Blog Posts

SEATTLE & A LESSON ON LESS IS MORE

8/11/2016

The entire Columbia Center experience left me feeling a bit dizzy.

So this is what “the most obscene erection of ego edifice on the Pacific Coast” looks like.

Eat your heart out Trump!

Alas, even the late Victor Steinbrueck, former dean of the University of Washington School of Architecture, couldn’t save Seattle from this “flat-out symbol of greed and egoism.”

Would it be gauche of me to report that from the top of Seattle’s ‘obscene’ Columbia Center the views of Puget Sound, Elliott Bay, and Mount Rainier were to die-for?

Okay, so sophistication isn’t my strong suit; but I do have a knack for composition when it comes to photography.

And I do have some obscenely scenic pictures to share!

FUN FOTO FRIDAY: OUTTAKES FOR THE WEEK 8/01/16

8/5/2016

A few years back (as in a decade, give or take a few more years) while Jimmy was having an endoscopic exam as an outpatient just before Christmas, I passed the time creating origami.

Yes, if you haven’t perused my About page (why not?), in my former life I was a nerdy math teacher (and proud of it) enamored with the aesthetics of geometry, which at the time equated to one quite impressive (if I must say, and I must) Sonobe Ball that I then bequeathed to the nurses (tis the season) who’d taken such good care of my beloved that morning.

Many viruses, like the herpes virus, have the same icosahedral shaped shell. You don't say!

While I neglected to snap a picture of my creation for posterity sake/Facebook fame (ten years ago I was using a flip phone), the image above (you guessed it, an Internet special) is a close facsimile, although my version was created using 90 squares cut from wrapping paper sporting a holiday theme.

Doggone it! Isn't that the cutest thing you've ever seen by way of towels?

Needless to say, when this puppy showed up in my cabin during our recent cruise to Alaska, my little mathematical heart swelled with appreciation.

Every night when our steward turned down our bed, he left fresh towels folded into a new creation. The appreciation escalated geometrically. It was always tough showering the next day; Jimmy insisted.

The fella gets an A+ in my book.

And you get some Fun Fotos featuring the latest twist on this ancient art.

DREAMERS, SCHEMERS & A VISIT TO A GOLD RUSH CEMETERY

8/4/2016

It used to be my dance card was filled with weddings, baby showers and graduations; wonderful dance partners full of life and love and hope for the future. And then a few decades ago, funerals tapped me on the shoulder, wanting a spin around the dance floor.

Feet, don’t fail me now!

I need a younger group of friends! Not much I can do about family members putting on the years as quickly as the pounds. Guilty as charged.

Needless to say, I’ve done my fair share of wandering cemeteries over the past few years.

In fact, my latest foray into Woodlawn Cemetery was just yesterday. May Jimmy’s cousin, Alice, rest in peace. She was laid to rest surrounded by family, both the living and the dead; plenty of love and history to go around.

No, this is not Woodlawn Cemetery! This one belongs to Alaska's Gold Rush period!

Indeed, there’s plenty of history to be had in any cemetery; rich or rogue, young and old, famous and infamous, all offer a spiritual link to the past.

Few had a past with as much 'spirit' as Jefferson Randolph Smith (no relation).

SKAGWAY, ALASKA: GATEWAY TO THE KLONDIKE

7/29/2016

Okay, let’s just put it out there.

There was very little that was charming or quaint about Skagway, Alaska.

Violet was a most unusual and beguiling hood ornament for her Skagway Streetcar.

Well, there was Violet. I’ll get back to her in a minute.

Vast rugged wilderness and natural beauty is what Alaska is all about, although for a brief period, just before the turn of the 20th century, Alaska was all about GOLD!

Tens of thousands of dreamers and schemers passed through the virtually uninhabited Glacial Valley the native Tlingit called Skgagwei; all contributed to the raw and raucous two-year period from 1898 to 1900 at the core of much of Skagway’s history; at least the bulk of history Violet shared during our one hour tour of Alaska’s first incorporated city.

