Alan Olee Book Report

Commentary on the Arts and Sciences

  • About
  • Poetry(?)
  • Rules

A Visit to Mount Graham

Posted by gregole on July 17, 2016
Posted in: Travel, Uncategorized. Tagged: Photography. 4 Comments

When I was a boy in elementary school, the classes were equipped with maps mounted on pedestals usually positioned off the to side of the classroom and the maps, I suppose they were more like map stands – with multiple maps in layers, were large enough to be used in instruction from the front of the class so they were actually large enough that important features like national borders, capitol cities and the like were easily seen by the kids in the class – even the kids in back.  So you could stare at these things from your little desk while the teacher was droning on and on and on about something or another.  I don’t remember much of what they said, but I would stare at those maps and dream of far-away places while waiting for the bell to ring and recess to begin.

Continue Reading

Advertisement

Herodotus Book IV – The Scythians

Posted by gregole on June 26, 2016
Posted in: High Culture, History. Tagged: Book Report. 1 Comment

 

Example of Scythian Gold Work Excavated from Southern Russia

http://spongobongo.com/her9710.htm

I’ve always had an interest – actually more of an intense fascination for far-away exotic peoples from long-ago.  One of those peoples exerting a draw to my curiosity are the so-called Scythians, an ancient wildly nomadic peoples located roughly north of the Persians in that vast expanse of land from the Danube river across the north shores of the Black Sea to the River Don in present day Russia.  A huge land expanse. Continue Reading

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and Kitt Peak

Posted by gregole on April 3, 2016
Posted in: Travel. Tagged: Photography. 4 Comments

I had a hankering for a genuine ‘Bertos-Style’ Burrito and decided this time, it had to be Humbertos in Gila Bend.  Period.

The One and Only Humbertos of Gila Bend, Arizona

Humbertos
Humbertos Menu

 

So to justify the journey, we planned a trip to Organ Pipe National Monument on the Arizona, Mexico border and on the way back up to Phoenix, we could detour along highway 86 through the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation and make a quick tour of Kitt Peak on our way back. Continue Reading

Return From the Devil’s Highway – the Trip Back

Posted by gregole on March 22, 2016
Posted in: Travel. Tagged: Photography. 1 Comment

We had stopped at quite a few places on the way up to Springerville, the end of our journey on US Highway 191; sometimes called “The Devil’s Highway” since it’s original Hwy number was 666, but people were stealing all the 666 signs so it was changed to 191.  If you keep following it, it eventually goes all the way up to Canada but our plan was to overnight it in Springerville and then return to Phoenix via Hwy 260 to 73 so as to loop around the Fort Apache Indian Reservation going through Whiteriver, Ft Apache, and finally meeting up with 60 and taking that back home.

But first I’d like to tell you a little about Springerville. Continue Reading

Cheese Filled Spherical Hamburgers – A Photo Essay

Posted by gregole on March 15, 2016
Posted in: Pop Culture. Tagged: Photography. 2 Comments

In honor of international Pi day (03-14-16 = 3.1416 = Pi to the ten-thousandths place) I am doing a Spherical Hamburger blog since many interesting properties of spheres can be calculated using the mathematical constant Pi:

Sphere where r = radius of sphere

By MarinaVladivostok – Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27570340 Continue Reading

Part 2 – Enter the Devil’s Highway

Posted by gregole on March 14, 2016
Posted in: Travel. 5 Comments
Pic 14 Morence Tunnel

Tunnel – Made Possible by the Miracle of Dynamite

When we last left our intrepid adventurers they were sipping Starbucks and, from a safe distance, checking out enormous mines. https://gregole.com/2016/03/08/devils-highway-roadtrip-part-1/

But time had come to Enter the Devil’s Highway… Continue Reading

Devil’s Highway Roadtrip Part 1

Posted by gregole on March 8, 2016
Posted in: Travel. 8 Comments

Look on a map of the State of Arizona and in the lower right hand (southeast) corner is a highway running north from Morenci to Springerville – Highway 191 and this approximately 90 mile stretch is the curviest road in the United States.  I’ve wanted to ride a motorcycle on this road since before I owned a motorcycle, and this last weekend made a reconnaissance in the SUV.  And now I’m here to tell you about it. Continue Reading

Ancient Greek Timeline

Posted by gregole on February 22, 2016
Posted in: History, Uncategorized. Tagged: ;, Book Report. 4 Comments

While working my way through a plan to continue and eventually complete my review of The Histories by Herodotus I started getting stuck on all the names and dates; the places, the battles, the people, the customs;  not to mention the architecture, the sculptures, the poetry, the dramas, the pottery.  Yes, even the pottery made history.  The Greeks were awesome!5th century, the parthenon, the acropolis, greek architecture, ancient greece, athena parthenos, athena the virgin

http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/ancient-greece/pictures/greek-architecture/the-parthenon-at-dusk-3 Continue Reading

Happy Valentine’s Day

Posted by gregole on February 15, 2016
Posted in: Poetry and Literature, Uncategorized. 1 Comment

Here’s a nice love-poem I found on poetryfoundation.org:

A Pity, We Were Such a Good Invention

 

Continue Reading

On the Manner of Addressing Clouds

Posted by gregole on February 2, 2016
Posted in: Poetry and Literature, Uncategorized. Tagged: Poetry. 1 Comment

In honor of an admittedly rare for Phoenix cool and cloudy day, I submit this short poem by Wallace Stevens:

On the Manner of Addressing Clouds Continue Reading

Posts navigation

← Older Entries
  • Follow Alan Olee Book Report on WordPress.com
  • Recent Posts

    • A Visit to Mount Graham
    • Herodotus Book IV – The Scythians
    • Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and Kitt Peak
    • Return From the Devil’s Highway – the Trip Back
    • Cheese Filled Spherical Hamburgers – A Photo Essay
  • Comments

    Justice on The One Mystery
    gregole on A Visit to Mount Graham
    leocassetti on A Visit to Mount Graham
    gregole on A Visit to Mount Graham
    lbnfr2 on A Visit to Mount Graham
Blog at WordPress.com.
Alan Olee Book Report
Blog at WordPress.com.
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Alan Olee Book Report
    • Join 68 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Alan Olee Book Report
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...