Where in the world have I been?

I was surfing the web and came across a site called world66 that allows you to generate a map of the countries you have visited or lived in. Needless to say, I was interested and entered my travel destinations. I have a long way to go! So far, I have been to 23 countries.
Travelling is fun - it allows one to see how others live and makes you appreciate what you have at home. What we condsider necessities are major luxuries in other countries.
Time to start planning the trips for 2012!

Travelling and projects

I just finished a hectic bit of traveling. I went to Grenada for one week in mid November, back home for a week and on to Canada for another week and a half. In both cases, I reconnected with old friends and family, took some images and relaxed. I managed to see and play in some snow in Canada and I now feel ready for the upcoming holiday season.

In Grenada, everything was green and lush. As one Trinidadian lady put it, if you planted a pencil, it would grow. Local food was abundant everywhere. The people are friendly and helpful. And they have one major item we do not have in cayman -HILLS! The prices are very reasonable and no one tried to hassle you if you said no. Outside of the capital St. Georges and the main tourist areas - Grand Anse, the beaches clean and deserted during the week. The rivers are scenic, clean, cool waters and full of big rocks for a variety. One can easily spend the day eating fruit (depending on what is in season), swimming and keeping cool. It is definitely on my return to paradise list!


I haven't done much bike riding since October due to vacation, seasonal rains and a general touch of laziness. But the cool weather is here and the traffic jams I saw in the past two days back in Cayman make me realize that cycling is the better way! Life goes on!
Looks like my biking mileage will be a little low this year as my main trips were to work and back. I estimate I will finish 2011 at about 1600 miles.
I am upgrading my commuting bike - changing out the nylon paniers for rigid PVC ones. The new ones are waterproof and provide more protection for carrying items. An image is below.

















I am also building a bike trailer using a plastic footlocker and an old child bike trailer. The design is brazenly copied from a crazyguyonabike article. This is one time that all the parts were available locally! The link is http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=1&doc_id=8277&v=31
















Time to get moving this morning. Still on vacation so I will be enjoying the time left.

A simple ground pod DIY photo project

Hey there. I decided to make today my first 2 item day! Yep, breaking out of my shell.

I have been trying to take pictures of birds - mainly because they are interesting and come in a variety of colors, sizes and shapes. And they are almost everywhere! You don't have to ask permission and when they are tired of you, they just fly away with no hard feelings!

I have tried walking up to then with a 200mm lens but as soon as you get within 20 or 30 feet, away they go. What this means is that you have to do major cropping of your image to get that final picture that you want. It is usually pixelated and not good looking at all.

I have tried crawling and can get within 10-15 feet before they decide to leave. But again, with a 200mm lens, while they are bigger on the sensor, it is difficult to hold that camera and lens stable while you are on your belly in the sand!

The first thing I tried was going to a 400mm lens. This made the bird twice as large on the sensor and reduced the amount I had crop but I felt I could do better. I added the crawling and while I got great images, my shakiness and even more problems with holding a larger lens became very apparent. Off to the WWW to see what other have done.

I discovered something called a ground pod, a simple flat piece of something that you bolted your tripod head to. It sat on the ground, was very stable and carried all of the camera and lens weight! A bit more searching and I found one made of plastic (won't rust in Cayman), circular in shape and curved at the ends so that it slides in any direction. Great! Let me buy one. US$99.95 for that simple thing? You've got to be kidding!

Time to search DIY. I found one made from a aluminum frying pan and a bolt. Sounds easy enough! Off to ask the wife if I could borrow her frying pan and got a very sound NO! after I explained that I was going to drill a hole in the bottom! Back to the internet! :-(

More searching and I found another made from a plastic type wood and some made from plywood. Hmmmm, got lots of 1' square bits of plywood in the garage so off I went. A suitable piece was found and cut into shape. Three bits of 1" dowel to make the legs and some chair leg caps for gripping. A hole to mount the tripod head and one bolt to hold the head to the plywood. Some glue, couple screws and it was finished. Cost outlay - about CI$4 - US$5. I could live with that! Add a couple coats of Thompson Water Shield to reduce the effects of moisture and ready for field testing.

Completed ground pod

Looking ahead... it can also look down to the front of the pod.

The results I believe speak for themselves.

Getting away from it all

One of the difficulties of small island living is the desire every now and then to get away to somewhere else. You want a change in pace - see a different city, some hill, a river, different beaches, try a different restaurant, etc. Depending on how involved one is with other things like family, friends or projects, the desire can come within 3 months or a long as a year. I managed to get away for a week in January to Washington DC, spent Easter in Honduras and just came back from a one week visit to Grenada. A change is as good as a rest.

Grenada was very nice and I took my wife there. For all the yars we had been married, she had never been to my place of birth. Well, she has now and loves it. Her main comment was "all that green" and " look at that hill"! Of course, the bountiful fruits, beaches, rivers and friendly people also helped. She is already asking if we can go next year! Hmmm.....

The end of summer rains have come and gone and thankfully there were no hurricanes this year that affected us. Temps are a lot cooler and the humidity has taken a big drop. Time for sleeping with open windows and enjoying the fresh air.


Chickens are still there and producing eggs. Time to plan out winter garden - probably carrots, lettuce and beans this year.


Christmas is almost upon us and the advertisements have started. I don't know if age has anything to do with it but it seems that Christmas starts earlier every year. By the time it reaches here and you've had the big dinner and gifts, you are so thankful that it is over! Perhaps I should change my name to Scrooge! :-(

I close for now with a couple images from Grenada. More to come!


The first shows some of the small, colourful homes that people build. The second is of Grand Anse beach.

Shame on me....

..for letting so long pass betwen posts. I have found that the problem with doing a blog is that you don't want to repeat the same things over and over. Who wants to read the same thing but with a slightly different approach? Just like eating the same food but this time with salt, another time with too much pepper...you get the idea.


What have I been up to - mainly trying to keep out of trouble and mostly succeeding. Still continuing with photography - although the main thrust has shifted to DIY projects (something I like) rather than taking lots of pictures. I have dabbled in lightning pics and it is difficult. Some nights, I take 400 images only to hold one or two. Good thing is that it is rainy season adnlots of storms passing through!

I will try and add a better update this coming weekend!

Cheers!