Something Encouraging from the Middle East

I ran across this on YouTube and I found it encouraging. Since encouragement is something we can all use, I thought I would share...

 

 

 

 

Despite how things sometimes appear on TV, the world is not all about religion and politics and fighting. Sometimes people just want to rock out together.

 

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K

 

PS - After writing this I returned to the video, read the description and went to the user's channel. I found that this video was posted on the Official YouTube Channel of the State of Israel. Does that make it some kind of propaganda? I don't know... still just seems like a nice story to me. I find it curious though, that as soon as I figured out that it was posted by a government (any government) I became suspicious of motive. That sucks. Hey, look at me: I went from encouraged to bummed out by my own cynicism, all in one short blog post. Maybe that's why I generally stick to bikes and trees...

TARATS is OVER.

At least according to Darin in Minnesota:

Dear Mr. Ick Mr. Wick Patrick,

You can end the contest now, we have a winner.

I came across this beautiful Tamarack five miles north of my house just outside of Duluth.

Last year, I tried to garner enough votes to win by including my dog in my picture. That didn't quite push me over the top, so this year the dog is out and the bike is in.

In case that's not enough, I even arranged to have a bald eagle flying in the background. Minnesota is now represented.

Did I mention the contest is over?

Hope all is well,

Darin

Visit the entrants page to see the trees this one is up against, including a nearby tree in Wisconsin. I bet those two trees HATE each other, man. Good thing they are rooted in the earth; limbs would fly for sure.

I must say I thoroughly enjoyed the tone of this email, since this is a SMACKDOWN. Thanks for getting into the spirit, Darin. That Tamarack is a beauty, for sure, and a bonus bald eagle is pretty stinkin' good too.

It is my sincere hope that some of you beg to differ with Darin about this tree being the winner, such that you send in your own tree for comparison. To those of you who have already entered, many thanks. The deadline remains 11:59 PM Eastern on December 15, 2012.

Apologies for being absent again lately; life trumps blog, blah blah blah. I'm pleased to be able to post again and hope to make some more regular updates.

Yer Pal,

 Mr. I C K

Ham from France - Ooh la la!

Ham of London Daily Photo has sent in an entry from the Dordogne in France! I hope my post title was sufficiently misleading.

 

No email for this one, he used a comment and a link to this post. Works for me. Thanks, Ham! This smackdown promises to be the most international so far, which rocks so hard I can't barely stand it!

 

I've got some kind of heavy stuff going on that will make me pretty scarce over the next few days at least, so if you comment or submit an entry with no immediate result, don't sweat it and stay tuned... I shall return.

 

 

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K