The Fort Worth Zoo, founded 99 years ago, was one of the first places I went rambling once my boot cast was off and so I'm rambling on wild things today. My oldest daughter and her husband, my husband and our son walked through most of it while over in Dallas the issue of Jenny the depressed Dallas elephant raged. We are fascinated with animals, aren't we, and the story about the WDC man who was unusually befriended by a butterfly popped up this week in the Washington Post. The Butterfly Effect made for a fascinating read. We are drawn to the animal world as our wild world continues to shrink and the natural spaces are removed from us.
Not natural, but faces can look so? With new techniques such as the 24 carat gold facelifts that have a mesh framework sewn under the skin, faces are "enhanced". New York Magazine had an article on the latest in youthenizing and freshening-up aging faces and it has women talking. I told my new Santa Fe friend yesterday I'd get the link to her. Here it is.
The Wild West? Texas is a good place to be, especially if you are like my oldest daughter starting off with her husband to build careers. From an article in the NYSun: In the last 12 months, Texas has created 245,000 jobs (accounting for more than half of the jobs created in the U.S. in that period). Texas has the second lowest tax burden of the 50 states and the state leads the nation in energy production — 30% of the natural gas and 20% of oil produced in our country comes from Texas. "Using conservative estimates, the benefits of Enhanced Oil Recovery production will result in $200 billion in additional revenue and 1.5 million jobs created in Texas. The Texas marketplace also is on the cutting edge of other clean sources of energy such as wind power."
While in NYC, we felt that London was shifting to be a global center so I thought that a specific look at NYC compared to London by the NYSun provided a good comparison. My youngest, who earned her high school diploma from a Manhattan school, considered the University of London and other schools abroad but has opted to stay in Texas. For now. She passes signs in Texas yards that people are putting out letting oil and gas companies know they are ready to sign away their mineral rights in the Barnett Shale natural gas boom. Chesapeake Energy company has billboards all over towns in Texas and Oklahoma boosting the public image of that company in the places it wants to rake in business. New Mexico is being a lot more cautious about drilling with concerns about water pollution as a consequence. Water in Fort Worth runs warm out of the tap and fish died in a lake in Arlington from the heat this summer.
Wild Views: The only thing wild in Manhattan besides Central Park might be the glimpse of NYC rooftops via Flickr photos. However voyeuristic interest there is nothing like what you now see with Google Map Street Views. I used to use MapQuest but have found myself shifting to Google Maps. Do you find this creepy a bit, as I do and others do? Here's a view of Santa Fe's famous historic La Fonda hotel entrance from Google Map Street View. Look up your house and see if your curtains are open. Some places aren't on Google Maps.
Wild statistic: The number of visitors to female-oriented websites has nearly doubled since July 2006. Sites aimed primarily at women, from “mommy blogs” to makeup and fashion sites, grew 35 percent last year — faster than every other category on the Web except politics, according to comScore. Advertising on these sites is going to jump.
Wild Ride: Yesterday I rambled on horseback on trails in the Sangre de Cristo mountain wilderness, spotting elk and horny toads along the way with my new friend who also likes to ride horses, led by a wrangler whose family's outfit is 98 years old. I enjoyed wild places in my youth, unlike kids today.
Cheers.
I'm a bit comforted about the Google maps because my house's photo is at least 3 years old. I know that from changes we've made in the back yard.
So glad you are able to ramble about again, whether on foot or horseback! Such beauty in the Sangre de Cristos.
Posted by: allison | August 28, 2008 at 08:58 AM