hut at $6USD per night was an absolute treat, and buoyed by the feeling that we'd got to the island 'before the boom' (we saw the building site of the new international airport –the island is only 20miles long) we explored the coasts on a motorbike and were rewarded with scenery straight out of a tropic island tour brochure. We found two totally (and I mean totally) deserted beaches (see pics), and for two days we swam in warm crystal-clear waters and watched the most picturesque sunsets we'd ever seen.
Back on the mainland and we clambered in to a DVT-inducing minibus where my knees were rattling against my cheekbones for a good 10 hours. Perhaps something to do with the cramped conditions was the cigarette smuggling operation that we, some Norwegian lasses and a handful of Vietnamese locals were caught up in, as passengers en route to the
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Mekong Delta town of Can Tho. Playing it cool but with secret astonishment, we watched as the cheekily grinning 'conductor' stashed hundreds of boxes of Cambodian fags into every conceivable orifice of the bone shaking bus. The air con duct, the side panels, the roof panels and the upholstery were all carefully unscrewed and unpicked to store his secret duty-free ciggies, and save for sticking a pack of twenty in each of our gobs, the bus was packed so full of fags that we now inhabited an all-singing, all-smoking, fire officer's dream. The journey, that had been advertised as 2 hours long, but ended up being 8, surprisingly turned out to be great craic: With the help of our new mates from Norway we began using our phrasebooks to look up the Vietnamese words for 'forbidden', 'criminal' and 'prison', and proceeded in shouting them across the bus with obvious tones of a wind-up, and with accompanying pointing gestures, towards the sniggering smuggler and his stash. Said with a smile, we got away with it (just as he was about to), much to the delight of the titillated locals and the sheepish nicotine-hoarder himself.
In Can Tho it was time
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to do some proper tourism at the sublimely beautiful Mekong Delta; a network of vine-like natural canals leading off the Mekong. While the scenery was spectacular, and the floating market wonderfully interactive, and indeed the riverside family-run noodle factory and fruit farm hugely informative, it was with our long-tail boat driver that we really struck gold. Dressed in leopard-skin silk pajamas (seriously all the Vietnamese women do it) and smiling from ear to ear, twenty seven year old (but looks forty seven year old) Thuy (pronounced Tuwee) won our hearts and charmed our socks off from the moment we met.
With her wonderfully broken English and super-sweet nature she managed to teach us, tease us, make us laugh and as we said goodbye, make us cry, and all of that between sunrise and lunchtime. In the morning we sipped iced coffee from her mum's floating coffee shop as she carved a pineapple for our breakie; it looked like a work of art in the shape of a flower on a stem. We sailed to the floating market as she paused to make bamboo leaf jewellery for Marta and to teach us about her patch of the Delta. We also
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learned that the ladies wear pajamas to keep cool and covered at the same time, but also to avoid tanning; Thuy was quick to scold me for wanting to catch the sun on the boat "No no Mike! White skin very beautiful in Vietnam! No sun! No sun!" Little did she know I'd be more pink than brown by the end of the day.
We wanted to tip her, and so offered to buy her lunch at the riverside café we were moored beside. It cost much less than a pint of beer back home to make someone's day,and more than we could ever have imagined. Thuy was so touched with our offer that her embarrassment only subsided on the way back to Can Tho, on the quiet canals of the Delta. She tapped me on the shoulder as she steered: "Mike, Mike. You go Can Tho. Thuy sleep. You go. Fish. Fish. Because before before. You go. Thuy sleep. Ok you go please?" We were confused. She sleeps with fish? How do we fit in to this plan? I used all the teaching techniques I had in my locker to desperately try to decipher it, but for a
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while it looked as though it was all going to be lost in translation. But then I got it. Here's what my brain did:
Thuy sleep = Her house! She sleeps at her house! She lives in Can Tho!
You go = "Would you like to come?"
Fish fish because before before = "I will cook us some fish to say thank you for before."
Ok you go please? = "Please come."
We were absolutely elated to have understood, and with a few confirmation gestures for 'cooking', 'house' and some basic pointing (Drama degree coming in handy for once) we were chuffed to bits and so touched to be heading to Thuy's place, and what a great couple of hours we had.
We went to the local market and bought the ingredients, then we helped her wash, prep and cook the food, then the three of us sat on the floor of her humble one-room house and ate a home-cooked meal of sweet chilli pork and rice and a local speciality –fish noodle soup. A meal fit for a king and queen, never mind a couple of scruffy mochileros; we'd eaten well and had
Photo 9
a great day, but best of all we'd made an amazing friend. Here was a young lady who we had simply 'clicked' with instantly, with no real common language, and without the need for anything more than smiles and gestures to communicate. As we said goodbye, we gave her a hug and it was all quite emotional (we gathered that she didn't often invite her customers to her house for dinner). We asked for her address and a week later we posted her some printed copies of the photos we'd taken that day (see copies below) with a translated message enclosed: 'Thank you once again Thuy. Whenever we think of Vietnam, we'll think of you."
From the tranquility of the Delta we hit the big city which meant, amongst other things, parting with some cash –by far our most expensive accommodation so far at $18USD per night. At least money in Vietnam was entertaining though; it is literally plastic -and brilliantly waterproof- proper novelty bank notes, and they are each adorned of course, with the portrait of national Communist hero Ho Chi Min. 'Uncle Ho', as he is affectionately referred to by the Vietnamese, is everywhere here (not just
Photo 10
in your wallet); there are statues, busts, shops named after him, kids named after him, hell, even Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Min City (HCMC) to honour the former leader of North Vietnam. Carrying more kudos than all of this however, he has, for me anyway, a little look of Mr. Miagi from the Karate Kid films. Just me then?
So we hit Saigon, (or HCMC) and with the constant revving of schools and schools of motorbikes in addition to enough horn-honking to put the Cambodians to shame, the decibels levels were, I thought, almost loud enough to wake Uncle Ho himself. The sheer amount of bikes really has to be seen (and heard) to be believed. And each successful crossing of every road in this city had us counting our blessings that we were still alive at the other side.
Having topped up our history (albeit through slightly propaganda-fied tones) at the American War Museum we headed north through the Vietnamese highland town of Dalat leaving sprawling tea and coffee plantations in our wake, and then spent a couple of days waiting for sunshine that never came in the hugely underwhelming Benidorm-esque beach resort of Na Trang.
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After a rainy two-day stop at the pretty tailor-town of Hoi An (a kind of Vietnamese York plus a few suit makers) we were starting to wonder where the sun had gone. We had barely seen it since Phu Quoc. Stop sniggering at the back boys.
Nor did we find the sun in Hanoi; the archetypal hustling-bustling capital. What we did find however was lots of chaos in the endearingly atmospheric old town, our first sighting of dog on a café menu and lots of teenage girls wanting their photo with me. Yes, I know what you're thinking. You don't know what's more surprising –the fact that humans eat dogs in a café, or that females with the gift of sight actually WANT to be seen next to me. It happened in the Temple of Literature (of all places) and a gang of four giggling girls approached me with the kind of smiles that might suggest they were about to tell me that I had a 'KICK ME' sign stuck to my back. "Hello?" I tentatively asked, smiling. Big mistake to smile. BIG. They squealed, they grabbed their cameras, they told me I was 'very handsome' and they ran,
Photo 2
yes ran to my side and caught me like the proverbial rabbit in the headlights. I went red. Marta cried with laughter and clicked away with her camera, and the local lasses scooted off, leaving an embarrassed and very confused Westerner to have the mickey taken out of him by his girlfriend. "I´m going out with a superstar!" said Marta with ultra-irony, as she began pissing herself laughing again. This was not to be the first time. Stay tuned for more in China.
Before leaving Vietnam we had been recommended to take a two day tour of the national park of Halong Bay –an almost unworldly formation of limestone rocks rising out of the water in the South China Sea. The scenery is like nothing we'd ever seen (apart from in the odd James Bond movie) and we cruised around the bay on our Dragon 'junk' boat, kayaked at sunset and then ate seafood and drank beer with our new boat-mates under a star-filled sky.
Next stop on M and M´s Round the World Tour was going to be China. 'How did you cross the border?' I hear you cry. Maybe we got a boat from Halong Bay?
