Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Museums are not America’s attic for its racist shit.

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

I really should read my own blog.

No one could have predicted…

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

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Open Thread

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On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.

From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.

Submit Your Photos

RedKitten, Cape Breton.

cape-breton

Royston Vasey, Lake Wairarapa At Dawn.

lake-wairarapa-at-dawn

Email me a link to your one or two favorite pics on a photo site like Flickr (do not send the image itself please) and I will put up favorites in open threads. Send a short caption if you want one.

Reader Interactions

27Comments

  3. 3.

    inkadu

    Whatever beautiful vistas may enter my eyes at dawn will be canceled out by that feeling of nausea I always get when I wake up so early.

    @FPN: Do you have a mail client enabled? Anyway, if it’s still not working, his e-mail address is exactly what you’d expect it to be for someone named John Cole who ran his own server at balloon-juice.com. Just drop a period between the “hn” and the “Co”.

    Ha! We’re so much smarter than spam web-bots.

    Also… when did good cheddar cheese become so damn expensive? I used to live on the stuff; now I have to switch to something less expensive like Wild Salmon.

  4. 4.

    Violet

    Yeah, can someone provide the actual email addresses for you guys? Just spell them out so they doesn’t get harvested for spam. Like John dot cole at…. or whatever the email address is.

    The way the links are configured now, they require that you open some mail client, like Outlook. I do my email online and in situations like this I just copy the email address and paste it into my online account. I can’t seem do this with the javascipt link here. The email address isn’t available when I copy/paste.

    Can someone make it available for those of us who aren’t using a mail client? Or, is there something I’m missing to find the email address?

  6. 6.

    inkadu

    @Violet: If you are using Firefox and Googlemail or Yahoomail…

    Go to Tools… Options… Applications… Then scroll down the left column until you find, “mailto”. Then select Gmail or Yahoo on the right side.

    Otherwise, I think you’ll have to quickly set up a mail client (which is probably already installed) just to grab the address.

  7. 7.

    fred

    How about giving us the locations of these beautiful photographs? Cape Breton and Lake Wairarapa At Dawn need to have the city and state or some kind of identifier please. I live in Florida and have no idea where either of those beautiful locations is. Thanks so much.

  11. 11.

    Svensker

    Lake Wairarapa at Dawn is soul healing. Just beautiful. Especially like the yin/yang of the ever lighter sky with the ever darker water.

  12. 12.

    psychobroad

    Wasn’t it redkitten who had the adorable baby not too long ago? Any chance of new pictures?

  13. 13.

    Violet

    @inkadu:
    Thank you for this. I’ll try it and see if it works. So far it isn’t…

    Do the mail javascript thingies work for people using Iphones, etc?

    Forgot to mention the photos – love them both. I really love this feature.

  15. 15.

    licensed to kill time

    The planet earth is an exceedingly beautiful place. These pictures demonstrate that exceedingly well. Thank you.

  17. 17.

    Elie

    Thanks so much. I needed this minute of psychological and spiritual respite. Both are wonderful and I went to both

  18. 18.

    RedKitten

    @psychobroad: Yep, just click my name and it’ll bring you to a Flickr account with photos of him. I didn’t want to deluge John with photos of my kid to frontpage— I don’t delude myself into thinking that everybody is perpetually enthralled by my child. So this way, those who are interested can check out new pics anytime.

    And if anybody has the chance to go to Cape Breton, GO. It’s absurdly gorgeous there. That photo was taken with my crappy little Canon Powershot, so I can only imagine the pictures that could be taken by someone with skills and a good camera.

  19. 19.

    IanY77

    Redkitten:

    Been up and down the Cabot Trail a few times. It’s a great weekend or so away from civilization, And the locals are the nicest people this side of Newfoundland. There are some amazing B&B’s along the way.

    We stayed at a great B&B owned by a German couple. As long as you don’t mention the war, it’s very nice ;) . It has a chessboard outside with 4 foot tall pieces. Great spot. Wish I could remember the name.

  20. 20.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @RedKitten:

    I don’t delude myself into thinking that everybody is perpetually enthralled by my child.

    Well, yeah, but a lot of us are. Personally, I’m besotted by Sam. Also, ensorcelled.

    I drove all over Cape Breton about a year and a half ago, including along the Cabot Trail and all through the provincial park. It was May and the trees — for miles and miles and MILES — were coated in thick snow. Glorious, and just a bit spooky. But mostly glorious. I did the Trail clockwise. Next time, I’m going to start at the other end.

  21. 21.

    RedKitten

    @IanY77: That would be Haus Treuburg , which is in Port Hood. We drove past there, but had stayed in Port Hastings our first night (as it’s only 4 hours away from us, and we left right after work), and then in Ingonish the second night. I definitely want to go back again sometime soon.
    @SiubhanDuinne: Starting at the other end is a bit more of a nerve-wracking drive, evidently. Especially around the Cape Smokey area, where you have all those switchbacks going up the mountain.

    And you would not have been ensorcelled by Sam tonight. I have no idea what got into him, but right after I put on his jammies he started to cry, and then wail, and then shriek inconsolably. He wasn’t hungry, he wasn’t wet, he didn’t need to burp — I had no idea what to do with the poor little guy, as he screamed with tears rolling down his face. Finally, in desperation, I told my hubby to fill Sam’s tub, and we plunked him into a warm bath. Worked a treat. Go figure. I still have no idea what was wrong, but at least we got him calmed down.

  23. 23.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @RedKitten

    Oh, poor little Sam. Did he haz *another* sad?

    I seem to recall those switchbacks as being plenty nerve-wracking, even if I *was* going the easy way. But next time, whichever direction I go, I’m going to allow more time. When I was there in May ’07 I was working and had very little time to dawdle. Now I know better.

  26. 26.

    Phoenician in a time of Romans

    As Vasey points out, it’s in the south of the Wairarapa, which is a large farming area just over a range of hills from Wellington, New Zealand. The best way to see it would be to rent a car from Wellington, and head over the hills to Featherston and beyond. If you do this, you should also make a point of visiting Martinborough.

    Alternatively, if you bike, you can catch a train from Wellington to Featherston (with free baggage for bikes) and bike around the area, which is reasonably flat. If you’re a masochist, you can even bike from the Wellington area to Featherston via the Rimutaka Rail Trail.

    IMHO, the Lake Taupo area or the Otago Rail Trail would be better. But it’s not as if we can’t find *something* around the country that would appeal 8-)

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