The world's largest pumpkin to date was “raised” by Jim and Kelsey Bryson in Ormstown, Quebec and carved by master artist, Ray Villafane. Little known fact: pumpkins are a type of squash. This record holder weighed 1, 818.5 pounds! See more carving images of this giant squash here. 
Click image to go to the website with this photo and more
Click to learn more about the artist, Ray Villafane.
Add Comment PHOTOGRAPHY BY BETSY SEETON 10/20/2011
CLICK TO SEE MY PHOTOGRAPHY: PUPPY MILL FACT SHEET 09/10/2011
 Please care about this issue. Get informed and do what you can to stop puppy mills.  Source: bloodinthemobile.org: The main part of minerals used to produce cell phones are coming from the mines in the Eastern DR Congo. The Western World is buying these so-called conflict minerals and thereby finances a civil war that, according to human rights organisations, has been the bloodiest conflict since World War II: During the last 15 years the conflict has cost the lives of more than 5 million people and 300.000 women have been raped. The war will continue as long as armed groups can finance their warfare by selling minerals. If you ask the phone companies where their suppliers get minerals from, none of them can guarantee that they aren’t buying conflict minerals from the Congo. The Documentary Blood in the Mobile shows the connection between our phones and the civil war in the Congo. Director Frank Poulsen travels to DR Congo to see the illegal mine industry with his own eyes. He gets access to Congo’s largest tin-mine, which is being controlled by different armed groups, and where children work for days in narrow mine tunnels to dig out the minerals that end up in our phones. After visiting the mine Frank Poulsen struggles to get to talk to Nokia, (1 in 3 mobile phones are made by Nokia) the Worlds largest phone company. Frank Poulsen wants them to guarantee that they are not buying conflict minerals and thereby is financing the war in the Congo. Nokia cannot give him that guarantee. Blood in Mobile is a film about our responsibility for the conflict in the Congo and about corporate social responsibility.  If you want to learn more about conflict minerals, the film can be viewed on LinkTV’s website in its entirety. U.S. legislation leading the way [source: Care2.com] Section 1502 of the Dodd Frank Act, signed into law July 21, 2010, adds extra reporting requirements on Form 10-K, Form 20-F or Form 40-F to the U.S. Securities and Exchange (SEC) on the sources of “conflict minerals.” A California State Senate Bill 861, authored by Senate Majority Leader Ellen Corbett would ban the California Department of General Services from obtaining contracts with companies using Congo’s conflict minerals. The bill passed out of an Assembly committee a few weeks ago. “This legislation will help cut off the cash flow, and support, for lawless militias engaged in heinous human rights violations,” Corbett said. If you want to learn more about conflict minerals, the film can be viewed on LinkTV’s website in its entirety. Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/the-blood-in-our-cell-phones.html#ixzz1SkDdToAk Domestic Violence in Nepal Directly from: http://www.irinnews.org/photo/?id=9 Across Nepal, which has declared 2010 the year to end gender-based violence, women continue to fall victim. The village of Shipawa is one Nepalese community in which the issue is particularly apparent.  Photographer, Kate Holt, captures images of victims of domestic violence in Nepal. Click here for her slideshow on IRIN. By Diana Fernandez Peruse newspapers and online news outlets in Nepal and you will glean pieces of a very disturbing picture: gender-based violence (GBV) is frequent and takes many forms. In August, a woman in Eastern Nepal was severely beaten by her neighbors for allegedly practicing witchcraft. In November, three siblings lodged a complaint against their own father on the charge of beating their mother to death. After making the complaint, they had to flee their village in fear of reprisal from their father and family members. READ FULL ARTICLE Diana Fernandez is a program officer in The Asia Foundation’s Nepal office. She can be reached at diana@taf.org.np. In the desperately poor rural community of Ankavandra in western Madagascar, girls of school going age are forsaking their education to earn a few dollars a week from gold panning. Click image or here for a slideshow.  4 / 12 Heavy sand and rocks are carried to a stream for panning © Guy Oliver/IRIN Madagascar: Schoolgirls catch gold feverANKAVANDRA, 9 June 2011 (IRIN) - There is a touch of gold fever in the small western Madagascan town of Ankavandra and schoolgirls are being affected. Rural poverty coupled with record world gold prices is proving an irresistible pull for young girls in and around Ankavandra who are being lured away from class and into the foothills of the central plateau area by the promise of a few flecks of gold. Nearly every day a group of five girls, all related and aged 8-15, wake at dawn to begin a two-hour brisk walk up steep goat tracks to one of the many tributaries of the River Manambolo. As they draw closer to their destination their numbers swell to about 20 people, as parents with young children and other groups of girls, some appearing to be as young as five, join them. READ FULL ARTICLE Hong Kong, China (CNN) – An average 30-year old who’s eaten three meals a day since birth has consumed more than 30,000 meals to date. Even if you’ve only eaten half that much you have to admit this: you’ve let some of that breakfast, lunch or dinner go to waste. And it turns out we’re all to blame for this gut-wrenching fact: 30% of all food produced in the world each year is wasted or lost. That’s about 1.3 billion tons, according to a new report by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. WATCH VIDEO  This is one more wake up call for me to be more mindful. In some ways, the news does not shock me. In other ways, it just hits me in the gut. Hopefully, this will make us all more conscious and we can all work at being better. JUST SOME THOUGHTS AND IMAGES 05/26/2011
