Wolf Moon of 2010

 

#30

01.30.10

Photo

First off, I'd like to humbly acknowledge the 7 emails I received this morning upon awaking indicating disappointment that my  amateur blog wasn't updated per routine after midnight.  That means a lot!  I got home after 7 p.m. last night, which only gave me an hour to get the blog written and posted.  Yes, my bedtime is 8 p.m. these days, with 4 a.m. wake ups.  I just can't seem to shake that glorious Atlantic Standard Time.  Or perhaps I just don't want to shake the Atlantic Standard Time, as if to fool myself in to believing I live thar, rather than har.  (?)

In a sleazy attempt to earn your forgiveness and understanding, my Loyal 7 Followers (L7F's), allow me to illustrate the days events.  

My work day started around 6:30 a.m., and it turned out to be a rather burly schedule including 7 office-based surgeries.  A typical day might have 3.  Nevertheless, at some point in the afternoon I had time to check email on the iPhone.  A great friend who knows of my affinity for the moon and that my original blog entry featured a "Blue Moon", had emailed a link to a National Geographic story about the pending Wolf Moon that night.  I didn't have a chance to read the article at work, but knew I wouldn't be so audacious as to post two photos of the moon within the first 30 days of my blog.  Furthermore, the chances of our weather cooperating for a second straight full moon which might allow me catch a glimpse of it, let alone photograph it, were unlikely at best.  Even still, I appreciated the thought and effort behind the link.

My last client of the day canceled, which is akin to getting two maraschino cherries on top of your Branigan's Turtle Sundae (circa 1980, SLC), when you only expected one.  So I raced over to my son's school to surprise him and share the last moments of his Winter Carnival.  I got there as just as he and T were leaving, and did a double-take when I saw a gaping flesh wound on Q's right cheek.  It looked as if he'd been attacked with one of those Garden Weasel contraptions I've seen on late night tv ads.  All fears were immediately washed away when Q smiled and said "Look, Dad!  I got my face painted with a lightning bolt!".  {Sigh}  Turns out the upper class kids were given the job of painting the lower school children's faces.  

To whomever painted Q's lightning bolt:  Please, please consider a profession outside the realm of the painted arts.  Hmm... on second thought, the B-movie Horror Film industry may have a place for you... so chin up.

We decided to try and regain some southern-latitude-jollies by visiting Mexico In Alaska for dinner, and as usual - we were not disappointed.  The food was excellent; but the real barometer of a Successful Dining Event, namely Number of Drinks Spilled, was kept to the preposterously pleasant value of Zero.  Solid work, Q!

Q wanted to ride shotgun in my carriage rather than T's, so we made the parking-lot-car-seat-switch with the precision of Carl Edwards' #99 Office Depot pit team.  We pulled out of the parking lot listening to Hank Mobley blow Dig Dis off Soul Station with his sweet tenor sax when Q yelled "Moon!"  I was trying to manage the carriage's customary hip-sway as I accelerated (it is RWD on icy roads, mind you...), so I just said "Way to go, spotter."  He again said "Moon!", and the sinuous sashaying of our posterior was approaching a low amplitude (we were almost driving straight), so I glanced at what he was pointing at.  "That's a street light, Pal... but nice try".  He let out a frustrated "Argh.  It isn't electric, because look!  There's no pole."  So I looked again, and Wow.  

Wow.

Wolf Moon, indeed. 


It was looming large, low, and bright over the eastern horizon... like an Alka-Seltzer tablet for the Milky Way.  I had to give Q control of the steering wheel (luckily it's a two-seater, so he was sitting up front and could do it; otherwise I'd have had to try and steer with my knees!) so I could roll down the window, stick my head out and let my tongue flap in the breeze as Q guided us down the New Seward Highway approximating 70 m.p.h.


We got home after 7 p.m., and while T and Q focused on his violin lesson, I got the Celestron NexStar 114 GT all set up and hauled it out to the driveway for a closer look.  The moon was much lower on the horizon than my 1st blog entry "Blue Moon", so I couldn't look at it from the comfort of Candle House Observatory.  Fortunately it was 25 degrees ABOVE zero, which meant I could stay out for up to an hour without gloves if I so desired (and I so, so desired) without risking blistering, demarcation of gangrene, eventual digital amputation and long term disability. 