WHO KNEW? KARAOKE, STORM CHASING & SIZING UP THE PLANET

7/22/2016

What do Stevie Wonder, Michelle Obama, Adele, Nicki Minaj, Selena Gomez, and Kanye West all have in common?

If you’re a fan of James Corden’s, Late Late Show, this teaser is a no-brainer.

A DOZEN PICTURES OF GLACIER BAY I CAN'T STOP LOOKING AT

7/21/2016

So this is what heaven looks like!

Maybe it was the early morning covered in wispy clouds that rendered Alaska's Glacier Bay a place of wonder;

ALASKA OFFERS A WHALE OF A GOOD TIME

7/15/2016

Graphic courtesy of wildhawaii.org.

They come by the thousands year after year, many of the whales traveling 2,800 miles just to feed in the cold, protected waters of Southeast Alaska, the bubble-net capital of the world. More on bubble-net feeding, a uniquely humpback whale dining technique, later in this post.

Almost two million tourists follow in their wake, hoping to catch a glimpse of these gentle giants. Okay, two-million-and-one counting yours truly.

My maritime whale-watching excursion included a guaranteed whale sighting or a refund on the cost of my excursion with Allen Marine; and that’s no fish tale, particularly given whales are mammals, not fish. But you knew that, right?

Suffice it to say, my hundred bucks bought me a whale of a good time; and some unexpected visitors to boot.

HUNGRY FOR MORE ALASKA

7/7/2016

Johns Hopkins Glacier emerges from the misty waters of Alaska's Glacier Bay.

Mile after mile after magnificent mile (6,600 miles of coastline) was unimaginably beautiful; and serene; and remote. Only 20% of Alaska can be reached by road; which is why we chose to come by boat. Most visitors do.

IT'S NORTH TO ALASKA!

6/25/2016

I'm leaving on a jet plane; don't know when I'll be back again.

I soooooooo need this time away! As a bonified member of the sandwich generation, I've been feeling the squeeze of late, and that ain't no baloney. Hold the mayo; and hold all family crises while this beleagured baby boomer gets some hard-earned R&R.

I may spend all 8 days of my cruise melded to a deck chair soaking up the sun, the sea breezes and the scenery while my neck, shoulders and lower back seek a new norm, one hopefully free of pain.

It's North to Alaska where BIG is the order of the day (superimpose a map of the state of Alaska on top of a map of the lower 48 and Alaska stretches from coast to coast), 18-hour days this time of year when it comes to daylight. BIG days that go hand in hand with bears bigger than bison, national parks the size of nations, glaciers bigger than some US states; 18-hour days that see BIG cruise ships clutter all 910 miles of Alaska's Inside Passage.

Alas, America's Final Frontier awaits, shrouded in a wilderness as vast as it is stunning, as rugged as it is pristine; or so I've heard. Time will tell, as will yours truly first chance I get. Meanwhile, this stunning preview of coming attractions by Toby Harriman will have to suffice.

HISTORY & HANNIBAL OFFER A UNIQUE VIEW OF AN AMERICAN TREASURE

6/23/2016

Mark Twain and 'The Unsinkable Molly Brown' (she survived the Titanic) both hail from Hannibal, Missouri.

It was all interstate driving from Chicago to Springfield, three hours of nondescript farmland laid bare by winter’s chilly disposition. A right turn just south of Springfield put Hannibal, Missouri, America’s self-proclaimed Hometown, within easy reach. Jimmy and I had the boyhood home of Samuel Clemens (yes that would be none other than Mark Twain) in our sights.

The dusty, quiet riverboat town of Hannibal, settled in the early 1800s on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River, had an uncanny resemblance to Twain’s fictitious hometown of St. Petersburg, right down to protagonist Tom Sawyer’s infamous white-washed picket fence;

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