“Follow the wisdom provided by nature. Everything in moderation – sunlight, water, nutrients. Too much of a good thing will topple your structure. You can’t harvest what you don’t sow. So .. plant your desires, gently nurture them, and they will be rewarded with abundance." ~Vivian Elisabeth Glyck  Tree Bark - photos by Betsy Seeton   UNKNOWN PHOTOGRAPHER AND MAKEUP ARTIST  UNKNOWN PHOTOGRAPHER  Watching birds has become a part of my daily meditation.  Born Free USA Field Project Updates FEATURED PROJECT: Ethiopian Wolves  Published 05/18/11 STRAIGHT FROM BORN FREE WEBSITE: In an attempt to prevent the looming extinction of the Ethiopian wolf, one of the world's rarest carnivores, Born Free USA has waged an extensive campaign to vaccinate them against rabies. (We also have arranged for hippopotamuses in Kenya, who are threatened by starvation due to persistent drought conditions, to be provided with supplement food.) One of the most beautifully patterned and handsome of wild dogs, the Ethiopian wolf is down to only a few hundred animals, although that is more than there were a few years ago when it was listed as critically endangered. The species still officially is listed as being at risk, particularly from a new threat, rabies, a fatal and transmittable disease that was brought into the region by domestic dogs, which in turn were brought by people. Please consider making a donation to help us do all we can to ensure the long-term survival — and growing repopulation — of the Ethiopian wolf. Read updates about our Ethiopian wolf project. See the Ethiopian wolf project's photo gallery. SPIDER WEBS IN PAKISTAN 05/11/2011
Photo Credit: Russell Watkins/Department for International Development From the photographer's blog: "I took the photo (below) in Pakistan’s Sindh province in towards the end of last year. I was there for the Department for International Development, looking at how humanitarian aid from the UK was helping some of the 20million people who were affected by the unprecedented monsoon flooding." Read more from Russell's blog about this photo: http://developingpictures.wordpress.com/2011/04/08/the-spider-trees-of-pakistan/ Photo Credit: Russell Watkins/Department for International Development CLICK IMAGE TO SEE MORE SPIDER WEB PHOTOS  SPIDER WEBS COVERING TREES IN THE AFTERMATH OF 2010 FLOODS IN PAKISTAN An unexpected side-effect of the flooding in parts of Pakistan has been that millions of spiders climbed up into the trees to escape the rising flood waters. SOURCE: http://triggerpit.com/2011/04/03/spiderwebs-pakistani-trees-2010-floods/ Photo credit: Russell Watkins/Department for International Development | By Betsy Seeton
 June 1, 2011 Loading
I imagine a better world when what people value has more to do with what they love doing than about what money can buy. Going after your passions and leading a life inspired by them is central to what drives my own life and is something I encourage others to experience. That's why the idea of humans and animals being enslaved/abused is so intolerable to me. Freedom, not only in a political sense, but freedom to choose one's own path in life, should be everyone's right. On a global, cultural level, this right should be embraced and nurtured. It's incomprehensibly vile to think of how the greed of some humans, and the thirst for power over others, devastates the lives of so many.
 Amely Campaigns against child trafficking in Africa "Until we have the courage to recognize cruelty for what it is--whether its victim is human or animal--we cannot expect things to be much better in this world... " -- Rachel Carson  JASPER IS KISSING BEAR. JASPER LOVES ALL ANIMALS. READ ABOUT ANIMAL ISSUES AT JASPER'S BLOG  Click for a collection of ladybug photos "The moment one gives close attention to anything,
even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself." ~ Henry Miller ~  Click to go to my art gallery "By respect for life we become religious in a way that is elementary, profound and alive.
Impart as much as you can of your spiritual being to those who are on the road with you, and accept as something precious what comes back to you from them." ~ Albert Schweitzer  Click to view on YouTube  Confiscated Skins and Wildlife at JFK Int'l Airport Photo from: http://www.laurelneme.com  Adorable French girl growing up in Africa with wildlife photographer parents. See more amazing photos and read about Tippi Degre  "Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little."
~Edmund Burke  All about Animals  Tiger Temple in Thailand -- accused of animal abuse and tiger trafficking. Click to read about the plight of tigers...  Take Walks With Your Children "Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight." ~Albert Schweitzer
 Where Have All The Bees Gone? Watch Vanishing of the Bees Documentary Enjoy this short video message: YOU'RE NOT ALONE  Jasper is the World Ambassador of Animal Rights & Welfare  Riding Kaew (pro: 'Gow') in Thailand at a 3-day Mahoot training course - Click to learn how to save our elephants   photo by Betsy Seeton -Jasper Loves Bear - Follow Jasper's Blog  DON'T BUY IVORY  Visit Betsy's Art Gallery  Say No To The Circus  Email Betsy ArchivesDecember 2011 CategoriesAll |
RSS Feed