Footle and Grok

I am continuing down a geographic rabbit hole.

We’re all mostly stuck at home, so I thought I would go traveling with my blog. Each day this week, I’m going to explore a different continent. There are now eight continents, but I’m going to cover the traditional seven. Perhaps later, I’ll explain why we added another one.

Today we are traveling to the continent that butts up against the European continent, Asia. I hope to visit China for my 50th birthday, but I’d love to visit other parts of Asia, too.

I’m getting my information from kids-world-travel-guide.com. Let’s explore!

Asia Facts:

• Asia is the largest continent in both area and population with 4.4 billion people
• There are 48 recognized countries in Asia. Russia and Turkey are also located in the European continent
• Russia is the largest country in Asia by area even though 40% of the country is found on the European continent
• China is the largest country by population
• The Maldives is the smallest country in Asia and is made up of over 1100 islands
• The biggest island in Asia is Borneo
• Tokyo, Japan is the most populous city with 38 million people
• The highest point in Asia is Mount Everest. At 29,035 feet, it is the tallest mountain in the world
• The Dead Sea at 1,401 feet below sea level is not only the lowest point in Asia but is the lowest point in the world
• The most visited city in Asia is Hong Kong
• Indonesia is the only country in Asia that is located entirely in the southern hemisphere

I am continuing down a geographic rabbit hole.

We’re all mostly stuck at home, so I thought I would go traveling with my blog. Each day this week, I’m going to explore a different continent. There are now eight continents, but I’m going to cover the traditional seven. Perhaps later, I’ll explain why we added another one.

Today we are traveling across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe, a continent I desperately want to explore. I’ve been to England, Wales, and Holland, but I want to visit every country.

I’m getting my information from kids-world-travel-guide.com. I know a lot more about the history of Europe than the geography, so I learned a lot from this list. Let’s explore!

Europe Facts:

• Europe is the second smallest continent in area and the third largest in population with 742 million people. It has the highest population density
• There are 50 countries in Europe and 27 of them belong to the European Union (EU)
• Only 44 of the countries in Europe have their capital city on the European continent
• The entire continent is above the equator
• While Russia covers land on both the European and Asian continents, the European part of Russia covers more area on the continent than any other county. The second is Ukraine, and the third-largest is France
• The smallest country in both population and size, not only in Europe but in the world, is Vatican City.
• Istanbul, Turkey is the largest city with 15 million people. However, part of Istanbul is in Asia, so Moscow, Russia with 13 million people is the largest city that is entirely on the European continent
• The biggest island that is part of the European Continent is Great Britain
• The smallest town, in not only Europe but the world, is Hum, Croatia with 21 people.
• The northernmost capital city on both the European continent and in the world is Reykjavík in Iceland
• There are 18 landlocked countries in Europe. The largest is Kazakhstan.
• Liechtenstein is double landlocked because this landlocked country is surrounded by countries that are also landlocked
• The highest point in Europe is Mount Elbrus in Russia (18,510 feet) in the Caucasus mountain range
• The lowest point is the Caspian Sea at 92 feet below sea level
• The biggest lake is Lake Ladoga near Saint Petersburg, Russia
• The most visited country is France, and the most visited place is the Louvre Museum

I am continuing down a geographic rabbit hole.

We’re all mostly stuck at home, so I thought I would go traveling with my blog. Each day this week, I’m going to explore a different continent. There are now eight continents, but I’m going to cover the traditional seven. Perhaps later, I’ll explain why we added another one.

Today we are traveling to South America. When I took a Spanish class a few years ago (or twenty), I really wanted to visit Argentina. Now I just want to see penguins, which I can do in Chile. I’m getting my information from kids-world-travel-guide.com. I know almost nothing about our adjacent continent, so I enjoyed making this list. Let’s explore!