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A bus? Maybe a special visa-run minibus? A flight? Train? Taxi? Nope. In the Vietnam border town of Lao Cai close to Sapa, we sat having some lunch and discussing our options for transport. "Maybe we could walk" suggested Marta. That would be cool, we thought and asked the waiter how far it was. And then, sure enough, with our backpacks on, we set off for China. After about 1 kilometre I just had to do something. There was a fork in the road; left and right and to the left was a local guy stood outside his grocery shop, watching the world go by. I approached him and asked "Excuse me mate, erm, is this the way to China?" Easily the best directions I'd ever asked for in my life. He nodded and smiled "Yes, yes! China that way" and a few hundred metres later we WALKED across the border and we were in China.
And since December 14th 2011, it's in China where our adventure has become more bizarre, challenging and diverse than we could ever have imagined. More about that next time…
Until then, dear readers,
Mike x
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Brief history of Vietnam
The conquest of Vietnam by France began in 1858 and was completed by 1884. It became part of French Indochina in 1887. Independence was declared after World War II, but the French continued to rule until 1954 when they were defeated by Communist forc...
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9th January 2012
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The ladies love it. Glad all is going well and the words and pictures are flowing, keep up the good work. Kiss kiss Wm
10th January 2012
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Really enjoying the blog. Trip sounds amazing xx stay safe you two xx lots of love Brig xx
10th January 2012
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wish i was there
love it love it love it! I can't believe how much you are keeping us informed with blogs and watsapps but it's great, keep it up.
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Critical Essay by K. J. Phillips
SOURCE: "Ambiguous Tragic Flaw in Anita Desai's Fire on the Mountain, in International Fiction Review, Vol. 17, No. 1, 1990, pp. 3-8.
Below, Phillips examines elements of Greek tragedy in Fire on the Mountain.
The Indian author Anita Desai creates in Fire on the Mountain (1977) a perfect tragedy in the Greek mode. Though fiction, Fire on the Mountain contains the nobility of character, tight structure, sense of retrospective inevitability, ambiguous flaw, and recognition of complicity which Aristotle so admired in 5th-century B.C. plays. Nanda Kaul is a noble woman who, after a long life spent serving a large family, wants only to retreat to a quiet sanctuary, Carignano. Instead, the family puts a great-granddaughter, Raka, into her charge. Raka proves to be as independent and unapproachable as Nanda, and, in her rebelliousness, sets fire at the end of the book to the hillside on which her great-grandmother's house perches. During the forest fire, another old woman, Ila Das, who serves as an alter ego both for Nanda (a tired, elderly woman) and for Raka (someone demanding Nanda's care), is raped and murdered. Nanda, devastated, may recognize that she herself has contributed to Raka's anarchy, by not reaching out to her sooner. Moreover, she has contributed to Ila's murder, by refusing to offer Ila a place to stay. Nanda is somehow responsible for all the violence, although she has intended only peace for herself—a reversal exactly in Aristotle's terms.
As ancient tragedy hovered between fault and fate, here too Desai sometimes blames a person, who may deserve punishment for inner lack, and sometimes a metaphysical "nature of things," which cannot be changed. She also adds in another contributor to catastrophe, when she blames society, which could possibly be changed in the future. Desai gives evidence for at least three possible flaws that condemn or exonerate Nanda to different degrees and lead to different interpretations of the final violence. Most disturbingly, by revealing at the end that Nanda had neither "understood nor loved" any of her children, Desai may accuse Nanda of coldness. A woman who desires to be alone has failed as a woman. From this point of view, Ila in her sufferings substitutes for Nanda. The graphic description of "dry, shrivelled" Ila pinned down "into the dust and the goat droppings" may imply that Nanda, with her dry, shrivelled capacity to nurture others, actually deserves a similar blotting out and thus receives a vicarious punishment. In some ways the book reads uncomfortably as if Desai, initially sympathetic to Nanda in her escape from the demands of a traditional culture, suddenly closes the narrative in a paroxysm of self-recrimination, against herself and all women. How dare she imagine a character like Nanda who withholds the care that she must, as a woman, continue to give every second of her life?
A second interpretation of the violence is that Nanda, far from the cold person she may appear to be, feels strongly for Raka, but emotion inevitably brings pain. Desai would then be creating the tragedy of someone who, hoping to remain aloof, cannot prevent herself from caring intensely for Raka after all. Nanda is hurt because love is itself a kind of burning forest fire. In this case the violence seems more metaphysical and less Nanda's personal fault.
A third interpretation of the violence is that society punishes all three female characters for departing from the norm prescribed for women. Ila with her squawking voice, Nanda with her aloofness, and Raka with her independence transgress the expectations for femininity: demure quietude, care giving, and dependence. The disaster results in this case not from personal lack or metaphysical flaw but from societal limitation, a failure to recognize the worth of the two women and the little girl, who become innocent victims.
Desai shifts ambivalently among these three views of the violence, making Fire on the Mountain rich, intriguing, but also disturbing and in some ways complicitous with the values that at other times Desai seems to be questioning. The multiple interpretations that the book suggests may, in fact, express the uncertainty of Indian society caught between two worlds and times: between a tradition where women are expected only to nurture others, and a more westernized, modern vision whereby women have a right to lives of their own. The ambivalence of the book thus becomes not a failure of Desai to think through her position but rather a valuable register of the "political unconscious," to borrow a term from Fredric Jameson.
Desai supports in several ways the first interpretation of the violence, as something caused by a cold Nanda who hasn't attained the warmth "natural" to women. By not inviting Ila to move in with her, Nanda allows the attack on her friend. In fact, the man who rapes Ila fades from the picture almost excused for his peasant ignorance, while Nanda looms as the real culprit. Nanda as cause of Ila's rape thus becomes a depressing version of the slur against women as responsible for their own rapes after all. For hasn't her desire to be alone already tended toward destruction and death? Nanda admires the freedom of an eagle at Carignano, but perhaps her own desire to soar above her real place, down with the mundane tasks of caring for others, precipitates a fall. The vistas of Carignano, commanded by the eagle, lead only to "ice and snow sketched upon the sky" and to a "plunging cliff," both suggesting death. Moreover, her colonial house, inhabited by a long line of foreign "maiden ladies," has even caused an actual death when "The entire roof … was lifted off the square stone walls and hurled down the hill as far as Garkhal where its sharp edge sliced the head off a coolie who was trying to shelter beside a load of stacked wood on the roadside." This detail makes it seem as if the unmarried status of the women, along with Nanda's present desire to be alone, is itself the "foreign" value most dangerous to the community, like the unnaturally careening roof.
But if Desai at times seems to accuse Nanda of coldness, at other times the author presents Nanda more sympathetically as someone "burning" with emotion. Love itself hurts the characters. Widespread imagery for love as dangerous—forest fire, burning deck, poison, dust storm, bruise—closely resembles the vocabulary for dangerous passion in another tragedy, Racine's neoclassical Phaedre: flame, drowning or shipwreck, poison in the veins, wound from an arrow. And in both the neoclassical tragedy and this modern, fictional tragedy, characters like Phaedra or Hippolytus or Nanda who think to control chaotic emotion only unleash more chaos by the very means of imposing order. The chaos inheres in the nature of human emotion, and the characters, though slightly reprehensible for expressing themselves awkwardly, escape final blame.
Desai also clears Nanda of censure by incriminating Nanda's husband. One reason Nanda may regard love as a poison is that she has been betrayed and used. Although Desai does not clearly name until the end his long adultery that has hurt Nanda, she hints at it earlier with beautiful evocativeness. Right before Nanda thinks "with asperity" of her husband driving a guest home, she "stepped over a broken shuttlecock discarded beside a bed of white petunias over which moths fluttered in a kind of frantic ecstasy." As the moths evoke, in retrospect, the husband and his mistress, the game insinuates the man shuttling between mistress and wife, giving the former his love and giving his wife more children until she finally moves his bed into a separate room. Nanda appears as a victim, who builds up a feigned indifference solely as a protection against further hurt.
