Still Gravity

Photo taken in 1862 when she was around 19 years old by the London photographer  Camille-Léon-Louis Silvy . Aina or Ina was born free in her Yorubaland in West Africa circa 1843, but at short age was captured by the army of the Kingdom of Dahomey and became a slave under  King Ghezo . She was reserved for a future sacrifice to the ancestors of the royal family - probably in the Annual Customs of Dahomey .  The destiny of the girl changed when King Ghezo gave her as a present to Captain Frederick E. Forbes of the British Royal Navy. Forbes took her to England and presented with the sad story of the girl, Queen Victoria supported her education. The African girl became a goddaughter of the Queen. Image of the African girl from the book of Captain Frederick E. Forbes, 1851.   Captain Frederick E. Forbes wrote about this in Dahomey and the Dahomans: The Journals of Two missions to t

Looks like someone put a brush to work on this bromeliad  - For photo licensing  go here .   That's what came to my mind the first time I saw one. It was like if someone painted the bromeliad with an intense red oil paint. This South American plant resembles a pineapple. They get this bright red when are ready to bloom - the fruit is orange. It's known as "heart of flame". Tropical colors, right? 

Wreck of the slave ship "Clotilda". Image from the book "Historic sketches of the South" written by Emma Langdon Roche, 1914 - the ship name spelling was mistaken in the publication.  Her name was Matilda McCrear and she came to America at age 2. The Yoruba girl was captured and enslaved with her mom and a sister by the army of the Kingdom of Dahomey .  Cudjoe Kazoola Lewis  recounted the Dahomey warriors raid to his town to  Emma Langdon Roche : They were aroused from slumber and in a few minutes death or captivity was upon them; even the infants were torn from their mothers' breasts and carried away. Those who were not killed were overpowered. Dahomey's Amazons vanquished the most stalwart men and bound them as captives. The Dahomeyans cut off the heads of their dead victims, leaving the bodies where they had fallen. The heads were to be taken home as evidence of individual valor and as trophies to be hung on the Dahomey huts. Little Matilda was transport

The pale blue beauty of the water lily  - For photo licensing  go here .  They are fresh, feminine, delicate, and bring a mood of relaxation, but don't be mistaken, looks are deceiving because all water lilies are poisonous.  These plants are in the family  Nymphaeaceae which groups many species. The name relates to nymph. You know, beautiful ladies or beautiful deities for the ancient Greeks. These lilies thrive in calm waters. Relaxing flowers. 

Illustration of Du Chaillu facing a gorilla in his book "In African Forest and Jungle". This book was published in 1903.  I've read two books from  Paul Du Chaillu . I didn't like them so much. Probably is the style of his writings. Too much first person - protagonism - compared to other books from the same period written by soldiers or Christian missionaries. Said that, the man traveled a lot through West Africa and some stories are interesting.    Paul Du Chaillu was a French that moved to the United States in 1852. He traveled with his father to West Africa and was educated by missionaries in Gabon .  Du Chaillu loved hunting and made money selling gorillas and other stuff to European museums. He also wrote books about Scandinavia - Vikings stuff.   I chose to read books in which he wrote about his encounters with Pigmies and gorillas - Du Chaillu was the first to confirm the existence of both in the 1800s.  Some excerpts and comments from the books follow. The Cou

Beautiful red pineapples in Florida - For photo licensing  go here .    These pineapples are on fire. What a contrast offers the intense red of the fruits. They are Ananas bracteatus , a nonnative species to North America that is quite popular for tropical gardens. Some say that it's edible, but we haven't tried.  Nature's art: The amazing details of the red pineapple. What a beautiful bromeliad.

