Snoqualmie Summit

Lots of snow at Snoqualmie this year and it's May!

Floors and Ceiling (and Walls) of LA

As I was walking about the public buildings of LA with Paulette last May, my first thought was to take photos of the fabulous floors and celings and then create a coffe table materpeice showing off these same floors and ceilings. In the meantime, life intervened and I ended up spending a lot of time fixing a water pump and all I have left are the photos.

LA Public Library

Griffin Observatory Rotunda

Union Station, Lobby

The Bonaventure, Lobby Ceiling

LA Public Library, Childrens Reading Room Ceiling

LA Public Library, Teen Reading Room

LA Public Library, Lobby

Union Station, Lobby Ceiling

Guess where...

the coolest public library (that I've been to lately) is. The Moorish themed art deco tower is a hint.

A walk in the desert

Back to southern Arizona for an enviromental conference during the week, a nice change from the 3-4' of snowfall in Spokane. This years environmental buzz word is additionality-you heard it here first (all two of you). Anyway, got a chance to take a walk in the desert-here are a few pics.

Cactus, cacti?

A copper based mineral-I forgot the name.

A skookum view from a nice hotel. Typically though, all the food groups available here start with beef. I met some helpful Indian guys who provided tips on how to navigate an overly carnivorous world. My conceit it that I'm reducing my carbon footprint by eating in a third-worldish fashion...uh yea and okie dokie.

World's largest asparagus shoot or a flowering spike from an agave (the tequila plant)? The agave waits for the right time to create this lone 20' spike, produces fruit, and then dies.

Montana

Montana: an apt name and really skookum, eh. I visit a power plant (carbon neutral, so there) in Montana occaisionally and so have a chance to see the sights. Here are pics from the last trip.

Along state Hwy. 200, Bambi and his brother- no quarter.

A line of slash piles.

They have guns in Montana, lots of guns.

LACMA

Los Angeles County Museum of Art-Probably my favorite, most likely since my brother lives at Redondo Beach and I’m in the area periodically, so get to experience this top flight museum on a repeated basis. A really good museum is a continuing source of amusement and illumination. For example, I’d never been into the Americana style much, until I saw a full size Thomas Hart Benton and immediately...false distinctions disappeared and a sense of wonder filtered through.

I think it is that type of experience that helps us to maintain an open-eyed, child-like view of the world and keeps things interesting. I'm reminded of the first time my kids saw a work (in the LACMA again) that really shocked and impressed them. After being herded through every museum I could find on our travels and them more or less trying to appreciate (in a slack-jawed , glassy eyed kind of way) what they were seeing, their reaction to Bill Viola’s ‘Slowly Turning Narrative’ was deeply satisfying as I could see that all the time and effort had not been wasted. They spoke about the piece for days afterwards and have gladly gone without complaint on every museum jaunt since.

Slowly Turing Narrative, description from the web site: A large screen mounted on a floor-to-ceiling shaft is constantly rotating at the center of the room. An image of the artist's face in black-and-white is projected from one side, accompanied by a voice reciting a long list of individual states of being and actions in a repetitive, rhythmic chant. Color images of childhood memories, accidents, and medical operations are projected from the other side, with accompanying sounds. One side of the screen is mirrored, and it reflects the viewer's own image as well as the projected images which travel across the walls of the room as the screen turns, creating a swirling vortex of images in the space

Brendan and Kerry: in the garden on the way to the Japanese pavilion. On this visit they were showing Japanese ‘imaginings’ of the tiger. This collection of yamato-e (scroll style) paintings were done in the mid 1800s. What made this showing remarkable was that at the time, the Japanese had never seen one of these creatures live, they only knew them through their skins. They knew tigers were large, ferocious creatures but had to fill in the rest. So, all of the depictions are unique, capturing on the one hand an essence of the tiger and on the other this mythic imagining of what the tiger is…fascinating.

Mexico

I love this place-it’s at once so familiar and so exotic. I would live here if I had the time. I grew up in Cali, so had to take California state history in high school, which was mostly about Mexico! So, it’s like I sort of grew up here-sort of. Anyway, the people are very friendly, the climate is perfect….living here would enable me to learn Spanish well enough so that I could begin to think in Spanish, after all….

“To have another language is to possess a second soul.” Charlemagne

And who doesn’t want a second soul?

As a child, my parents would take me to the Jai Alai games in Tijuana. At the games, my fondest memory is of the tacos! Only 1 or 2 pesos apiece and they were fantastic-I’ve never been a big eater but I would gorge on those amazing tacos.

About ten years ago-the kids in a place called Tomatlan, wondering where in the world they are. I could live here...

On the boardwalk in Bucerias.

