Gardens, Travel, Volleyball Rules & More!

The Sandpiper newsletter is on-line! Go to http://www.sandpipersresort.com/ , click on news and enter the passwords. What! You can't remember them? Oh, all right. Shoot me a quick email (look over to the left-that's my email) and I'll shoot them right back to you.

In the newsletter, which by the way, has a new name, I profiled a plant that is blooming at this time of year. Kalanchoe. Pronounced Kay-lan-co-ee. And many other ways, I'm sure.

It's a great plant for our gardens here at Sandpipers. Looks good all year. Looks GREAT this time of year.

Here are some pictures from my garden, including one of an Angel Trumpet tree.

It's very dramatic when in bloom, and smells great. While Angel Trumpet gets big and can be messy...I mean, look at the size

of those flowers, will 'ya!...Kalanchoe stays small and manageable.

And it's showy...even in summer the succulent leaves turn reddish in the sun.**********************

News from the jungles of the Yucatan! from Dr. Bob & Catherine.

We have been in the Yucatan jungle and sleeping in the van/camping in order to visit some of the Rio Bec Culture ruins where there are absolutely no modern accommodations.

The first picture is from the Coba Ruins inland from Tulum and south of Playa del Carmen. It shows Catherine and Bob standing in front of the Nohoch Mul Pyramid which stands some 42 meters/137.76 feet tall. Coba is a fairly old Mayan city founded in 600 AD and is at a crossroads of forty "sacbes", or sacred roads similar to the Nasca Lines. Its architecture is very similar to that of Tikal and suggests inter-marriage of its leaders with Tikal women of royalty...hence the "Queens of Coba" shown on stelae were apparently quite powerful and are always shown standing on top of captured warriors.

The second picture shows Catherine about to be eaten while standing in the mouth of Itzamna in his temple in Chicanna Ruins between the modern cities of Chetumal and Escarcega near the Belizian border.

The third picture shows a model of the same temple on display in the Museum of Mayan Culture in Chetumal. Itzamna is the main god of the underworld and somewhat similar to Pluto/Hades/Lucifer. Hence the doorway in which Catherine is standing was considered the entrance to the underworld. Legend has it that people and priests would sleep in this temple to make contact with departed souls thought to be residing in the underworld.

The forth picture shows Bob standing in a "corbel arch" a ways up in the western-most tower of Structure I at Xpujil. This perch was reached by climbing a secret stairway laid into the stones inside the tower. The fifth picture shows a model of the same structure from the Chetumal Museum of Mayan Culture. The towers originally reached almost 60 feet high and had "combs" on top of the towers. The front of the towers had what appears at first sight to be stair-steps but which are far too steep and narrow to actually be climbed and were placed there merely to give the appearance of steps while conserving "foot-print" space...kind of compressing a full-sized pyramid into a very impressive structure just as high but with a smaller base and using less building materials. Pretty smart, efficient and still very impressive even today.

We are presently in a hotel in Vega del Atorre, just south of Poza Rica, with hot water,

a shower, a restaurant and Internet. We plan to make our way to San Miguel de Allende

to visit Harper for a few days and then work our way back home.

More stories when we return. See you all shortly.

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Revised 2 on 2 Water Volleyball Rules for the Olympics

by Bob W. #34

Sandpiper’s jungle water volleyball rules apply with the following exceptions:

Sign up and show up as an individual.

Teams will consist of two people who will play on a reduced sized court.

Teams will be chosen to equalize height and sex at the beginning of the event.

If you are NOT there at the beginning of the event, you are NOT on a team,

and you are NOT in the tournament.

The server must serve to the back player of the opposing team.

NO CHEAP SHOT, SLIMY SERVES.

The “five in a row” rule changes to “three in a row” for a serve change over.

The game is to 5 points, and a team must win by 2 points.

The format for the tournament is double elimination.

BE THERE AND BE SQUARE.

Six teams will be in the water, two teams playing,

two teams ready to play, and two keeping the score.

The games will go quick and the next teams should be ready to play!

FANS.

The teams will be named after provinces/states/commonwealths.

Everyone around the pool with any association to that

state/commonwealth/province (i.e. residence, former residence, family,

summer camp, alimony awarded in, etc) is expected to stand behind their team

to cheer them on and jeer their opponents.

Outrageous activities such as mooning your asses, jiggling your boobs, and waving your noodles, THE MULTICOLORED POOL NOODLES,

are encouraged.

Best fans will be given special awards at the award ceremonies.

THE WORD IS FUN!
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This list of proud Canadian moments and traits is from Alan. I have had it for a little while waiting for the correct moment, then today, as I read the Sandpiper Sun, I found a tantalizing tidbit...something about, "Hold onto this, you may win prizes." So to give you a head start, here is the list of Why it's Better to be Canadian.

CANADIAN ehSo, What Do Canadians Have To Be Proud Of ?

1. Smarties

2. Crispy Crunch, Coffee Crisp

3. The size of our footballs fields, one less down, and bigger balls.

4. Baseball is Canadian - First game June 4, 1838 - Ingersoll , ON

5. Lacrosse is Canadian

6. Hockey is Canadian

7. Basketball is Canadian

8. Apple pie is Canadian

9. Mr. Dress-up beats Mr. Rogers

10. Tim Hortons beats Dunkin' Donuts

11. In the war of 1812, started by America, Canadians pushed the Americans back Past their 'White House'. Then we burned it...and most of Washington. We got bored. Because they ran away, so we came home and partied...Go figure.

12. Canada has the largest French population that never surrendered to Germany

13. We have the largest English population that never ever surrendered or withdrew during any war to anyone, anywhere. EVER.

14. Our civil war was fought in a bar and it lasted a little over an hour.

15. The only person who was arrested in our civil war was an American mercenary, who slept in and missed the whole thing...but showed up just in time to get caught.

16. A Canadian invented Standard Time.

17. The Hudson Bay Company once owned over 10 % of the earth's surface and is still around as the world's oldest company.

18. The average dog sled team can kill and devour a full grown human in under 3 minutes.

19. We still know what to do with all the parts of a buffalo.

20. We don't marry our kin-folk.

21. We invented the ski-doo, jet-skis, Velcro, zippers, insulin, penicillin, the zamboni, the telephone and, short wave radios that save countless lives each year.

22. We ALL have frozen our tongues to something metal and lived to tell about it.

23. A Canadian invented Superman.

24. We have coloured money.

25. Our beer advertisements kick ass.

BUT MOST IMPORTANT!

24. The handles on our beer cases are big enough to fit your hands with mitts on.

OOOoohhhhh Canada !!

25. And we don't bomb our allies. Oh yeah... And our elections only take one day.