Bank note of the invented Bank of Poyais signed by McGregor as "cazique" or chief of the country - Public Domain.   Scams are as old as humans, but this one is a good one from the early 1800s. The scammer was Gregor McGregor, a colorful Scottish man that jumped from British soldier to General in the army of Bolivar during the Venezuelan Independence War. If this was not enough, he also attacked Amelia Island and "founded" the  Republic of the Floridas  under his command.  On the scamming side, McGregor invented a colony in Central America called "Poyais" and went after the money of European investors and immigrants.  Did he get investors and immigrants? Sure. Some folks bought bonds of the Bank of Poyais and a couple of hundred moved to the colony to find a wild jungle and half of them their death. McGregor returned later to Venezuela. He died there and received an honorable funeral. Read the amazing story in this article .

Bokari the Kartan Guide, 1825 - Drawing from the book of Major William Grey. This is a book with a long title: Travels in Western Africa, in the years 1818, 19, 20, and 21, from the river Gambia , through Woolli, Bondoo ,  Galam , Kasson, Kaarta , and Foolidoo, to the river Niger .  ( This is the map  with the routes of the expedition.) The text was published in 1825 and the authors were Mayor William Gray and Staff Surgeon Dochard - Dochard died before the publication. The book covers the failed expedition to reach the Niger River and explore its course.  After the death of the expedition commander - Major John Peddie -, Captain William Grey and Staff Surgeon Dochard were appointed in charge. About this, Major Gray wrote in the Preface of the book: Warmed with those feelings, I felt an honourable pride in being entrusted with a command to explore the uncultivated regions of Western Africa. It was a task of peril, but the measure of danger was the measure of honour; and with a strong

A couple of Atlantic horseshoe crabs in the Florida Keys.   These creatures are old. Their forerunners have been around for 400 million years.  The weirdos have ten eyes, blue blood, and at the end, they are not even crabs. They are arthropods! Meaning that they are cousins of spiders and scorpions.  We crossed path with these two kayaking in the shallow waters of Key Largo.  Are they matting? Looks like this is the case because usually they are loners. But happens that the smaller males sometimes go on a ride on the female's back until she lays her eggs - in the picture the rider is smaller.  The scientific name of these "crabs" is Limulus polyphemus . I don't see the reason for the "Polyphemus" because the mythical Cyclops only had one eye according to the old tales. LOL. 

Vincas or periwinkles growing wild in a trail of Cape Florida state park in Key Biscayne - For photo licensing go here .  The common Madagascar periwinkle ( Vinca rosea  or  Catharanthus roseus ) is pretty and also poisonous - all parts of the plant are toxic. So much, that it's said that in its native Madagascar the plant was used to create a poisonous beverage for ordeal trials before they switched to the tangena .  Old books talk of these trials. One of them is,  The story of  Ida Pfeiffer and her travels in many lands .  The government of Madagascar has always been Draconian in its severity, and the penalty exacted for almost every offence is blood. Some of the unfortunates are burned; others are hurled over a high rock; others buried alive; others scalded to death with boiling water; others killed with the spear; others sewn up alive in mats, and left to perish of hunger and corruption; and others beheaded. Recourse is not unfrequently had to poison, which is used as a kind o

Hugh Clapperton painted by Gildon Manton - From Clapperton's journal published in 1828 . This is the journal of the second expedition of  Hugh Clapperton  to the interior of Africa published in 1828 under the name: Journal of a Second Expedition into the Interior of Africa from the Bight of Benin to Soccatoo . The journal covers until the point of Clapperton's death. The aftermath is described by  Richard Lander , who also brough back the Clapperton's journal to England - he was the only survivor.  Clapperton's first expedition was in 1824. The second one began a year later and also reached Sokoto - Sakkwato in the local language -, but this time he entered through the  Bight of Benin  and went through the Yoruba lands.  These were times of expansion for the  Sokoto Caliphate  - or Fulani Empire - and the religion of Islam through West Africa. Sokoto was at war with the  Bornu Empire  and Clapperton was stopped by  Muhammed Bello , the Second Caliph.  Hugh Clapperton 