But when the author draws sympathy for Nanda by explaining her through her husband Desai confuses the apparent questioning of women's roles. If Nanda has not after all chosen to be alone but has been "reduced" to it, then Desai seems to retreat from her original sympathy for a woman's desire not to be a care giver by denying that such a desire could really exist in women except under warped circumstances. Because her husband and children do not respond adequately to Nanda's overtures, she tries to repress her impulses toward others. But, according to one recent Indian critic, thwarted womanhood will take its revenge: "Due to the strong maternal instincts women, as a rule, derive peculiar joy in bringing up their children…. But Nanda Kaul is an exception to this." Nanda's desire to be alone was silly and unnatural, and her resolution "begins to crumble in the human presence of Raka. Maternal love and her basic nature weaken Nanda Kaul's self-imposed detachment. Once again she looks for someone to care for; her inner dictates force her 'to reach out to another,' to love and be loved." "Reaching out" to another person is, for this critic not a human characteristic of both men and women but a trait found only in women, who have weaker, "compliant" natures.
Actually, Desai does not entirely support this view that it is a perversely repressed and now resurgent "maternal instinct" pushing Nanda toward Raka. Nanda's compulsion toward Raka is not that of a settled older person seeking to protect a helpless youngster, but rather the yearning between equals—of any gender—or even from childlike Nanda to independent Raka as adult role model: "Seeing Raka bend her head to study a pine cone in her fist, the eyelids slipping down like two mauve shells and the short hair settled like a dusty cap about her scalp Nanda Kaul saw that she was the finished, perfected model of what Nanda Kaul herself was merely a brave, flawed experiment."
But if Desai moves away from questioning roles of husbands and wives in general by indicting this particular husband, the author often does undermine accepted codes by getting sympathy for the women who appear as victims. Ila's family expects the daughters to relinquish the inheritance to their brothers, even dissolute ones. The villager Preet Singh expects to marry his seven-year-old daughter to an old man; because Ila threatens to invoke the law against that marriage, Singh kills her. Although Nanda might appear to oppose Ila—reserved silence versus intrusive squawk—Nanda in her desire to be alone jangles against propriety as much as reform-minded Ila Nanda takes pleasure in Carignano's "barrenness," a quality which flouts the community's requirement that women be fertile and then go on for generations gushing concern. Even Raka prefers "paths that were barely marked," setting all three female characters outside the bounds of "up-right citizens." Although these female characters refuse only unreasonable societal expectations, they suffer the cost.
Desai prefigures the rape and murder at least four times, in scenes whose implications will serve to review and summarize Desai's ambivalence whether to place blame for tragic violence on Nanda, on emotion in itself, or on society. These scenes answer the accusation that "The abrupt and violent climax is unconvincing because it has not been properly prepared for. The novel is thus structurally defective and psychologically unconvincing." Although on first reading the attack is unexpected, on second reading it is clear that Desai prepares for it insistently, subliminally, powerfully, each scene placing a different degree of responsibility for the attack on Nanda.
In the first prefigurement of the attack, an austere Nanda, despite her apparent indifference to the lushness of apricot trees, reaches for fruit: "… she stooped now to pick up a bright apricot from the short, dry grass. It had been squashed by its fall and she flung it away. Immediately, a bright hoopoe, seeing its flight and flash, struck down at it and tore at its bright flesh, then flew off with a lump in its beak. It had its nest in the eaves outside her bedroom window she knew, but did not stay to watch the nestlings fed. It was a sight that did not fill her with delight. Their screams were shrill and could madden." Nanda is not fed, but the young must be fed. The scene thus resumes the emptiness of Nanda's past life, given over to caring for heedless children and for a husband who did not care for her. The tearing of "bright flesh" also suggests the future attack on Ila. Ila and Nanda thereby become identified, representatives of all women who must be sacrificed for others. Not satisfied themselves, they are consumed by demands. When society places the exclusive care for children on women and begrudges them any other outlet, so that unmarried Ila can work for the government but only as a misfit in her community, something in the woman is killed—even if not so graphically as in Ila's case.
If this first prefigurement of the attack on Ila locates the source of the "starving" of women in society, the second prefigurement makes Nanda herself seem dangerous. When the postman approaches Carignano, Nanda resents his intrusion even before she knows that the letter he carries announces the arrival of Raka: "He slowed down, drawing out her irritation, keeping behind a small schoolboy who had materialized out of the hillside and was dawdling schoolwards without much sense of purpose or direction for he would stop now to pick up a flat stone, now to shy it at a chipmunk, then climb halfway up a hill for a thomy snatchful of raspberries, then slide down on his bottom into the ditch and search for a golden beetle. The postman seemed unable to overtake him—hypnotized by the boy's whimsical progress, he stopped and kept behind while Nanda Kaul, slit-eyed, burned on the knoll." The schoolboy partly anticipates Raka, who likes to wander just so haphazardly. Throwing stones at a chipmunk, he also foreshadows the schoolboys who will harass Ila on her last fateful walk, themselves foreshadowings of the rapist, Preet Singh. This early scene of the schoolboys interfering with the postman and the postman intruding on an old woman, with a simultaneous "burning" on the knoll, sketches out, in fact, the climax of the book: the schoolboys hounding Ila and a man raping her, while the forest burns. Yet this early description makes Nanda's role ambiguous. By burning, is she suffering innocently? Or is she actually presiding, "slit-eyed" and evil looking? This scene comes close to locating the attack on Ila in Nanda's scorched irritability, her lack of caring.
In a third prefigurement, a dust storm tosses a hen, "its squawks snatched out of its beak, shattered like glass." Ila's primary characteristic is her screeching voice, and she will be strangled by the rapist. Just as she is directly compared to a shot crow, here she is implicitly present in the squawking tossed hen. Desai identifies Raka indirectly with dust storms and with fire and connects these two natural phenomena with each other. In this omen of attack and fire, Raka, or unrequited emotion for Raka, kills an old hen-woman, and the fault resides in emotion itself rather than in Nanda.
Desai prefigures the attack on Ila a fourth time through Ila's walk toward Nanda's house at the end of the book. Several events on the walk urgently warn of the catastrophe which is soon to occur. The boys cruelly taunting Ila announce the man who will attack her, as the spectacle of Ila "spiked by an agave beside the path leading to Carignano" prophesies the rape. Her umbrella, taken by the boys, becomes a horrifyingly dehumanized metonymy for Ila, who also "squeaked and shrilled like an agitated shrew": "The umbrella squeaked in protest. Boys fell upon it, brought it down into the dust and it bowled along the gravel, kicked helpfully on by them to the side of the road…. Roaring in joyous expectation, the boys tried to help it through the rails but it stuck fast, protesting like a lady in hoop-skirts at their uncouth sport." The servant Ram Lal extricates the umbrella, "as maimed and crooked as a hunchback, a witch of olden times tied and readied for the fatal dip." But if Ram Lal is helping Ila, he also scorns this "old animal that has been made to run before the hounds. Carefully turning his head, he spat into the raspberry bushes." Because even Ram Lal blends with the other males in the scene along a scale from uncaring to brutal, this prefigurement indicts a patriarchal society for the attack.
By blaming the catastrophe at different times on Nanda, emotion in itself, or outworn gender stereotypes, Desai accurately and usefully records the ambivalence of her society in its present mixed expectations for women. Having heard so often that women who don't give care are "unnatural," she seems tentatively to test whether Nanda may be as dangerous as a flying roof. But Desai then corrects the terms of the assumption by making Nanda not a specifically feminine care giver to Raka but a human seeker of affection. Nanda reaches out not maternally but as a thwarted baby or an admiring disciple or an equal friend or even a wary lover, when she seems to court Raka. The multiplication of comparisons breaks down the labels by which society normally channels and limits longing.
Desai thus clears Nanda of blame by respecting both her solitude and her need for affection. Tragedy occurs not primarily because of prideful solitude or because of an inescapable nature of things, although any affection remains inevitably painful. Instead, disaster results from society's flaws, which could be changed. In 1970 Desai criticized Indian women writers for not protesting more, for a "lack of imagination, courage, nerve, or gusto—of the satirical edge, the ironic tone, the inspired criticism or the lyric response that alone might have brought their novels to life." Malashri Lal thinks Desai goes astray in her attempt to "distill" women's experience in India if she resorts to "symbolism," which for Lal is a "mere reworking of a heritage of literature." But it is precisely through Desai's "lyric response," through the rich suggestiveness of her imagery—tattered umbrellas jammed in slats, squawking hens tossed by the storm—that Desai registers and works out the ambivalence of her society. She senses the internalized opprobrium that makes women reproach themselves, feeling that maybe they ought to be thrown out and silenced. But then Desai pushes beyond that doubt to affirm that the hounded characters Nanda, Ila, and Raka do not deserve to have their lives stifled.
This section contains 3,044 words
(approx. 11 pages at 300 words per page)

