Priceless - Jeep Wagoneer...

The Jeep Wagoneer was produced from 1963 to 1991.

Hunting and Gatherings for a Merry Christmas...

A Merry Christmas!!!

Unpack and celebrate the season...Life owes us little - We owe it everything

Moser - for the Stag Room...

Crocodile Cigar case for those 15 years aged Ghurka cigars.

Ch. Lafitte 1895 or...

a bottle of 1928 or 1948 Hine Grande Champagne...

Leica for your photos...to freeze that special moment of pleasures, excitements, family, friendships and travels you have been lucky to have in your life.

When you are unpacking at your destination for Christmas a vintage Hermès travel blanket will come in handy for a cold clear night made brilliant by a glorious star...

Gatherings from the past - If it has survived a few generations since the Victorian days...wear it

Horn Beakers...

Let us raise a cup for peace on earth and for a New Year of Travels...

and remember

The glow of one warm thought is worth more than any Christmas present..

Uncommon Adventures - French Photographer, Author, Traveller and Film Producer - Eric Valli

Smith Journal

Eric Valli from an interview he gave for Australian Smith Journal.

Eric Valli needs no further introduction. French photographer, worked with Vuitton ,Hermès and for National Geographic Magazine etc.  born in Dijon, France in 1952.

All Photos in this post by Eric Valli

Himalaya (Caravan) - L'enfance d'un chef 

"Filmed over seven months in the forbidding Dolpo region of Nepal, HIMALAYA tells the story of a generational struggle for the leadership of a tiny mountain village between its proud old chief and a headstrong young caravanner. The balance of power shifts uneasily as they make their annual salt trek across the Himalayas. A visually striking and spiritually captivating portrait of life in one of the world's most extraordinary places, HIMALAYA is both intense drama and a gorgeous tapestry of the fast disappearing traditions of Tibetan life."

Caravan Thinley Interview - Up Close and Personal

Deyrolle - Paris - France

Deyrolle - Paris - France

May I recommend:

1000 Degrees Celsius Deyrolle

 by Laurent Bochet

Deyrolle is an old establishment since 1831 which, was founded by entomologist Jean-Baptiste Deyrolle.

Its proprietor today is Prince Louis Albert de Brogliealso known as Prince Jardinier - The tomato Prince -  he grows approximately 650 varietes om his estate - Chateau de la Bourdaisiere, in the Loire Valley. He revived Deyrolle in 2001 when he refurbished it and brought it back to its 18th-century condition.  Deyrolle is one of the world's greatest taxidermy establisments.

Deyrolle - Rue de Bac - Paris -  February 2008

 The stuffed menagerie was destroyed by fire.

A second death for the animals...

Photographer Laurent Bouchet was able to freeze this moment of sadness and disaster in time...

Photographer Laurent Bouchet

As an artist/photographer he created -  beauty - rising from the ashes.

Time...

(Photo from a Travellers Nest by Tavarua)

Time again for Time - It is always Present

The awareness of time....

Time is not reality...

Time is a created concept...

Count time by your good memories in life and you will be surprised how little time you actually spent living...

Time is here for you to spend it...

If you wait to long... 
Before You Make A Decision - How To Live Your Life...
It Is Going To be To Late...

“A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows public opinion”

“Avoid the crowd. Do your own thinking independently. Be the chess player, not the chess piece.”

Pack up and go...time will tell

Explorer, Artist, Hunter, Photographer and Taxidermist - Carl Akeley (1864 - 1926)

Carl Akeley with the leopard that nearly killed him. He killed it with his bare hands. 

 Photo: Courtesy Henry Holt and Co.

Carl Ethan Akeley consider the father of modern taxidermy. 

There were great men in Africa who collected to fill their trophy rooms with the beasts from the African continent a long time ago.  Some not only for the sake of having their trophy rooms filled with exotic animals but beyond the hunt and adventure - to document the animals in the wild.  

Akeley made five expeditions to the African continent.

Hall of African Animals of Natural History Museum in New York bears his name. He is famous for the way he applied the skin to the finely molded form of the animals which gave the spectator  a feeling of realism and brought taxidermy from craft to a refined art. Early taxidermy mounts had been stuffed with rags and sawdust without any regard to any refinement.

Hand colored slide circa 1896 from the expedition by Carl Akeley and D.G. Eliot

Chicago Field Museum

Akeley's Camp on Mt. Mikano 1921

In 1926 he returned to Africa and the Congo to hunt and study the mountain gorilla unfortunately he contracted a fever while on expedition and died. He was buried a few miles away from where he had encountered his first gorilla in 1921.

I raise my glass for another great man " Not to be Forgotten"...

The first person to use the word taxidermy was Luis Dufresne

Greek - taxis - arrangement

derma - skin