South America Facts:

• South American is the fourth largest continent in area and the fifth largest in population with 385 million people
• There are twelve countries in South America, and four of them are entirely north of the equator
• Brazil is the largest country and covers more than half of the continent’s area. It is only slightly smaller than the United States
• The smallest country is Suriname, located in the northeast corner of the continent. It has a population of 575,000
• The largest city is Sao Paolo in Brazil. It has a population of more than 21 million people and is one of the ten biggest cities in the world
• Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of Argentina and Chile is the biggest island
• The highest spot is Aconcagua in Argentina. This mountain is 22,837 feet tall and located int he Andes mountain range, which is the longest mountain range in the world
• The lowest spot is the salt lake Laguna del Carbón in Argentina. it is 344 feet below sea level and is also the lowest spot in the Western Hemisphere
• The biggest lake is Lake Titicaca that is both in Bolivia and Peru. (I have to include this cute song from Animaniacs. You’ll never forget Lake Titicaca after hearing it)
• The driest place both in South America and on Earth is the Atacama desert in Chile. Overall, it gets about a half an inch of rain a year, but some recording stations have never recorded any
• Paraguay and Bolivia are both landlocked in the interior of the continent.
• While Machu Picchu is the most recognizable landmark in South America, Buenos Aires is the most popular place to visit, possibly because it is a lot easier to reach

I fell into a fascinating rabbit hole.

We’re all stuck at home, so I thought I would go traveling with my blog. Each day this week, I’m going to explore a different continent. There are now eight continents, but I’m going to cover the traditional seven. Perhaps later, I’ll explain why we added another one.

Let’s start with North America since it is where I live. I’m getting my information from kids-world-travel-guide.com. I have mostly traveled in the United States and Canada, and I was surprised by what I didn’t know. Let’s explore!

North America Facts:

• There are 23 sovereign countries in North America. The largest, covering almost half of the continent, is Canada. It is a little larger than China. The smallest country is St. Kitts and Nevis with only about 100 square miles and 56,000 people
• More than 579 million people live in North America. 20 million people alone live in the metropolitan area of Mexico City. The United States is the most populous country
• The biggest island in North America is Greenland. It is the largest, non-continent island in the world
• Canada and the United States have the longest land border in the world
• The highest point in North America is Denali in Alaska at 20, 310 feet
• The lowest point in North America is in Death Valley National Park at 282 feet below sea level
• The biggest lake is Lake Superior. It is as big as Austria! and is considered the largest freshwater lake in the world
• There are no landlocked countries in North America
• The most visited place in North America is Times Square in New York City

Happy Mother’s Day.

Children moms. Kitty moms. Doggy moms. Snake moms. No matter what kind of mom you are, I hope you have a lovely day. You are special and loved.

Today is National Windmill Day.

I love modern windmills (not necessarily a popular opinion, that’s okay.) To me, they are kinetic art, and I love seeing them lined up along a hilltop or standing like an army across a windy landscape.

The Dutch created National Windmill Day, which makes sense because almost every postcard from Holland has an old-fashioned windmill in it. They also have a lot of modern ones, too. Windmills can be found all over the world in different styles. Before the invention of the steam engine, wind power was commonly used for a variety of purposes. The first windmills were used in Persia in AD 644. 

Wind power may someday be a primary power source for some areas of the world, but like a lot of good ideas, it needs to be improved. I just like watching the elegant white towers spin. It makes me happy on many levels.

If you want to watch an awesome cartoon (it won an Oscar) about a windmill and its inhabitants, check out this Disney Silly Symphony from 1937.

I’m participating in Story A Day May (as I talked about on April 30.) It has been going well, so I thought I would share one of the short stories I wrote.

Every day I get a prompt in my email, which I then make my own. The prompt for this story involved changing a fairy tale by setting it in a new culture or reversing the genders. I decided to rewrite the ending of Cinderella. I hope you enjoy.

The Wrong Foot

Ella, who as a child had slept too close to the hearth, and ended up with an unfortunate name that she disliked greatly, stood at the top of the stairs and watched her step-sister attempt to cram her size-eight foot into a size-four shoe, a shoe made of glass, that just hours before had given Ella blisters as she danced with a handsome prince.

It had not been her wish to dance for hours on end. She had wanted to try the exotic food and talk to other girls her age, something she never got to do at her remote manor far from the hub of the kingdom. But no, the prince had declared her perfect and insisted that he loved her. It had been heady to hear him say that at the time, with the serenading strings and romantic lighting.

