Salvation Mountain

Salvation Mountain is Leonard Knight's artistic creation which is located in the lower desert of Southern California in Imperial County just east of the Salton Sea and about a hour and a half from Palm Springs. Salvation Mountain is Leonard's tribute to God and his gift to the world with its simple yet powerful message: "God Is Love." Leonard's passion has lovingly created this brilliant "outsider art " masterpiece resplendent with not only biblical and religious scripture such as the Lord's Prayer, John 3:16, and the Sinner's Prayer, but also including flowers, trees, waterfalls, suns, bluebirds, and many other fascinating and colorful objects. Salvation Mountain must be seen to be fully appreciated as those who have made the journey will attest. Its 50 foot height and 150 foot breadth is made totally of local adobe clay and donated paint and is truly unique in the United States and probably the world. From its Sea of Galilee at the bottom, to the big red heart in the middle, to the cross at the very top, the reoccurring theme of "Love" is everywhere at Salvation Mountain.

Tori's 13th Birthday Party

Tori and her friend, Rose, had a joint 13th birthday party recently. The theme party was based on the St. Trinian's movie and all the girls dressed up like characters from the movie.

I can't believe Tori is 13 years old!!! Time flies!

Flower at the Imperial War Museum

I don't know what this flower is but I want to find out because it was lovely!

Imperial War Museum and James Bond exhibit

Tori got to "skive" (skip) school and we took the train to London to see the James Bond exhibit at the Imperial War Museum . We had a fun time together! I learned two very interesting things about Ian Fleming: he didn't write his first novel until he was 44 (there's hope for me yet) and he wrote Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (who new??)


The outside of the museum and Joe in front of British 15-inch naval guns

Odiham's Blues and Booze Festival

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the Odiham Blues and Booze Festival. Joe and I had such a great time and the weather was fantastic!

Tina and Tori

Sharon and Megan Williams

Sharon is a fantastic photographer and a friend of Tina and Megan is Tori's best friend. They were both delightful and it was nice to make some new friends.

Isn't Lillia cute?? She slept through a lot of the festival despite the music and noise!

Joe and I

Tori and her friends Rose, Megan and Alice

Flower photo

Joe took this flower photo at Stonehenge and I really liked it.

Favorite Windsor Castle photos

Here are a few of my favorite Windsor Castle photos. I loved Queen Mary's dollhouse but we weren't allowed to take any photos of it. We also didn't get a picture of Henry VIII's grave inside of St. George's Chapel. I'm not sure if we weren't allowed to take a picture or we just didn't. I found it hard to believe that such an important historical figure is just buried in the middle of a small church and you can walk all over the grave. Also bured in St. George's Chapel are Jane Seymour (Henry VIII is buried beside her), King George VI, Princess Margaret's ashes and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.

A few of my favorite Stonehenge pictures

Stonehenge

Joe and I just returned from a fantastic 10 day vacation in England. While we were there, we arranged for a private tour of Stonehenge. Both of us found Stonehenge to be very interesting. What do the stones mean? Despite countless theories offered over centuries, no one knows. Stonehenge is the most famous relic of prehistory in Europe and one of the best known, most contemplated monuments in the world—and there is no no clear idea what the people who built it actually used it for. This month National Geographic featured Stonehenge on the cover and the link to read the article and see the National Geographic pictures is below.

The following are some links to more information about Stonehenge:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.876

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/06/stonehenge/alexander-text