subset: commoncrawl


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If you are alive and breathing, you have heard of Facebook or Twitter. Most likely, you have obsessively followed your favorite artist tweeting throughout the week about their recent album releaseRead More
5 Big Mistakes That Bloggers Make
Everybody makes mistakes, but the key to life is learning from those mistakes and not repeating them. Blogging has become a worldwide phenomenon taking the internet by stormRead More
Project Management Solutions Everyone Should Know
Whether you're looking for an overall project management software to help you run your business and wrangle your employees into tracking their daily progress or you're just looking for a way to better manage your timeRead More
NURSING BOARD EXAM PASSERS FOR JULY 2010.Graduates from Ateneo de Naga, De Los Santos-STI College, Inc., University of Santo Tomas, and Centro Escolar University-Manila topped the 37,679 out of 91,008 examinees who passed the Nurse Licensure Examination.Read More
7 Ways to Monetize Your Blog
It's no secret that blogging can net you a tidy income. Of course, it pays to be aware of the pitfalls, like thinking that you can quit your day job, start your blog, and pull in a salary by the end of the week. This simply doesn't happenRead More
Great Ways to Increase Blog Traffic
Many people who start blogs do so with no intention of turning it into a business. And yet, if you are putting in the time, you ought to be getting more out of it than the singular joy of spending hours every day researching and writing (on your own time,Read More
Justice Crew
Justice Crew are an all-male hip-hop crew and musical group from Sydney, Australia, who were the winners of Australia's Got Talent in 2010. The group consists of, Emmanuel Rodriguez, Samson Smith, Omar Kamara, Len and John Pearce, Anastasios Repousis, Lukas Bellesini, Paulie Merciadez and Solo Tohi.Read More
How and Why to Maintain a Blogging Schedule
Blogging is an inspired form of communication. Bloggers who ply their craft for the education and entertainment of audiences large and small do so because they have an idea that speaksRead More
How to Improve Reader Participation on Your Blog
People start blogs for many reasons. In most cases, they feel that they have something of value to share with their audience, in the form of information, analysis, opinion, or all of the above.Read More


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St. Louis Blues v Columbus Blue Jackets
Similar imagesView all
Goaltender Jake Allen of the St. Louis Blues skates with the puck... News PhotoAthlete,Columbus - Ohio,Columbus Blue Jackets,Full Length,Goalie,Hockey,Hockey Puck,Ice Hockey,Jake Allen - Ice Hockey Player,National Hockey League,Nationwide Arena,Ohio,Skating,Sport,St. Louis Blues,USA,VerticalPhotographer Jamie SabauCollection: National Hockey League 2013 NHLICOLUMBUS, OH - APRIL 12: Goaltender Jake Allen #34 of the St. Louis Blues skates with the puck against the Columbus Blue Jackets on April 12, 2013 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/NHLI via Getty Images)


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Things lost in the water
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Alvin, Texas
Posts: 181
Thanks: 30
Thanked 5 Times in 5 Posts
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Re: Things lost in the water
Uncounted hats and Sun glasses, numerous tools, an outboard motor cover, a couple of umbrellas, a folding chair, a solar panel, several hats and lately an outboard which I recovered. For some reason O'le D. Jones seems to have a hankering for every 7/16" and 11mm wrench that makes it to any boat I am on. If there is no suitable combination wrench available to quench his hunger a nice adjustable spanner or pair of pliers seems to do almost as well.
I dropped a 7/16" wrench from the base of an Inmarsat antenna about 60~70' in the air amidships of an oil tanker I was working on one time. It tinked, tanked and thunked four times before I heard the faint splash.
And then there was the anchor my buddy threw overboard without securing it to the bow of the john boat we were fishing from. We did a lot of drift fishing that day.
I used Poly Pro line on the next anchor I got for that boat. I had to replace it every year but it was still cheaper than buying new anchors every fishing trip.
Yes, he did drop anchor without tying it off again but the poly pro saved the day.
What can I say other than, OH WELL!
Have FUN!
p.s. If you get the impression that 'possums aren't too smart some times, you will not get any argument from me.
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Iraq Kurds seize 2 oil fields near Kirkuk
Posted: July 12, 2014 at 2:49 a.m.
Kurdish security forces took over two major oil fields outside the disputed northern city of Kirkuk before dawn Friday and said they would use some of the production for domestic purposes, further widening a split with the central government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
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Tablet. Hotels for Global Nomads
Travel Better.
Spoke Folk Cyclery
201 Center St.
Napa / Sonoma Valleys, California
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Keywords: Biking See all and suggest more
1 Reviews
First reviewed by Tablet
Whether you need to burn some calories between all the noshing and sipping or just like the idea of rolling alfresco, Spoke Folk, a full service independent bike shop, is the place to go in Healdsburg for rentals and tune-ups.
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Property Details
House, 4 Bedrooms, 3.5 Baths, 10 Sleeps
This new construction luxury home is located on the end of a private
drive, just steps to the beach. It is located in the Pleasure Point
area of Santa Cruz, California, and offers white water ocean views,
is adjacent to Moran Lake park and 26th Ave. Beach, and just a block
or so to Pleasure Point surfing. It is the perfect higher-end get-
away for one or 2 families. Full gourmet kitchen, 2 upstairs decks,
even a garage to park your nice car. Master bedroom upstairs
includes jacuzzi tub. Mini-master downstairs includes full bathroom.
Outside hot and cold shower to clean up after a great day on the
About the Owner
0 Reviews
Be the first to review this listing!
Activity and Interests
Santa Cruz is loaded with fun things to do. There's UC Santa Cruz
nearby, several parks, and great beach activities all up and down
the coast just minutes away. Property is very private yet is one
house set back from one of the the busiest beaches in Santa Cruz.
The beach is an easy 2 minute walk with no hills or stairs direct to
the sand. This beach is the greatest skim boarding and strolling
beach in Santa Cruz. Around the corner take a stroll overlooking the
cliffs of Pleasure Point surfing, or for those who want to surf,
this is probably the best spot in Santa Cruz. Many surf shops
including O'Neills 5 minute drive away. 2 minute drive to Capitola,
4 minute drive to the yacht harbor, and 8 minute drive to Boardwalk.
The Boardwalk is a full amusement park with a legendary old style
roller coaster and free oldies rock concerts in the summer. Less
than an hour drive south to Monterey/Carmel. About an hour drive
north to San Francisco. Grab your flip flops and come to Santa Cruz!
Rental rates
- Weekly Rate: $2000 - $3600
$500 refundable booking and security deposit required at the time of
booking, $175 non-refundable cleaning fee required also at the time
of booking. Please add 10% of rent for County tax.
High Season Rates: Includes Easter vacation (the week before Easter
Sunday, and the week including Easter Sunday), and June 1 through
September 30th. Rates are $3,475 per week. A week is always Saturday
to Saturday (4 PM check in to 11 AM check out).
Winter Holiday Season: Includes Thanksgiving week and Christmas
week. Rates are $2,975 per week. A week is always Saturday to
Saturday (4 PM check in to 11 AM check out).
Off Season Rates: From September 30 through May 31 excluding Easter
vacation (as defined above). and excluding Winter Holiday (as
defined above), Rates are $2,475 per week. A week is always Saturday
to Saturday (4 PM check in to 11 AM check out).
Multi-week discounts: for stays over a week, the second week is 10%
discount and the third and additional weeks are 15% discount.
For less than week rentals: Rates are $1,000 per night, 2 night
minimum. Additional nights discounts are similar above, $900 for the
third night and $850 for the fourth and additional nights. Note, it
might be more economical in your situation to rent for a week
depending on the season.
If you need to rent crossing a Saturday checkout boundary, use
either the per night formula for the entire stay, or the week rate
plus the additional nighly rates above (excluding the 2 night
minimum), whichever is less.
No pets or smokers please.
Maximum occupancy is 8 non children, or 10 total including children
(children defined as 10 and under). This is because there is only
proper bedding for 8.
- 12
- Available
- 12
- Unavailable
- 12
- Today
Property Type
- house
- pets not allowed
- 3 Bathrooms,
- 1 Half Bath
- Bathroom 1
- Bathroom 2
- Bathroom 3
- Half Bathroom
- 4 Bedrooms, Sleeps 10
- Bedroom 1
- Bedroom 2
- Bedroom 3
- Bedroom 4
- Includes upstairs stainless BBQ on the deck, gas fireplace, wireless Internet, outside hot and cold shower, fully stocked kitchen, washer and dryer, big screen TV upstairs with DVD and cable, downstairs surround sound media room with DVD and cable, couches, phone, foosball table i the garage, even extra beach chairs, blankets, cooler, and tiki lamps for your beach vacations. Basically, all the amenities to make your stay a dream!


