For The Past Few Days,

we have been experiencing torrential storms,

with a few roads flooded, but what I thought was a badly flooded road yesterday, pails into insignificance when I saw this, 

a skilled driver with a truck full of passengers expertly navigated the famous Besisahar-Chamé Road in the Manang District of Nepal, this road, which is known as one of the most dangerous in the world, it sits high in the mountains and particularly during rainy season, is surrounded by giant waterfalls that cover the roadway, I was not even there and I was terrified the truck would be washed off of the road, but the passengers seemed to just take the journey as a normal commute, scary dairy indeed!

Over The Years,

I have seen many bobbers,

 in case you are not aware of the term bobber was originally called a 'bob-job' from the 1930s through 1990s, it is a style of custom motorcycle, the typical construction includes stripping excess bodywork from a motorcycle, removing the front mudguard, and shortening the rear one, which is "bobbed" (as in bob-tail), and all superfluous parts removed to reduce weight, 

 but this is the first time I have seen a BMW bobbed,

 and not any old BMW, well actually it was old, as it is a R50/5, made from 1969 to 1973, for the techincal, claimed power is 32hp @ 6,400rpm, top speed: 97mph (est.), with it's 498cc air-cooled OHV flat twin engine, transmission is through a 4-speed, shaft final drive, 

well a client contacted Rome’s Emporio Elaborazioni Meccaniche and asked them to start with a clean sheet of paper and make a bobber, and this is the result, 

stunning, the paint work alone has to be seen to be believed and the attention to detail, for instance the brass fittings, are works of art in themselves, if you want to see more of the workshop have a look at their Facebook page, photgraphy by Fabrizio Porrozzi,

as an aside this is what the original R50/5 looked like when new.

What A Stunning Photograph,

and I am not the only one to think so,

this picture by photographer Marcio Cabral won the prestigious 2017 "Animals in Their Environment" category that was held by the Natural History Museum in London, it was a night shot of a glowing termite tower with an anteater, taken with a 30-second exposure at Brazil's Emas National Park, it has everything going for it, stars, and if you look carefully shooting stars, glowing termites and an anteater, Marcio had been visiting the National Park for three years waiting for the right conditions to capture the glowing termite mounds, the entry reads, "After days frustrated by rain, he was in for a surprise, a giant anteater ambled out of the darkness" and stayed just long enough for Marcio to take a single picture, using a long exposure and flash to highlight his unexpected companion." but then some one commented, how do you get an anteater that is feeding to stay still for a 30 second exposure? then someone else noticed the resemblance of the anteater to a taxidermy anteater on display at the park's entrance,

and this is it, now I will not comment on the validity of the picture, but the picture has been disqualified after a thorough investigation, for the full story have a look here.

Normally You Paint Or Draw On Paper,

but this artist uses paper as her medium,

 UK-based paper artist Lisa Lloyd builds all manner of natural of birds, floral arrangements, insects and still life, 

 from multi-colored layers of precisely cut paper,

her works are most often inspired by naturally occurring colors and patterns, which is apparent in the geometric shapes and layered textures found in her works’ feathers, scales, and wings,

 recently two of her creations were featured at Milan Design Week as a part of a Wunderkammer curated by CASAfacile magazine,

You can see more of Lloyd’s paper sculptures and design work for brands such as Asahi, Elle Decor Italia, Grolsch, Disney, and the BBC on her Instagram page, what amazing pieces of art, all from a few scraps of coloured paper.

For Some Reason,

We Still cannot view our favorite news paper online,

 so off to the Punch and Judy, to read the hard copy there, and have a few cups of their delicious coffee,

 we watched some television during the afternoon,

 then in the evening we were out,

 to the Royal Cliff Beach Hotel,

 Barry had kindly called by to give us a lift, 

 tonight we were eating in the Maharani Indian restaurant,

 all set and ready to order,

 the restaurant had been redecorated since our last visit,

 Diana as beautiful as ever,

 for starters, onion bhajees, 

 next our main courses, peas pulao rice,

 chicken tikka masala,

 and chicken dhansak,

 we both had a portion of rice and there was still plenty left, if you do decide to try a meal here the portions are generous, one rice was enough for three people!

 'Cheers!', from all of us,

 both Barry and myself were full, but Diana had to try an Indian dessert, and here it is, a fabulous meal for all of us,

Barry kindly dropped us off home, then it was feet up for some more of season 3 of Cheers, next a nightcap and we were off to bed.

At School,

I was taught that helium,

was one of the five, or now six inert, or noble gases, that is that it could not be combined with other chemicals, but I now find that piece of information was incorrect, in a major way, many of us know helium as a lighter than air gas, used for floating airships and party balloons, also if inhaled it can dramatically change the tone of your voice, but above is the helium I did not know about, until today, and far from being a fun gas it is now the most acidic of all acids known to man, (and women), phew! nearly committed a PC gaff, behold helium hydride, as it is little known, 

but it is so important because any change in the behaviour of helium hydride in the early years of the universe could mean tearing up our present models of how stars and galaxies formed, the creation of helium hydride, is thought to have taken place between the three minute and twenty minute marks in the history of the universe, that is in the first couple of minutes after the Big Bang, 13.7 billion years ago, so it looks like it will be back to school for me and relearn that some noble gases are not noble!

Many Of Us Will Be Familiar,

with the work of M.C. Escher,

 some of the works that he has drawn magically metamorphosis from one form into another,

in others impossible buildings are created to fool the eye,

the good news if you are a fan of his is that Japanese design studio Nendo will create an immersive environment for more than 160 prints and drawings by Dutch artist M C Escher at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne this December, called Between Two Worlds | Escher X Nendo, the exhibition will present MC Escher's prints and drawings, created between 1916 and 1969, inside an environment that plays with geometry, space and perception, would I like to go there? absolutely!