Visualize!

February 29, 2008 by 10 Comments

Coastal Dreaming © 2008 Bo Mackison

If you think you are cold, you are. If you think you are warm, you are warm. All you have to do is ask, and the world conspires to give you what you ask for. Right? Hmm.Maybe the world hasn’t been listening too well. I quit asking for cold and snow months ago, but I don’t think the world heard me. I’m still wearing long underwear 24/7 and I have developed a deep and personal relationship with my snowblower.

Anyone else feeling ignored out there in blog land? Rumor has it that the Leap Day Fairy is willing to leap tall buildings in order to bring joy into our days. When I called her on our behalf, however, she informed me, “No one, not even wonderful me, messes with Mother Nature.”

I knew that.

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Temple of the Columns

January 11, 2008 by 6 Comments

Mayan Ruins © 2008 Bo Mackison

The Mayan ruins at Tulum, Mexico.

The House of the Columns is more complex than most structures at the site. It’s a palace-like structure with four rooms whose principal entrance faces South. Six columns support the roof of the main room and there’s also a roofed sanctuary with altars. Mayans did perform live human sacrifices to their gods with willing volunteers. (Anyone up for a nice volunteer job?)

All of Tulum’s buildings were open to the public until 9 years ago. They were closed at that time due to problems with graffiti despoilation on the interior walls done by stupid people.

These renowned archeological sites were constructed in the classic era between 650 AD and 1450 AD; most of the remaining structures are dated from 1250 to 1450 AD. Until the 16th century, they were inhabited towns. Then the Europeans came. The Spanish conquered the Mayans in 1518, bringing to the Mayans devastating Old World diseases. By 1521, the Mayans had abruptly abandoned their way of life in Tulum and other sites in Mexico, and they disappeared in a short period of time.

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Iguana Sky

January 10, 2008 by 10 Comments

Iguana Sky © 2008 Bo Mackison

Iguana checking the sky while perched on the top of the wall that surrounds the ancient city of Tulum, a Mayan ceremonial and residential community in Mexico.

The walls are 7 feet wide, plenty of stone to keep Mayan enemies at bay, and space enough for an extended family of iguanas to sun themselves.

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