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Sweetwater varsity hosts Snyder, 7 p.m.
Sweetwater JV and varsity teams host Snyder, 5 and 6:30 p.m.
Sweetwater girls team (Alex Gomez, Rachel Hunt, Elise Lawrence, Haylee Stewart and Amy Witt) competes at Region I-3A tournament in San Angelo (San Angelo Country Club) through Thursday, April 19.
Sweetwater's Chris Hernandez and Madison Meneses (mixed doubles) and Heidi Taylor (girls singles) at Region I-3A tournament in Lubbock (Texas Tech's McLeod Tennis Center) through Thursday, April 19.
Today will be Sweetwater vs. Snyder day at both the baseball game at Newman Park at 7 p.m. and at the softball game that starts at 6:30 p.m. at Jerry Collins Complex, and the stakes are pretty high in both.
The baseball team's situ-ation is the most critical as the Mustangs, with a 2-4 district record, may not be able to afford another loss to get into the playoffs.
A Sweetwater win would leave both teams 3-4 in district play with a game left.
Nolan County athletes of-ficially began their partici-pation in high school regio-nal competition Monday, though only one athlete — Sweetwater's Alex Castillo — saw action.
The Sweetwater Police Department (SPD) received 163 calls for service, issued 32 citations and made eight arrests from April 13-15, 2012.
The SPD received 67, 911 calls.
• 200 block of SE Georgia Ave.
• 1500 block of Ragland.
Calls for service:
• Family violence assault — 800 block of E. 14th.
• Theft — 400 block of NE Georgia.
• Criminal mischief — 800 block of Lubbock.
• Burglary of a building — 217 Loop 170.
• Theft — 400 block of W. New Mexico.
• Criminal trespass — 1400 block of Runnels.
• Theft — 400 block of NE Georgia.
Arrested by SPD:
Louis Harry Flewharty was born Dec. 10, 1931, in Weatherford, Texas and passed away April 14, 2012. He married Gerry A. Rogers on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28, 1957. Louis graduated from Texas A & M at Commerce in January of 1953 with B.A. degree in Business Administration. He spent two years in the United States Air Force. He was inducted into the Air Force in San Antonio, Texas and then spent three months in Cheyenne, Wyoming in Officer's Supply School. He was sent to Adak Island in Fairbanks, AK at Ladd Air Force Base. He worked for J.C. Penney Company from 1955 until 1987.
The Sweetwater Animal Shelter is currently closed and will remain closed for at least one week, until Monday, April 23, 2012, due to a recent outbreak of Parvo in the shelter.
"There have been a large number of Parvo cases in Nolan County recently both in my office, as well as at the East Ridge Veterinary Hospital," said Dr. Bud E. Alldredge, Veterinarian and owner of Sweetwater Veterinary Hospital. Dr. Alldredge is also the Nolan County Rabies Control Officer.
Final track results for the Sweetwater Middle School seventh grade girls are listed below for their meets that were held March 22 at Wall, March 30 at Colorado City and April 5 at Big Spring.
The team also competed on April 14 at their district meet held in Brownwood. This meet was the final one of the 2011-12 school year for all of the girls and boys track teams at SMS. Results will appear in a later edition as soon as they are reported.
69 points (5th place)
High jump — Lauren Jones 4th (4-2)
Long jump — Davina Walker 1st (13-10 1/2)
Final track results for the Sweetwater Middle School eighth grade girls are listed below for their meets that were held March 22 at Wall, March 30 at Colorado City and April 5 at Big Spring.
The team also competed on April 14 at their district meet held in Brownwood. This meet was the final one of the 2011-12 school year for all of the girls and boys track teams at SMS.
The Sweetwater Reporter will give the results for the seventh and eighth grade girls and boys at the district meet in a later edition as soon as the results are reported to the paper.
35 points (6th place)
Morgan Shelton, a former Sweetwater High School athlete, has been named the Lone Star Conference Track Athlete of the Week follow-ing her outstanding performance for West Texas A&M University at the ASU/David Noble Relays in San Angelo, the league office announced on Thursday.
Shelton, who is a junior at WTAM, finished first in the women's 100 hurdles with a school-record time of 14.08.
Sweetwater's Alex Castil-lo, left, and Ryan Mercer won all-district honors at the District 5-3A golf tournament. Castillo shot 229 to place fourth among all district medalists and Mercer shot 237 to place ninth. Castillo advanced to the Region I-3A golf tournament that will be held Monday and Tuesday at San Angelo's Bentwood Country Club.


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Your visit to campus varies depending on your level of study. Please choose one of the following:
Can't Make it To Campus?
Take our virtual tour, which highlights our award-winning campus. You can also find maps and other resources in the visit section of our website.
Alumni Spotlight
StephenUndergraduate Degree in Communication Arts
While serving as Sound Design Curriculum Coordinator and Faculty at the Academy of Art Univ in San Francisco, my film production company is busy developing cooking shows, films, and other 21st century entertainment.