Too much sun & fun & food &etc. I think this was the first time in about 20 years I took a holiday without children. Notice the fake tattoo on the arm-poor choice eh?-it’s why tattoos are generally a bad idea. So, at this point in the holiday, I’m like the walking dead. I was cogent enough to realize that the meal here (River Café, Puerto Vallarta) was very good-better than anything in Spokane. I also thought Barcelona superb as it was served up simple, fresh, and excellent tapas. Both these places are as good as the Café des Artistes at a fraction of the price.

A real tough guy…and fully functional.

A small schoolhouse in the middle of a jungle with no electricity available. They beam in the lessons via satellite and use solar panels to power everything-pretty cool.

Zell

A few years back we were supposed to go to Istanbul, but two weeks before departure a couple of British banks in Istanbul were bombed, prompting the State Dept. to issue travel warnings for Turkey. I thought that perhaps the war in Iraq was expanding and so didn’t dare take my, at the time, minor children and ended up on a European vacation instead. One of the places we dropped in to was Zell Germany, on the Mosel River-a great place and area that I would return to in a second.

Zell: Brendan is next to our car, a Skoda that we scratched up when I drove through the very narrow streets of a medieval town (Brodenbach) when I shouldn’t have-next time I'll learn how to read the traffic signs.

Cochem, down the road from Zell: There was a flea market and meeting hall here and the people were super friendly. The meeting hall was serving gluwein (a kind of mulled wine), cause that’s all they really have around here (wine that is). There was so much wine bottles were stacked on pallets along the highway. Notice the onion shaped dome on top of the church-kind of like Russian churches.

Zell: The little old pensioner driving this tiny car came into the restaurant where we were eating, had a beer and left. We then saw the car later on that night at the local winestube, the place was rocking and I thought it the place to be, but the daughter vetoed the idea, so we didn’t go in.

Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Once you tire of the ‘coffee shops’ etc, try the Van Gogh Museum. When I used to think of Van Gogh, it was of his out of this world mature style-the sunflower series, Starry Night, self portraits. Until I visited the Van Gogh Museum, I had no idea how much effort went into developing the style that we’re all familiar with. This man was not just a nutty creative savant who whipped this stuff out …he worked his ass off! The process of how he arrived at his highly articulated creative vision is fascinating and all on display in more or less chronological order in the museum. In the span of 8 years of intense labor, he progressed through a multitude of differing styles, until arriving at Arles primed to create the masterpieces he is known for, just 2 years before the end of his life.

Started painting at 27, dead at 37. Perhaps prozac would have helped, then again, Starry Night may then have looked like something done by Thomas Kinkade.

Silbury Hill

Silbury Hill, Wiltshire. About 5,000 years old and no one knows who built it or why. They do know how—with chalk blocks formed with deer antlers and moose shoulder blades—incredible. Archeologists calculate it took 18 million man-hours to create. We climbed to the top and looked around-pretty cool. When we go back to the car park Kerry wanted to take a picture of a lovely Alfa-Romero and instead of ‘pressing the button’ inadvertently opened the camera and exposed all the film. I yelled at her and then we both felt bad. The End.

Monkey Attack!

...a tale, told by an idiot, signifying...nothing...but monkeys...

We stay in an old gatehouse near Bath and the proprietor is very kind and spends a lot of time talking to me about where we are going etc on our UK trip. Since my traveling companions are an 11 and 12 year old, the itinerary has to be somewhat kid friendly, so I tell him we’re going to drive through Longleat Animal Park. He becomes very specific at this point and said, ‘do not drive into the monkey enclosure’. So, OK. We get there and drive through the place, the kids like it, and then we get to the gate of the monkey enclosure, which is plastered with all these warnings and disclaimers. I figure, hey, we’re on vacation and they’re just monkeys, what could they possibly do? So, we go in, the monkeys all rush to the car and jump on and I’m thinking they’re friendly little buggers. As we're watching the monkeys one jumps on the hood, removes the little plastic device that directs windshield wash water and pops it into his mouth! The little ******* are eating the car! I’m thinking, oh no, it’s a rental! The kids start screaming and I pop the car into gear and screech out of there. Once we were safe, got out to inspect the damage: 3/8” deep tooth marks on all the high-impact (and hard) plastic pieces of the car, some were chewed up completely and everything removable was gone.

Apparently, monkeys, even small ones, are not to be trifled with. Some just have to learn the hard way...a wise person out there invented rental insurance for people just like me--thank you.

Tucson

Spent last week in Tucson, it snowed (bummer) and then I broke my camera by dropping it on the marble floor of the hotel lobby (total bummer). Other than that, it was great!

Seven Devils, Idaho

I like this pic of the kids-it was taken about 5 years ago.

