Just for fun

4 March 2006

The Cow of the Independence

I just had to laugh when I saw the Poulettes posting pictures of cows in Mexico City. The fiberglass creations represent mainly Mexican culture and were sponsored by local companies.

Of course, here in Calgary we did the same thing (and Calgary wasn’t the only other city – but since Calgary is nicknamed "Cow Town" it perhaps makes the most sense here!).

The cows were displayed all over the city a few years ago and auctioned off to raise money for charity. However, some of the cows are still on display. When we went to the Calgary airport to head to Mexico City and back, we saw one of the cows dutifully painting a mural on an outdoor wall.

So, in yet another illustration of how Calgary and Mexico are alike, I encourage you to go and see some of our cows. Here are some photos of the cows in Calgary, and another set with some even better cows from Calgary.

Now, head on over to see Poulettes’ post about their day in Mexico City, and don’t miss clicking over to their Flickr photos. The "Vaca de la Independencia" (Cow of the Independance) to the right is from their collection, a take-of of a famous monument in Mexico City.

26 February 2006

Nathanael’s playtime

Nathanael Family, Just for fun, Video Blogs 0

[Note from the camera-man: This is a longer video, for serious Nathanael-fans only. This is a few minutes of a random playtime in the evening (when he’s slowed down enough to video!). For some reason, Nathanael likes to put things on his head, pretend they’re party hats and sing Happy Birthday, so watch for that. If you’re up for a challenge, here are two: 1) See how many toys you can see, and how many he actually touches. 2) See If you can hear him say the words below.]

all done * blanket * book * bookmark * cheese * clean * garbage * gate * happy birthday to you * messy * mommy * no * ow * teeter totter * teeth * walk

17 February 2006

Our language school (from space)

Jim Computers and internet, Just for fun, Mexico, Ministry glimpses 0

When we first move to Mexico, we’re going to be spending time in ministry and study in Cuernavaca. Would you like to see our language school? Well, thanks to the wonders of satellite imagery you now can!

The Universidad Internacional is actually a series of buildings going up and down the street. You can see the area in the photo below, but if you want a closer up view click on the photo to go to our photo album. There you’ll be able to see it full size.

Better yet, if you have your own copy of Google Earth (free Google Earth download) you can download the locations of the UI buildings, plus links to pictures of each building! If you use the Google Earth file, you’ll be able to zoom out and see the interesting layout of the city. You can see to the west of the school the “fingers” (green, deep valleys) that split up the city. Here’s the file: Universidad Internacional for Google Earth

Someone else has created a Google Earth file of many of the main buildings in Cuernavaca. Check here for the Cuernavaca file.

There were some pictures of our language school in our August 2005 newsletter, and they’re online in our gallery – language school 1 and language school 2. These were both taken in the main area of the language school (buildings 1-9), not far from where you’ll see the marker in Google Earth.

3 January 2006

Snowflakes

Jim Just for fun 0

We haven’t seen a lot of snow around here lately. But there was a day when a few came down, and they were those perfect snowflakes that you could study on your sleeve or on the windshield. Truly amazing!

This Christmas, the kids and I gave Shari this book on snowflakes. We have a bit of a snowflake theme going on at home right now, and we thought it would be neat to have this book when we’re in a country that doesn’t see much snow.

If you’re interested in getting a closer look at this little part of God’s creation, this book is a great way to do it. Did you know that different types of snowflakes are formed at different temperatures? Did you know that snowflakes can have various numbers of points, but never 8, 7, 5 or 4?

This is all very well, but the most amazing thing about the book is the pages and pages of photos. Amazing! Every snowflake is a different ice sculpture, so delicate it could never be made by hand. And yet symmetrical yet unique in its artistry. I never realized that looking at ice crystals could be such an experience of worship!

Click on the picture of the book to the right to learn more about the book itself. You can get a taste of what’s in the book by visiting the amazing SnowCrystals.com website. As in the book, there are activities, snowflake watching tips, photos and history of the study of snowflakes. Enjoy! And consider getting the book itself – it’s worth it.

24 December 2005

Cottrill ‘toons

Jim Family, Just for fun 0

Ok, so I’m not going to win any art awards, but surely you can tell which one of us is which. Just for fun I made some desktop wallpaper out of these little pictures. Check it out!

Merry Christmas from the Cottrills!

21 December 2005

If you like animals…

Jim Computers and internet, Family, Just for fun 0

We just enjoyed a visit from Grandpa and Grandma Cottrill. We celebrated an early Christmas, and tonight we even went for a swim.

Grandma Cottrill is an animal lover, so here are a few links in her honour. These are the kind of links you’re likely to see in our Random Link of the Moment (as soon on our home page and other pages too). But this time, I thought I’d introduce a few in my blog.

First, here’s a fairly new blog site that is rapidly becoming very popular on the net – check out Cute Overload 😉 for really cute animal pictures – yikes!

Next, check out the video of this rather intelligent parrot – Einstein, as seen on Animal Planet.

Make your own weird and wonderful animals at SwitchZoo.

Finally, some of my favourite animal photos from our own photo album –