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Exhibit Puts Spotlight on Fashion of Women in Power
Spanning the last 150 years, the exhibit presents an up-close-and-personal-look at the fashion behind some of the 19th and 20th centuries' most powerful and well-respected women.
Spanning the last 150 years, the exhibit presents an up-close-and-personal-look at the fashion behind some of the 19th and 20th centuries' most powerful and well-respected women.
Offering a timeline look at mourning fashion from 1815 to 1915, the exhibit's melancholic subject matter is perfectly timed for Halloween
For fall we've turned to Esteban Vicente's painting, "Blue, Red, Black and White" for an artful look.
For those that want your tattoos to live on–long after you've been dead and buried–now there's a way to preserve your ink for posterity, by handing your skin over to the Foundation for the Art and Science of Tattooing.
40 different artists came together to create new works to be used in the first large-scale museum retrospective of the iconic Sanrio character in the United States.
Through raw, intimate photos exploring sexuality, Fermariello focuses his camera lens on the private lives of those living with disabilities.
Illustrated by aleXsandro Palombo, a less than thrilled George Clooney and a glamorously dressed Amal Almuddin are imagined as Simpsons characters who are definitely NOT from Springfield.
America's most beloved Beagle, Snoopy, and his sister, Belle, are getting the fashion treatment for the second time, as part of the "Peanuts" comic strip's 65th anniversary.
Catering to this idea of a new, more socially aware demographic, DC Comics has taken Batgirl from a spandex clad vixen to a Doc Marten wearing, dare I say, hipster.
Next year, the Icelandic songstress will be celebrated at the iconic museum through a retrospective set to run from Mar 7 to Jun 7 2015.
The latest H&M collaboration is with a high-end artist who is turning the brand's new flagship on Fifth Avenue into his own personal work of art.
"The Hunger Games" has joined the ranks of many of its fantasy counterparts in announcing the inception of "The Hunger Games: The Exhibition." Debuting summer 2015, well before the November…
Forever 21 just went to the art side with a new Artist Series collection featuring the works of artists Keith Haring & Jean-Michel Basquiat. The collection, comprised of mostly tees, bandeau…
Artists, collectors, curators and creatives gathered at Capitol Skyline Hotel in Washington D.C. to immerse themselves into the multi-media art experience know as the (e)merge art fair. Hotel rooms were…
Adolescence has been the subject of much artistic exploration – whether it be through poetry, novels, music, or fashion. Perhaps it's the fascination with transition or how our innocence is…


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|Half Baths
|Property type
|Minimum Stay
|2 nights
The Emerson House at Asgaard Farm is available for your next Adirondack vacation! Enjoy the stunning mountain views that inspired the paintings of Rockwell Kent, explore endless opportunities for outdoor adventure, and experience life on a working farm--all in one unforgettable trip.
The Emerson House was designed and built by Kent in the 1930s, originally for his son Rocky. It eventually became the home of Gladys and Tink Emerson, who managed Asgaard for more than four decades and raised their family here. In recognition of their years of hard work and devotion to the farm, we have carefully renovated their house, so it can be appreciated and enjoyed well into the future.
Today Asgaard is a diversified family farm with a goat dairy and creamery at its core. Revolving around these activities are grass-fed and grass-finished beef together with pastured pork, poultry and eggs. You may be able to help with some of the farm work during your stay in The Emerson House, or you may choose to relax and watch from a distance. In either case, you will surely gain an appreciation for the sustainable agricultural practices that lead to healthy, delicious food. Kent devotees may also soak up the magic of the stunning landscape that inspired many of his paintings as well as the ambiance of his secluded studio, still on the property in its original condition.
Beyond the boundaries of Asgaard, the Adirondack region offers a wide variety of year-round recreational and cultural pursuits. Options range from world-class fly fishing on the Ausable River, Olympic skiing at Whiteface Mountain and spectacular hiking in the High Peaks to current and classic movies at the Champlain Valley Film Society, concerts at the acclaimed Meadowmount School of Music and tours lead by Adirondack Architectural Heritage. The area also boasts several fine restaurants with cuisine featuring local ingredients.
The Emerson House is fully equipped and available throughout the year for weekend and short-term rentals. Accommodations include two bedrooms and a full bath upstairs, a spacious entrance, sunny kitchen, open sitting room and half bath on the ground floor and a full basement with laundry facilities. There is a barbeque grill next to an outdoor dining area. Cheeses, meats, eggs and vegetables produced on the farm can also be provided.
We are located in the town of Jay and the hamlet of Au Sable Forks, a charming spot in the heart of the high peaks region of the Adirondack Park. Just a short drive to Lake Placid, Whiteface Mountain and the great hiking of Keene Valley, our location gives you the benefit of all these exciting places but in a calmer, more serene environment. Staying on a small, sustainable farm will also allow you to get close to the growing local food scene in the Adirondacks.
|Rate Period
|Weekend Night
My Standard Rate
2 night minimum stay
|Refundable damage deposit
Payment is usually accepted in the quoted currency (USD) unless the currency and the amount is specifically agreed in advance with the owner / advertiser.


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DMV to Internet-less New Yorkers: Get in Line
By Jared Chausow
By Katie Toth
By Elizabeth Flock
City Hid Facts From Feds About Rikers
By Albert Samaha
Flood Wall Street Gets Pepper Sprayed and Arrested
By Anna Merlan
By Jon Campbell
Report Sheds Light on Anti-Muslim Bias
By Jon Campbell
Rikers Island Lawsuits Over Diabetic Care
By Albert Samaha
The NYCLU wants the stop-and-frisk worksheets for 2006, the first two quarters of 2007, and for any calendar year before 2006 "for which data exists in electronic form."
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is also on the case: "We have expressed our disappointment with the NYPD about their unsatisfactory response in providing the needed data . . . . We will take the appropriate action and get the information we need to conduct the oversight that is mandated by the [City] Charter."
And as Kirsten Danis reported in the August 24 Daily News: "Stop-and-frisks appear to be behind a 66 percent jump in complaints filed with the Civilian Complaint Review Board from 2002 to 2006." But the CCRB itself badly needs oversightwhich is now being provided, as I'll detail in future columns, by the NYCLU.
Next week: Is there any hope that the so-called Civilian Complaint Review Board will become an independent agencyand not, as it is now, largely a vassal of Ray Kelly?
Sponsor Content


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18 October 2013 10:19 [Source: ICIS news]
By Linda Naylor
LONDON (ICIS)--Polyethylene (PE) players in Dusseldorf, Germany, have been giving their impressions of K2013 so far, with buyers and sellers taking advantage of being able to press the flesh on the third day of the week-long plastics fair.
"It's been really useful to be able to sit down with our customers and explain things face to face," said one supplier.
Pricing discussions are not at the forefront between producers and their regular suppliers.
"Discussions are more about 2014 contracts than current pricing," said a large PE buyer.
Spot prices were under discussion, however, and sources agreed that most prices were slipping. Much depended on the grade and seller in question. Traders are now up against end-year volume rebates that buyers have in place with their regular suppliers.
A discount is applied at the end of the year on total annual volumes, so traders' prices have to be pretty keen to compete with this.
High density polyethylene (HDPE) buyers were looking at potential volumes from North America in 2014, which they expected to remain tight because of pipeline issues that were expected to last several months.
In contrast, ample HDPE quantities are being offered from the Middle East following a build-up of product caused during port congestion issues in Saudi Arabia in the third quarter. Many sellers lost volume and buyers said HDPE was now being widely offered at attractive prices.
Buyers said they had been informed by INEOS that the Grangemouth, UK, shutdown would not pose problems at key accounts, as long as the shutdown there did not last too long.
Naphtha was also a point of discussion, leading to questions over where the November ethylene contract might land. Sources had expected a reduction in the November ethylene contract but naphtha's recent upward trend was beginning to lead to doubts over the certainty of a significant reduction.
Monomer producers usually look at the average monthly naphtha price to determine where they expect ethylene to settle, and PE producer sources said it was too early to tell where this might be.
Most of the entertaining that goes on at K was done on Thursday evening with many people planning to make their way back home at close of business on Friday.
PE pricing for October will begin in earnest at some accounts next week.
"I will finalise my prices on Monday," said another buyer, while many buyers in the low density polyethylene (LDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) markets will leave that task until the end of the month and settle prices retroactively.
K2013 began on 16 October and runs until the 23rd.
($1 = €0.74)
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Asian Chemical Connections


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D.T. Max...Dramatizes how wanting and memory compete.....how lonely, unhappy people mythologize their adolescence. (Larger cultural metaphors, as always in Oates's fiction, are invited)....Displays great inventiveness and a justified belief in its relevance to our own emotional lives. This is not a bashful or subtle book. It doesn't woo you so much as run you down....This is America, affluent, ever-adolescent America, land of ''teen-age litter,'' where, as Oates writes, ''after high school . . . everything's posthumous.''
—The New York Times Book Review


