Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.  

                                                                                            ~George Carlin

My fourth trip around the world in 15 months for my Nuffield research, and how many times has my breath been taken away by the sheer beauty of this wonderful world in which we live and the wonderful people whom I met along the way.........this last trip saw me working my way across the USA, where my research colleague from GRDC (Tom McCue) and I had 16 fabulous meetings over 10 days in 9 USA states.....phew....no wonder we were tired at the end of the trip across America.....
I dedicate this first part of my blog to the USA experience and the second part of the blog to the quote above where I share with you some breathtaking moments I experienced along the way back home....I hope you enjoy the photos.....

A salute to John Kinzenbaw 

In 1965, a 21-year old farm boy from Victor, Iowa opened his own welding shop with a small bank loan and $25 in his pocket. Everyone who knew young Jon Kinzenbaw at the time could see that he had a gifted ability for "fixing things." But no one could have guessed that his welding shop would one day grow into one of the largest specialty manufacturers in North America

Visiting the inner sanctum of facebook where few get to go...an amazing work environment and such positive, creative people.... driving across a rain soaked Iowa, and a freezing/snowing Minnesota/Michigan where the weather was creating havoc in their spring plantings of corn etc...... Holding onto one of the first commercialised hand held green-seeker monitors in Oklahoma, that for $495.00 USD will revolutionise measuring the nutrition of the crop in the most affordable, real time manner.... Talking real time management strategy options with executives from John Deere, SST Software and Kinsey....so many significant meetings with such amazing people....so much learning to now articulate to present to the agri-industry.....

Leaving my mark on the facebook wall....inside facebook.......what a buzz!!!

I am in love with the John Deere vision "our responsibility is to feed the world"  I heard it from every executive and  employee and they were passionate about doing their part in meeting the challenge of feeding 9 billion people by 2050...really passionate...I have never experienced before such passion for a shared vision over a huge global company....truly amazing leadership in their belief in what they are doing.......

Then...... the peace and serenity of the Greek islands....the history, Italian culture and intrigue of Venice, the wonderful, crazy pace of India....The beautiful, surreal, stunningly beautiful Taj Mahal - oh to be loved so much ....those wonderful, wonderful Indian people who always seems to be smiling and at peace with their world....the beautiful, adorable children of the slums, my second time back there and how they held onto us and didn't really want us to leave and wanted to know when we would be back....and the mothers in the slums who are so brave in working with the ASHA organisation to challenge the cultural and social patterns to create a world of opportunity for their children, they are my hero's....below are the moments in this trip that took my breath away......