And now, the poor duke, who had been forced to examine untold girls’ bunioned feet while looking for the one the prince thought he loved, declared the current girl’s oversized foot not fit for the shoe and thus not fit for the prince. She burst into tears and ran barefoot out of the parlor.

Smiling, Ella’s other step-sister sat on the stool in front of the Duke. She stuck out her foot, and Ella saw with horror that the half-crazed girl had cut off her big toe just to be a princess. Ella shook her head. This mutilation was their mother’s fault. She had fed her children the lie that they were nothing if they did not marry a prince. Ella figured her step-sisters would both be dead by nightfall, unable to live with their failure. A pity.

The duke seemed so repulsed by the girl’s bloody appendage that he wouldn’t let the shoe touch it. He just held the pump next to the foot and declared that she was not the right one. Also in tears, the wretched girl hobbled out of the room. The pale man turned to the mistress of the house and asked if there were any other eligible girls in residence.

“No, my lord.”

Ella let out her breath and silently thanked her stepmother. For the first time ever, the evil woman had done Ella a favor. She had no desire to try on the shoe. She knew the prince would never recognize her in her servant attire. He had admired the fancy dress, the jewels, and the gracefulness. He had not seen the girl with dreams of her own, dreams that involved freedom, something Ella now knew she would never find in the castle. She would just be trading one form of slavery for another.

The duke thanked her stepmother for her time, and the noblewoman escorted him from the parlor, never glancing up the stairs at the locked room where she had tossed Ella when the duke had arrived. She never noticed that the resourceful girl kept keys to most of the doors in the manor that was rightfully hers.

But no more. For too long, Ella’s dead father’s home had been her prison, and she was done being its prisoner. Picking up the bag that sat at her feet, she walked down the stairs, headed through the kitchen with it’s hated hearth, and out the door to the stables. She had her plan, and it did not include princes. Instead, it involved an old woman who had granted Ella a wish and offered her a job in a hamlet far from an evil stepmother and demanding royalty.

Ella wished an unknown girl with a size-four foot good luck. May she and the prince live happily ever after.

This is not a new blockbuster movie (although I would watch it.)

When the new Mars rover, Perseverance, lands on Jezero Crater in February of 2021, it will have a passenger attached to its belly. Ingenuity is a four-pound helicopter that will eventually fly above the martian surface. Awesome.

There is an in-depth article on Universe Today if you want more details. I’m just excited that a helicopter might fly on Mars for the first time ever. I say “might” because it won’t be launched until Perseverance is running well, and there is always a chance that Ingenuity won’t fly for some reason.

I say send it up. We won’t learn anything if we don’t try.

Today is No Diet Day.

I don’t know why someone decided May 6th should be this holiday. If someone celebrated Cinco de Mayo in a big way, wouldn’t they want to go on a diet the day after? Maybe the creator of this holiday thinks all diets should be avoided. Maybe they prefer the term lifestyle change. But then this holiday would be No Diet Year and not just No Diet Day.

As a person who likes challenges that have a beginning and an end, I like diets. Not fad diets, though, just do-the-right-thing diets. I’m in the third week of my 27 week diet, and so far, I’ve lost one pound. I’ve made a few adjustments, so hopefully, the scale will go down a little faster.

Saturday is my free day, so I’m not celebrating No Diet Day today. You can do whatever you want (which is always true.) Perhaps if you are not on a diet at all, you can tell people you are celebrating No Diet Day.

I’d call today Stick to Your Plan Day. Diet or don’t diet but don’t fall off the wagon because of a silly holiday.

Happy Cinco de Mayo, and happy birthday to my friend, Footmark!!

I never really celebrate Cinco de Mayo because every Wednesday was taco night in my house growing up, so I didn’t need a special day to eat Mexican food. I also don’t drink alcohol, so it’s not much of a party day for me. Instead, I thought I would celebrate the fifth of May by making a list of five things that make me happy. (Cinco de Mayo is a happy holiday.)

I’d love for you to do this, too, and share it in the comments. No matter what happens in life, there are always things to celebrate.

Five things that make me happy (in no particular order)

• Running every morning
• Watching the animal videos from Wildlife Safari while eating lunch
• Eating homemade ice cream that my husband creates
• Sending the pictures I’ve colored to friends and family
• Reading out loud to my husband every evening