I immediately locked in the moon and got what I believe to be far superior shots when compared to the Blue Moon shots; probably because I wasn't shooting through glass windows with electric candles in the sills (Duh!  What was I thinking?!)  Taking a photo with the iPhone through the telescope eyepiece was a snap after my practice from less than one month ago.


I then saw what I thought must have to be Mars sitting to the left and above the moon.  I spent a good 40 minutes trying to lock that in with the telescope... but to no avail.  I have no idea why I could not get it in my sights, but it was very, very frustrating.  I pulled out the Canon Xsi to see if I could get a good moon / mars shot; and could not.  The image was blurring because of the long aperture time in the dark (I think I said that right...)  My hands were starting to hurt at this point, but I came inside to get the super-deluxe (free) plastic tripod that came with the Xsi bundle, and which I had mangled into near total destruction at Q's violin performance at his school earlier in the week.  I wanted to see if that would allow me a clear, focused image.  No dice.  The camera would move just by physically pushing the button, and the photo was botched.  Now the hands and head were positively screaming, so I hauled everything back in to the garage.  


Then it occurred to me that I hadn't even tried a shot with the iPhone except with the telescope, so I trucked back out and made a couple feeble attempts that didn't look so hot.  But while I was shooting these last attempts, my neighbor across the street, J.B. was coming home from work and saw me trying to take a photo.  J.B. isn't anything special... just a world class hunter, fisher, river rafter, photographer, cross-country skier, oh - and the President of a bank.  No biggie.  He is Anchorage's Ben Franklin, I think... without the challenged hairline, mini-spectacles, or running tab at City Tavern on 2nd and Walnut in Society Hill, Philadelphia.  So no pressure...


He left his garage door open and I cringed as I heard his footsteps approaching.  How could I explain what I was doing to him?  I have a signed edition of one of his photos of Denali hanging in my home, for cripes sakes!  So there he was, now at my side.  Impeccably dressed in an gray business suit with a perfect windsor knotted tie and a gorgeous black cashmere overcoat.  We said our hellos, and having seen what I was trying to do, he immediately set about pacing the vicinity looking for The Spot to maximize the beauty of my photo.  He found it in short order.

I told him I had shot the moon with the iPhone, and he was ultra-complimentary when I showed it to him.  I then told him I had failed with the Xsi, and without a word he marched back to his home and returned moments later with a tripod that probably cost more than my Xsi, a remote control for my camera so it wouldn't blur, and a Celestron SkyScout Personal Planetarium device that identifies any celestial body (I mustered the strength and decorum to resist asking if that included Scarlett Johannson).  What a guy!  Thanks J.B. - you remain a personal hero and idol.


When he went back home I spent another 15 minutes dizzily scanning the skies for stars and planets, listening to histories provided by the SkyScout.  So, so cool.  I then realized my hands were no longer hurting... and that's a bad thing.  So I hurriedly tried snapping some shots of the moon and mars with my Hyundai camera on his Bugati tripod using his remote - but I couldn't figure out how to get the flash off, and none of the photos turned out well.  That's when I realized my head wasn't hurting anymore, either... so I decided to call it a night.  All told I probably spent 1.5 hours under the clear subarctic night skies wearing fleece-lined jacket and jeans, and thin leather loafers.  Where my self-anointed brilliance in Trichophyton species knows no bounds, my common sense in layering casual wear is a work in progress.

By the time I got in the house and sat at the computer, I was positively shaking with cold.  So I went to the bedroom, got on pj's and a thick robe, wool socks and slippers, and was still cold.  So I crawled in to bed with flannel sheets and a heavy down comforter "just to warm up", and the next thing I know it is 8 a.m. January 30, and Q is in my ear asking if George Jetson's spaceship really does fold up in to a briefcase that he can carry, and if so, why we haven't bothered to purchase one for ourselves.


Here are some additional shots from last night:

 

The Setup.  

Do you see the spec of Mars up and to the left of the moon?

 

The Professional.

Stud.

The Damage.

Back in the garage, here.  The pain doesn't really come through in the pic, does it?

Music

The Czars are a nice shoegazey / alt-country / dream pop group out of Denver, Colorado area.  I like the mood of this song, Paint the Moon, and feel it nicely fits my Wolf Moon of 2010 photograph.  It's the type of song I could just put on loop and listen to endlessly.  Pretty lyrics, too.  They match my feelings of the icy, blue greys of life in Alaska during the winter.  It is helping me transition back to Alaska Standard Time, finally.  

