Travel
03-15-13 Behind the Green Door?
Readers of a certain age and experience may recognize the allusion in today's post title. All I will say is that there was a film made in the 70s by the same title. The title is testament to the fact that I sometimes am at a total loss to find a creative title for my blog posts. The title is also testament to the occasional depth and breadth of my knowledge. :-)
03-14-13 Portugal!
The thing I remember about the day we spent on Tavira Beach on the south coast of Portugal, which is considered one of the best beaches in Portugal, is that it was cold and windy. By "cold" I think it must have been in the low 70s. Boy, do I long for the cool 70s!
03-13-13 Appetizer
I guess I'm taking you to Portugal for a few days. Deb and I visited in 2010. Frankly, Portugal has been one of my favorite European travel experiences. And the food helped. I am not a foodie but I still remember several of the meals we ate during our stay. Wonderful!
02-26-13 Japanese Garden
Here is the chain of consciousness that led me to post this photo:
- I'm not impressed with the options available on TV
- I check my DVR for possibilities
- I find that I have recorded 9 episodes of "Lonely Planet," a travel show
- I start watching the first one, which is set in London
- Half-way through, the travel guide takes us to Kew Gardens
- I remember that I have some Kew Gardens photos
- I stop watching the TV show
- I find this photo and work on it
- I post it here
That sounds like a disciplined mind hard at work, doesn't it?
02-25-13 Tree Top Walk
I apologize to those who are subscribed to my blog posts via email: I have posted 9 times in the last 12 hours. And that means that you are getting bombarded. But don't give up on the subscription. I promise that I won't get quite so far behind in this blog any time soon.You're looking at an acrophobic's nightmare - a walkway 30 feet off the ground with a relatively low railing that takes you through the tops of a little forest in Kew Gardens, London. But if you can stand the height, it is well worth it, for it gives you a bird's eye view (or squirrel's eye or [name an arboreal animal]'s eye view) of trees.
02-19-13 Centraal Station - Amsterdam (Reprise)
in Architecture, Blog, Travel
TS Eliot was wrong. Februrary, not April, is "the cruelest month." At least for me. Yes, the days are getting longer. Yes, the temperature ocassionally soars into the high 20s. But it is often in the heart of February that what I think is SAAD (seasonal affective disorder) hits me. And I lose my will to post new photos to this blog.So I'm posting old stuff. . . But, in the event that you haven't meticulously looked at all four years of my posts, you've probably never seen some of these. So maybe they're not old.
02-15-13 NSFW? (Reprise)
TS Eliot was wrong. Februrary, not April, is "the cruelest month." At least for me. Yes, the days are getting longer. Yes, the temperature ocassionally soars into the high 20s. But it is often in the heart of February that what I think is SAAD (seasonal affective disorder) hits me. And I lose my will to post new photos to this blog.So I'm posting old stuff. . . But, in the event that you haven't meticulously looked at all four years of my posts, you've probably never seen some of these. So maybe they're not old.
02-09-13 Stone Lion
in Architecture, Blog, Travel
TS Eliot was wrong. Februrary, not April, is "the cruelest month." At least for me. Yes, the days are getting longer. Yes, the temperature ocassionally soars into the high 20s. But it is often in the heart of February that what I think is SAAD (seasonal affective disorder) hits me. And I lose my will to post new photos to this blog.So I'm posting old stuff. . . But, in the event that you haven't meticulously looked at all four years of my posts, you've probably never seen some of these. So maybe they're not old.
01-25-13 Stand Out
This is deja vu all over again, given that I have already posted an HDR photo of this tree. I moved closer to the tree for this shot and I used a slightly different HDR process to make this picture. And Monet painted the same thing over and over and look where it got him. . . .
01-22-13 The Promised Land
On the night before he was assassinated in Memphis, TN, Martin Luther King, Jr., addressed a small group of people. And in that speech he said
“Like anybody, I would like to live a long life--longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now… I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land.”
The cause he was in Memphis to help further was a strike by the newly formed Sanitation Workers Union, who were working to get better pay and improved working conditions. One of the signs that the strking workers carried said, "I am a man."Yesterday, as I returned to my hotel, I rounded the corner on to Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta and encountered the Martin Luther King Day Parade. It was an eclectic affair, comprised of groups representing the Girl Scouts, the Boy Scouts, the "Free Tibet" movement. And many more.The group photographed here carried replica signs that copied and extended the message of the Memphis sanitation workers union: "I am still a Man."On the day after a black man took the oath of office for the presidency of the United States, I am left thinking about "the promised land." No, America isn't the promised land and I don't think Barack will lead us there. But I believe we have moved much closer to the promise that the US holds for all of its citizens.Two days ago, I gave up my seat at the front of the bus to an elderly black woman, who smiled pleasantly at me as she sat. I was not trying to make a statement. I was not thinking about race. I was only doing what was right. Today, I realize that perhaps my act stands as a small symbol of the promise King spoke about the night before he died.
01-20-12 Arrival
This location is a world apart from the abandoned farm photos I posted a week ago. I'll admit that I am more comfortable in the quiet expanses of the South Dakota prairie than I am in a underground train station. But both places intrigue me.