This is primarily a travel blog in which I write about traveling in our motorhome. Our travels have

Nacogdoches, TX, United States
I began this blog as a vehicle for reporting on a 47-day trip made by my wife and me in our motorhome down to the Yucatan Peninsula and back. I continued writing about our post-Yucatan travels and gradually began including non-travel related topics. I often rant about things that piss me off, such as gun violence, fracking, healthcare, education, and anything else that pushes my button. I have a photography gallery on my Smugmug site (http://rbmartiniv.smugmug.com).

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Photo Shoot at the Samuel F. Houston State University's Arboretum

A few days ago I went to SFA's Mast Arboretum on a photo shoot with other members of the Nacogdoches Photography Association.  The SFA Mast Arboretum is a ten acre garden along LaNana Creek at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. The gardens began in 1985 as a small project, which over the years has expanded into one of the most diverse collection of plants in the South.  There are currently over 2,300 different plants listed on their inventory.

We went during the afternoon's "Golden Hour" (the first and last hour of sunlight during the day, when the quality of the light is at its best for photography).  Unfortunately, I locked my camera bag and tripod in my truck, along with the truck keys.  The Campus Police managed to get the door open for me, but not until the end of our shoot.  At least I had my camera, which I had to handhold for some very slow shutter speeds due to the low light.  Here are a few of the photos.  Just don't ask me the names of any of the flowers!






Thursday, April 5, 2012

A New Toad!

We did it!  We still have the Saturn that we had so much trouble with in Mexico, but we have a new car on order.  It will be about 6 weeks before we get it and then we will sell the Saturn.  The new car is a 2012 Chevy Traverse LTZ (yes, it is four-wheel-down towable).  We ordered a dark metallic blue, which we believe should look really good being towed behind our motorhome (dark blue, light blue, and two grays).  Oh, yes.  I also told the hospital that I would be available to work a couple of days a month if they needed me!  Retirement was great, but now I have to pay for a new car.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

"Museo De Las Momias" in Guanajuato

I have only just now decided to post photos from the Museo De Las Momias in Guanajuato.  For those of you who may be Spanish-challenged, as myself, you should know that the Spanish word "momias" is not the same as the English word "mommies", no more than the Spanish word "nombre" is the same as the English word for "number", even though the words look to be very similar.

These photos are not for the weak of stomach.  However, in the interest of morbid curiosity I have decided to place them on a page by themselves and you can decide whether or not to look at them or to show them to anyone else.

All of the mummies were in glass cases with very bad lighting.  It was almost impossible to find an angle that would not show reflections on the glass.  Photography was permitted without flash so you had to do the best you could with the available lighting.  It also didn't help that I was somewhat "weirded out" in this bizarre and macabre place, which made it somewhat difficult to concentrate on "good photography techniques".

These photos are not for the squeemish or easily upset.  Don't watch them in a dark place or by yourself.  If you don't like to watch horror movies perhaps you should have someone sit with you and hold your hand.

I strongly advise you to use good sense if you are considering showing these photos to young children.  You should be careful of who may be looking over your shoulder if you do decide to look through them.  Remember, I warned you.

Here is a description of the museum from Wikipedia:

"The Mummies of Guanajuato are a number of naturally mummified bodies interred during a cholera outbreak around Guanajuato, Mexico in 1833. These mummies were discovered in a cemetery located in Guanajuato, which has made the city one of the biggest tourist attractions in Mexico. All of these mummies were disinterred between 1865 and 1958, when the law required relatives to pay a tax in order to keep the bodies in the cemetery. If the relatives could not pay this tax, they would lose the right to the burial place, and the dead bodies were disinterred. Ninety percent of the bodies in the cemetery were disinterred because their relatives did not pay the tax. However, only 2% of them were naturally mummified. The mummified bodies were stored in a building and in the 1900s the mummies began attracting tourists. Cemetery workers began charging people a few pesos to enter the building where bones and mummies were stored. This place was turned into a museum called El Museo De Las Momias, The Mummies' Museum. A law prohibiting the disinterring of more mummies was passed in 1958, but this museum still exhibits the original mummies."