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RAISINVILLE TOWNSHIP — Fire gutted an office area at a pet spa on Blue Bush Rd. Saturday afternoon, but no animals were injured because none were being housed in the facility at the time.
Damage is extensive to the office building at the Play & Stay Pet Spa, 3873 Blue Bush, east of N. Raisinville Rd. Fire crews arrived on the scene about 5:30 p.m. and flames were pouring out of the two front windows.
"We had flames everywhere," said Rick Smith, chief of the London-Maybee-Raisinville Volunteer Fire Department. "That whole room is gone."
It was not determined what caused the blaze. Members of the Monroe County Fire Investigation Team were on the scene Saturday night. Large black scorch marks could be seen above the windows.
Cheryl Wassus, owner of the spa, said she left the building about 3:30 p.m. and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She said she routinely unplugs electrical cords when she closes up for the day as a precaution.
Two hours later, she was receiving text messages from customers about the fire. Mrs. Wassus said she has owned the business, which offers dog training, socialization and grooming, for about five years.
"It takes a long time to get a business going, and it was going well even in this economy," she said at the scene. "We had a really nice program. But as long as no one's hurt, it's all good."
Described as Monroe's first all-inclusive pet resort, the business was a like a doggie daycare where pets could socialize and receive spa-like treatments. Obedience and agility training also were offered.
The fire ignited in the office area of the white cement block building, where a computer and appliances were kept. Two other sections of the structure where dogs could play and be groomed were spared fire damage.
The office was gutted before firefighters could get the blaze under control. Mrs. Wassus said she has insurance and plans to set up a temporary location for her 10 to 12 regular customers.
The 6,000-square-foot building has been owned by Pat Vajcner since the 1980s. Before it was a pet spa, the building was home to a craft store. Before that, it was a meat-packing facility.
Assisting at the scene were firefighters from Exeter, Frenchtown and Monroe Township, as well as the Monroe County Chapter, American Red Cross.


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Resolution: standard / high
Figure 1.
(a) Multiplicity-comultiplicity 2-distribution of the sequence ATTAGGATCTTAAT. A simple example of a multiplicity-comultiplicity 2-distribution diagram for the specific sequence ATTAGGATCTTAAT is here reported (b) Localization of some repeats. A diagram is shown for localization of repeats in the range 1.3 - 1.6 ×104of N. equitans' genome, where one repeat of 130 occurs, after a few shorter ones (about 30). Positions versus repeat lengths are respectively reported on the axes.
Castellini et al. BMC Genomics 2012 13:485 doi:10.1186/1471-2164-13-485


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DRZ Forks and HPN Tank on a R100 GS PD
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Beastly Adventurer
Joined: Aug 2012
Location: The Dutch swamp
Oddometer: 1,030
Originally Posted by
Phreaky Phil
I have thoughts of building up an Expedition bike using my paralever GS and converting it into a longer travel monolever.For 2up riding long travel is needed as you cant stand in the rough stuff so the suspension must soak up everything. Another reason for a long swingarm is with 2uo it moves the weight behind the rear wheel forward. ( I would like to try a longer swingarm in my DR to see if would help stability and steep climbs) The Paralever is maxed out at 190mm of travel. The 1100/1150 Paralevers can be grafted in but the monolever i think is simpler and tougher, and probably lighter ? I think 250mm of Travel would be good. More may be better but the seat height may become a problem. I'm only 5'10" My DR650 with DRZ front and rear running minimal sag before luggage has me on tip toes. You mentioned wanting a clamp with more offset for the DRZ front. I have not ridden an Airhead with small offset clamps and am interested in your thoughts on the handling between the two ?
Cheers Phil
Keeping a low seat height and gaining more travel is tricky.
If you would like to do so you might end up with travel that can not be used, because the sump and center stand will be touching the ground.
I totally see that creating the longer wheel base would give more room to keep the weight off the luggage between the wheels and not behind the rear axle.(specially with 2 up)
On the Sibirsky trip I started with the luggage right above the rear axle. At the end of the trip it was all moved forwards.
Until it was almost touching my heels. With every cm I moved it forward (and down) the handling improved A LOT !!!!
BMW R100'91/R80'93/R75/6 R80ST'83/R65GS'87/GasGasTXT300/DouglasW20-1920
Ride Report 2012
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FBI probes suspicious powder at Super Bowl hotels
Published on Feb 1, 2014 3:18 AM
NEW YORK (AFP) - The FBI and US police officers were investigating Friday suspicious powder sent by mail to at least five hotels near the stadium hosting Sunday's Super Bowl, officials said.
The FBI confirmed that its joint terrorism task force and hazard materials units had responded to "several locations" that received a "suspicious letter and substance." "This situation is being thoroughly investigated and more information will be provided when it becomes available," said spokeswoman Barbara Woodruff.
Detective John Cleary from Carlstadt police told AFP there were at least five locations and five letters "in close proximity" to the stadium in East Rutherford where 80,000 people are expected to watch Sunday's football final, the biggest US sporting event.
The detective said local police received a first call at around 11:30 am from the Econo Lodge on Washington Avenue in Carlstadt after hotel staff were opening letters.
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G2D Games
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Girls Games
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Pirate Halloween Costumes
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After watching the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie, it will be not surprised if you say you are dreaming about adventurous evening on the high seas? Well this Halloween, make your dream come alive by taking part on a pirating adventure with us. Let's be a swashbuckling captain, a buccaneer babe, anything but a landlubber this holiday.
New Games
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Will Montgomery residents vote to fund roads? : News : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, Illinois
Will Montgomery residents vote to fund roads?
Village to offer property tax rebates if voters OK Nov. 4 referendum
by John Etheredge
Montgomery Village President Matt Brolley says he is optimistic that village voters will approve the village's request for a one percent non-home rule sales tax this fall.
"If I didn't think it would pass, I probably would not have supported it," Brolley said.
Brolley explained he bases his optimism on the belief that village residents will understand the need to maintain local streets and then vote "yes" on the referendum question placed before them on the Nov. 4 ballot.
"There are people out there in the village who have problems with their streets and would like to see them repaired," he added.
Brolley also mentioned he believes the sales tax is the least burdensome way for the village to increase revenues since the tax would be paid by everyone who shops in village stores, including the many people who live outside village limits.
Referring to the sales tax, Brolley continued, "This is the one way for village residents not to pay the full price (for the street maintenance program). The other option that (village) staff was proposing was a vehicle sticker program-and that was not something we wanted to consider."
Until now the village has relied on state-reimbursed Motor Fuel Tax (MFT) revenues to pay for its annual street maintenance program. However, those annual revenues fall far short of the estimated $1.8 million to $2.2 million the village now requires to fund the program, according to estimates by the village's engineering consultants and staff.
"We were elected here to make good decisions for the future and this is a problem that we have to deal with. We have to find a way to fund our roads. We can't rely on money from the state. We need approximately $2.2 million annually and if we wait for the state, we'll never get it," he said.
According to Brolley, the village cannot rely on annual increases in its sales tax revenues or some other form of "natural" revenue growth to cover the annual cost for the street maintenance program.
"Our total sales tax revenues right now are about $2 million. If we grow 10 percent per year we would be adding about $200,000 per year. But we need an additional $2.2 million on that top of that," he said.
The number of streets requiring maintenance in the village has increased dramatically since 2000 due to the development of several new subdivisions on the village's far west side. According to U.S. Bureau of the Census data, more than half of the village's total population of 17,000 resides in homes built since 2000 which are located west of Orchard Road.
The village's current total sales tax rate is seven percent in the Kane County portion of the village and 7.25 percent in the Kendall County portion. The two rates are lower than the rates currently charged in Oswego (7.75 percent), Aurora (8.25 percent) and Yorkville (8.25 percent).
If voters approve the referendum, the total sales tax rate in stores located in the Kendall County portion of the village will be 8.25 percent, the same as in Aurora and Yorkville. The total sales tax rate in stores in the Kane County portion of the village will be eight percent.
The tax would apply to the purchase of items such as clothing and appliances, but not to groceries, medical related equipment/purchases, or vehicles, according to Jeff Zoephel, village administrator.
The board voted unanimously during a special meeting Thursday morning at village hall to adopt a resolution placing the referendum on the ballot.
The referendum question will read: "Shall the Village of Montgomery, in order to maintain and/or improve the village's roads and public infrastructure, and to avoid the imposition of other taxes and fees impose a one percent sales tax for expenditures on public infrastructure or property tax relief pursuant to state law?"
As a further inducement to encourage village voters to approve the referendum, the board passed an ordinance calling for the village to rebate 15 percent of just the village's share of annual local property tax bills to village property owners for the next five years.
Brolley said funds for the rebates will come from a portion of the revenue generated by the sales tax.
Justin VanVooren, the village's finance director, told the board the amount of the rebates will vary depending upon how much individual property owners will pay to the village each year. He estimated that the owner of a $200,000 home would receive a rebate of about $45 annually from the village.
Brolley said he continues to believe that village residents are overtaxed and the rebates are intended to serve as a sign to residents the village is doing what it can to limit future property tax increases.
When questioned, Brolley confirmed it is possible that the rebates property owners would receive if the referendum is approved may offset a significant portion of the additional amount they will pay in sales taxes each year as they shop in local stores.
"If they spend $100 each week in local stores it (the tax) will cost them $1 more, multiply that by 52 (weeks) and its $52 so its possible they'll get back a good portion of that in their property tax rebate," he said.
Brolley noted Thursday's special meeting was held during the morning at village hall because he wanted all six board members to have the opportunity to vote on the referendum resolution and rebate ordinance. He noted that this past Thursday morning was the only time he could get all six board members together at the same time over the next several weeks.
"It was important that we take action on both of those (issues) sooner, rather than later," he said.
Though as village president Brolley was not asked to vote on either the referendum resolution or rebate ordinance, he told the board he supports both measures.
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|Nelson, Cobb miss practice, still expected to play
|Written by Admin
|Wednesday, 09 January 2013 11:39
Nelson is nursing an ``ongoing'' ankle injury, but coach Mike McCarthy says he hopes the receiver will practice Thursday. Cobb was sent home with the flu, the latest Packer to get sick.
``It's just that time of year here,'' McCarthy said. ``But our doctors feel confident everybody will be ready for the game.''
The Packers got some good news with the return of running back James Starks, who missed the last five games with a knee injury. McCarthy says it's too early to say how much he'll play against the 49ers.
Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP-NFL