The anhinga needs to dry its wings after diving for food. This is a common sight of the bird in Florida shores. Photo taken in Biscayne Bay - Check  this page  for  photo licensing.  The anhinga bird has many names:  Snakebird. Darter. American darter. Water turkey.  " Anhinga " comes from the language of an indigenous group from Brazil. The word means "devil bird" or "snake bird" - the neck and head sometimes look like a snake when they are swimming.  The long and flexible neck of the anhinga is confused with a water snake because the body of the bird remains submerged - photo taken in the Everglades.  These birds swim very well underwater. Plenty of them in Florida and its Everglades.  Anhinga nest with hungry babies claiming for food. They show their distinctive long necks - photo taken in the Everglades.  What about some photos of alligators now?

Round celestial bodies and eclipses. Page of "De sphaera mundi" written by Johannes de Sacrobosco circa the year 1230.   Before Copernicus we had De sphaera mundi or Textus de sphaera or De sphaera of  Johannes de Sacrobosco  - aka John of Holywood -, a text of the Middle Ages that carried Cecco d'Ascoli  to his dead by fire after obsessing with spheres.  An excerpt from Sacrobosco's text: THE EARTH A SPHERE. -- That the earth, too, is round is shown thus. The signs and stars do not rise and set the same for all men everywhere but rise and set sooner for those in the east than for those in the west; and of this there is no other cause than the bulge of the earth. Moreover, celestial phenomena evidence that they rise sooner for Orientals than for westerners. For one and the same eclipse of the moon which appears to us in the first hour of the night appears to Orientals about the third hour of the night, which proves that they had night and sunset before we did, of w

Beautiful Mysore raspberries in sunny South Florida - For photo licensing go here .  Raspberries are raspberries. They are good for us. Mysore raspberries ( Rubus niveus ) come from southern Asia. Edible plant with many spines to protect the precious fruits - double check my photo if you missed the spines. A curious thing is the origin of the name raspberry: The earliest recorded form of raspberry in English comes from the early 1500’s, but it wasn’t even called raspberry at that point. The word was raspis. Somewhere around the mid-1500’s, raspis started getting shortened to simply rasp. So our beloved raspberry has this whole secret past life we knew nothing about. Read more in this blog post . 

I tried to ID this fungus species with Google Lens and returned Kuehneromyces mutabilis .  We found this cluster of fungus growing over a palm tree stump.  They are edible if they really are  Kuehneromyces mutabilis.  But I wouldn't try them because this species can be easily confused with poisonous mushrooms - especially the deadly  Galerina marginata or funeral bell.  That's why I only take pictures of mushrooms and leave to the experts the picking of the edible ones.  This cluster of fungus is growing on the stump of a dead palm tree. They are important for forests in decomposing wood. Good recycling. 

Boloki man and his wife. Photo from the book "Among Congo Cannibals" of Reverend John H Weeks. The author wrote about this picture: "Notice the cicatrice on the man’s forehead and on the woman’s stomach. The brass ring round her neck in some cases weighs as much as 28 lbs. In her hand she is holding a paddle."   Reverend John H. Weeks lived in Africa from 1881 to 1911. The Baptist Missionary went to the Congo and after some years founded the mission station of Monsembe along the Congo River.  In the book  Among Congo Cannibals, he compiled his experiences living for 15 years among the Boloki people that lived by the Ruki River - the Ruki is a tributary of the Congo River. The name means "black" and was one of the sets used for the movie The African Queen .  John H. Weeks lived his first nine years in the city of San Salvador in today Angola - the city is known now as  M'banza-Kongo .  His local friends tried to scare him away from working with the Bol

After the C accident last year, I bought wildflowers seeds for a garden project . It came out good, and even brought butterflies.  This summer - surprise - we got unexpected newcomers with blue and white flowers.  Larkspur or delphinium?  - For photo licensing  go here .   We also got a version with white flowers.  It has been difficult to identify the new flowers because there are two different species that use "larkspur" as common name. One is  Delphinium , the other the Blue Larkspur with its genus  Consolida . I also read that the second one is a clade of the first one - meaning a descendent.  Still not sure. But anyway, the flowers are beautiful - they are also toxic. Don't try them. 