Situated between the Salmon and Snake Rivers in west central Idaho, the Seven Devils offer high alpine hiking that is second to none. Really steep and difficult hiking at times, it is one of the most incredible places I’ve ever been. This stark and austere environment is something you cannot appreciate unless you experience it firsthand.

Drive to the campground at about 8,000 feet and go up from there. While we were up on the 3-mile-wide bench that forms the Seven Devils high country, a goat followed us for about 30 minutes; it must have been looking for food, but a strange occurrence in a strange place nonetheless. As we were up on the ‘bench’ a storm looked like it was headed our way and I thought I could hear it screaming towards us-like something out of a movie. So there I am, totally mesmerized by it all and two A-10 war planes come roaring from behind one of the peaks-impressive, but the spell was broken.

Gerona, Catalonia

We arrive by plane from Brussels and the place looks just like my original home (San Joaquin Valley, California). Since I speak enough Spanish to get by it feels great to be there. We book a hotel for a couple of nights and then go to the nearest café for dinner. I get the menu…hello!...you’re not in Spain, you’re in Catalonia…they have their own language, which sounds like Spanish (or Castellano, as they call it) but ALL the words are different. I can’t read a word of the menu and my Spanish isn’t good enough to ask the waiter to translate from Catalan to Spanish. At least the waiter was kind enough to speak Spanish; a lot of the older folks would only speak Catalan. Given the history of the place, they're a bit touchy about their language and culture, rightfully so. Anyway, I’m reduced to pointing and not having a clue what I or the kids are ordering. The entrée comes: an egg, on a bed of rice, topped with ketchup…at least it’s recognizable. I’m thinking this must be some weird dish specific to this café. The next day as we're walking through this fantastic medieval city, I notice the entrées lined up at the café windows, and they all serve ketchup/eggs/rice--a local favorite.

One thing I thought very cool about the place is that the people, teenager and adult alike, promenade along the downtown streets before dinner (which isn't served until about 8). They are for the most part well scrubbed, well dressed, and a delight to watch, which is the whole point, I guess.

We were there during the Christmas holidays and I also noticed all these shops with signs that say ‘Bon Nadal’, which means something like ‘good birth’ in Catalan. So, I’m wondering, if they have so many maternity shops, where are all the infants? It takes me a few days before I realize that it’s the Catalan equivalent of Merry Christmas. Yep--just another dumb tourist.

Caverna del Diablo

Mazatlan: The Devil's Cave used to hide soldiers guarding ammunition during the revolution. Now, during the crazy days of the annual pre-Lenten ‘Festival’ it serves as an overflow drunk tank—it’s so called because it ‘smells like the devil’. I took our driver's word for it.

Mexican Blankets

Just because I like the vibrant colors.

Guell Park

Guell Park-Barcelona. Here you have the fabulous and bizarre genius of Antoni Gaudi in park form. My son said it looked like Dr. Seuss land--it’s hard not to agree. You know you're in a special place when you can catch the kids on camera in a rare bout of sibling affection.

Valle Crucis

Valle Crucis, Wales. So you're driving your car down the road and you just never know what's around the corner. And there...right before your eyes...materializes a magnificent 12th century abbey you didn't even know existed! It's why we travel.

The layout of the abbey largely followed the standard Cistercian plan. The abbey church accommodated both the choir monks, who spent their time in prayer and contemplation, and the lay brethren who undertook more mundane duties, such as agricultural work, enabling the community, at least in its early years, to remain largely self-sufficient. The monks observed their daily offices in the choir, beneath the crossing of the church, separated by a screen from the lay brethren who worshipped in the nave.

Scottish Borders

This is Ferniehirst, not a mini castle, but a fortified house in southern Scotland. Notice the gun holes in the tower-it must have been pretty wild back in the day. Parts of this place are over 500 years old, so that means most of the population were then living in mud huts and the gun holes must have come in handy. Also pictured are my two lovely children-back when they were good and pre-teen. The zombie-like demeanor they are affecting is most likely due to the vast amounts of culture they were exposed to that day. Oh well, at their age and beyond, my eyes would glaze over very quickly in similiar situations. So, it’s an old tradition to torture the children in this fashion. Some day, when they’re old like me, they’ll think that it was cool, maybe.

Bovill, Idaho

I had the pleasure of spending a few days in Bovill this week. It’s really a beautiful, but sad place, almost alpine, where some years it snows until June. Getting out of the land of starched shirts and into such a rustic setting is a bit of a culture shock. I walked around the town to see what I could see, almost expecting to hear dueling banjos around every corner. I didn’t bother to change out of my starched shirt &etc, so the locals stared as if I were from another planet. I was told before I went to ‘lock your car in Bovill’ but I never got that feeling while there. The local tavern was full of apparently unemployed men at 10am, not good. Bovill: another example of the decline of rural America, where those who are left behind are left out.