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Live updates
'More debate needed' on anti-social behaviour
The chief constable of Cleveland Police has called for more debate on what should be considered as anti-social behaviour among young people.
Jacqui Cheer says there is a big difference between teenagers gathering together, exploring the world and growing up - and behaviour which needs to be punished by police.
But the debate remains divisive.
Cleveland Chief Constable appeals for more youth involvement
The Chief Constable of Cleveland Police Jacqui Cheer has been talking to ITV News about the need for more young people to consider moving into careers in the force.
- ITV Report


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Deluxe Double Room (2 Full XL Beds)Max Occupancy: 4 guests (up to 3 children, 3 infants)
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Along with a restaurant, this smoke-free hotel has a coffee shop/café and a 24-hour business center. Free buffet breakfast, free WiFi in public areas, and free self parking are also provided. Additionally, a 24-hour front desk, a computer station, and express check-in are onsite.
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All 42 rooms offer free WiFi and free wired Internet, LCD TVs with digital channels, and comforts like pillowtop beds and premium bedding. IPod docks, down comforters, and free long-distance calls are among the other amenities available to guests.Information missing or incorrect? Tell us!
Hotel Amenities
Hotel Amenities
Dining options at the hotel include a restaurant and a coffee shop/café. A complimentary breakfast is offered each morning. A computer station is located on site and high-speed wired and wireless Internet access is complimentary. This 3-star property offers access to a 24-hour business center. This Art Deco hotel also offers a terrace, multilingual staff, and express check-in. Complimentary self parking is available on site.
Hercor Hotel - Urban Boutique is a smoke-free property.
- Free long-term parking
- Computer station
- Free WiFi
- Smoke-free property
- 24-hour business center
- Restaurant
- Number of buildings/towers - 1
- Multilingual staff
- Television in lobby
- Free breakfast
- Coffee shop or café
- Total number of rooms - 42
- 24-hour front desk
- Number of floors - 4
- Elevator/lift
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- Free wired high-speed Internet
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- Year Built 2012
Family Friendly Amenities
- Free Wi-Fi
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Available in all rooms: Free WiFi , Free wired high-speed Internet
Available in some public areas: Free WiFi , Free wired high-speed Internet
Free long-term parking, Free self parking
Room Amenities
- Down comforter
- Pillowtop mattress
- iPod docking station
- Blackout drapes/curtains
- Shower only
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- Hair dryer
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- Desk
- Free long-distance calls
- Premium bedding
- Climate control
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- Access via exterior corridors
- Free bottled water
- Iron/ironing board (on request)
- Microwave (on request)
- In-room safe
- Premium TV channels
- Private bathroom
- Phone
- Free cribs/infant beds
Where to Eat
A complimentary hot/cold buffet breakfast is served each morning between 6:30 AM and 10:30 AM.
Hercor Hotel - Urban Boutique has a restaurant on site.
To make requests for specific accessibility needs, complete the "Special or Accessibility Requests" section of "Trip Preferences" when you book your hotel.
- Accessible path of travel
- Accessible bathroom
- Roll-in shower
- Accessible parking
- In-room accessibility
Hotel Policies
Minimum check-in age is 18
Check-in time starts at 3 PM
Check-out time is noon
Payment types
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on hotel policy.
Government-issued photo identification and a credit card or cash deposit are required at check-in for incidental charges.
Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in and may incur additional charges. Special requests cannot be guaranteed.
- The name on the credit card used at check-in to pay for incidentals must be the primary name on the guestroom reservation.
Noise-free rooms not guaranteed
- Deposit: USD 100 per stay
- Cribs (infant beds) are available for an additional fee
We should mention
Children 12 years old and younger stay free when occupying the parent or guardian's room, using existing bedding. Only registered guests are allowed in the guestrooms.


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Main Address:
Poppy Hills Golf Course
Pebble Beach, CA 93953-2900
(831) 622-8239
Pebble Beach, CA 93953-2900
(831) 622-8239
3200 Lopez Rd
Pebble Beach, CA 93953-2900
Pebble Beach, CA 93953-2900
(831) 622-8239
Bradley Shupe is a PGA Professional in Pebble Beach, CA. The PGA of America comprises 27,000 men and women professionals with one singular goal in mind - to make the game of golf more enjoyable for you.
Services Offered:
- Instruction
Professional has not entered award information.
Home » Golf Courses » California » Carmel » Bradley J. Shupe, PGA
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French Lick, Ind.
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Rye, N.Y.
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Philadelphia, Pa.
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Kohler, Wis.
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Chaska, Minn.


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Congrats aesir!!!! Your advice and humor has touched many here.
Think of the haters in your life as sandpaper; theyll scratch you up time and time again but in the end youre polished, smooth, and spotless..while they end up useless
We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
My tolerance for stupid shit is getting less and less.
Fear is the cheapest room in the house. I would like to see you living in better conditions.
― Hafiz
Congratulations and woot woot!
"Oh, why do my actions have consequences?" ~ Homer Simpson
"She knew my one weakness: That I'm weak!" ~ Homer Simpson
Don't make anyone a priority when you are only an option.
Thank you for all your heart and help.
It would certainly not be the same around here without your special brand of insight and humor.
Hamlet, Act I, Scene 3
Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.
All's Well That Ends Well, Act I, Scene 1
"There are times when our reality is nothing but pain, and to escape that pain the mind must leave reality behind." Patrick Rothfuss
"Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway." - Aubrie
..i'm speechless!!!
Do not back up. Severe tire damage.