Chicken Key is a forested island in Biscayne Bay, Florida. There is a landing spot at the northern tip - left in this photo -, but there were signs forbidding to land. We saw many birds all around the island.  This trip happened eleven years ago. The small island is in the bay across Deering Estate . We launched from the small park at Deering Point - 1.5 miles away from the island.  We paddled around Chicken Key and saw manatees in the Cutler Channel by the northern tip. By the southern tip on the east side there were two sharks having a lunch - that part had a stronger current. One of them swam close to our kayak with the fin out of the water. They were small. Returning, we paddled close to Deering Estate. The whole trip was around 4 miles.  It's said that the Tequesta used Chicken Key for ceremonies and as a stop when fishing in the bay. There is also a tale about pirates and a treasure hidden in the island - all the islands of Florida have pirate tales and hidden treasures. Anot

Like this cute decoration says, the idea is to be back to being happy campers.  We're close to a year since C's accident . Slow recovery, but she's a lot better. She rides now a little over 5 miles on paved roads. Big accomplishment, even if still a far cry from her 15-25 range - keep going Viking girl!  We may be back to traveling and camping soon and also to blog posting from the cell phone - that's a pain. The plan is to sail next month if winds keep blowing our way.  In preparation, I checked the brakes of the pickup truck. Need to replace pads and rotors. Also found a damaged caliper - the old travels took a toll.  I ordered the parts because is better to fix all now by myself than later on the road. Also need to change the tires. They are at the end of their lives.  Expensive bills coming but living our lives the way we want is more important than money.  On the truck camper side: I made some mods because C can't sleep anymore on the raised bed. We will move t

Should we call it literature? Well, this is another topic. But anyway, we are here to share what is probably the shortest piece of flash fiction in Spanish language. A tale of just seven words.  The original version:  Cuando despertó, el dinosaurio todavía estaba allí. FIN Let's translate.  When (she/he) woke, the dinosaur still was there.  THE END (In the original version, the genre of the protagonist is undefined.) "The Dinosaur" is open to many readings. The limits are the reader's imagination: Who did wake up? Why was the dinosaur there? What happened before the person - or no person - felt sleep?  And maybe, it was just a tiny dinosaur like this one  we met hiking in Palo Duro Canyon.      A few words with a big story behind.    Extra: Many short stories from Augusto Monterroso in this page  - in Spanish.

Advertising of cigars including the brand "Cubanola" in the newspaper "The Evening World", May 23, 1902 - Source: Library of Congress. This newspaper was published in New York and the owner was the famous journalist  Joseph Pulitzer .        I found  this picture  in a travel blog. It shows a wall ad from an old brand of Cuban cigars in Radford, Virginia.  Curiously, I found that Cubanola cigars were made in factories of the United States. According to the previous advertisement, it was among the best sellers of the world and the best part was the price. 5 cents? - does anyone still use cents?  Old prices. Old economy.

The entrance to the Dahomey Village in the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 - Image from the book "Official Views Of The World's Columbian Exposition" published in the same year.  Well, it wasn't a permanent village, it lasted for the six months of the Chicago World's Fair or World's Columbian Exposition of 1893.  This world fair was famous for many things: its neoclassical architecture, the gigantic pool with replicas of Columbus' ships, displays of technological advances, and in the dark side, the assassination of the mayor of Chicago and a tragic fire caused by the "Greatest Refrigerator on Earth" - 12 firemen and 4 employees lost their lives. On the cultural area, the Chicago World's Fair brought people and cultures from 46 countries. Among them, the dancer "Little Egypt" with its " hoochie coochie ", the Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show that settled on the sidelines, and a "village" concept representing man