I won't write any more about the music, since I've just spewed 1500+ words above.  I promise I'm trying to manage the length of my writing... but got carried away today and want to just get this posted instead of edit for stupidity and excess.  I take comfort in the fact that most will miss this entry because of my tardiness in posting it.

Parting Comments

For those not following the link to the National Geographic story above; "Wolf Moon" is what Native American's called the full moon of January.  This year it occurs when the moon is at its perigee, meaning "closest to the Earth".  So last night it appeared 14% larger and 30% brighter than any other full moon will appear in 2010.  And the alaskan skies cooperated.  Hooray!

Finally, I absolutely PROMISE to not post any more photos of the moon (at least until February, 2010, anyway).

Until tomorrow... thank you for looking, listening and reading.  CCE 

 

Boy With A Coin

#29

01.29.10

Photo

T, Q and I were walking through an open air market on Bonaire Island when T spotted a black velveteen pouch with a Jolly Roger logo, and suggested we buy it to organize the shells Q had been collecting on the different beaches we were visiting.  The bag cost $2.95US, and I remember being annoyed that it wasn't just $3US.  Selling something for $X.99 or $X.95 doesn't make sense to me in the U.S. of A., and it doesn't make sense to me on Bonaire Island.  I guess there is marketing psychology behind it; but to me, it's just another demonstrative case of "we're all idiots".  If we're more willing to buy a $2.95US velveteen pouch than a $3US velveteen pouch, well, then we're all dunces and half-wits and don't deserve to reproduce.

Where was I?  Ah, yes.  The pouch.  Fortunately for me, haggling is not customary on Bonaire.  I loathe haggling.  In fact, I actually have my own way of "reverse haggling" that I developed over two years in Guatemala.  When the vendor seems hell bent on haggling, I go along with it until we reach an accepted price.  Then I pay 10-25% more than the original asking price and we all walk away happy.  The last thing I want to do is talk down the price on an article that will potentially feed and clothe humans who are likely living in meager conditions.  I'm no saint, just a guy with a conscience and a guy who feels right lucky to have been born when, where, and to whom he was.  That might be the least intelligible sentence I have ever written.  I think I'll keep it!

Back to the pouch.  Since we weren't forced to haggle, I gave the vendor $3US and was just about ready to walk away when I saw the lady hold out a Buffalo Nickel.  Imagine that!  A real, live, bonafide, genuine U.S. standard issue 1935 Buffalo Nickel.  Wikipedia says the likelihood of getting a buffalo nickel from circulation these days is about 1:25,000.  I bet I haven't gotten a buffalo nickel but twice in the last 15 years.  And it is, above all others, the most beautiful coin ever made

The hard part is photographing the thing.  I've tried photographing neat wheat pennies, mercury dimes and buffalo nickels before under excellent lighting conditions and with a macro lens on the camera... and usually they turn out crap-appy.  So to attempt an iPhone photo of my prized coin was borderline ridiculous; but I was determined to at least try. I'd been carrying it around since I got it last week, and today while at work I had the chance to experiment under different lighting conditions and backgrounds.  (You'll note I had to actually go to work to find time to do something non-work related.  Sigh.)

It turns out it matters a lot what you choose as the background when photographing coins.  I shot it on my laminate desktop (crappy photo); plain white paper (crappy photo); small brick of polished granite (crappy photo), a slab of raw pork rump roast (crappy photo), and then a standard cheap-o napkin from the cafeteria (relatively nice photo!).  I think it has to do with undesirable light reflection from the prior surfaces, and more desirable light absorption by the latter surface, but that's coming from a guy who bothers to fret over why people respond psychologically to penny or nickel discounts in merchandising.  So don't pay me too much mind, please.  Instead, put it to your physics professor neighbor who likes to raise rabbits in his or her backyard and who wears his or her polyester pants up near his or her armpits.  He or she will have a better idea than I do.

I think the detail in the shown obverse (front) of the coin is quite nice, considering the focal point for the iPhone camera is pretty long and this coin is pretty small.  The photos all came out with the coin looking golden; so I had to increase the exposure by about 25% and then sharpen it... and I'm quite pleased with the result.  I'll post some other attempts I made, but feel the cheap napkin worked the best.  It also adds a little texture to the photo, and I like the random element of cropped ink writing, too.  

Here were other shots, including the reverse of the coin with the buffalo:

Gorgeous!

This was the original of the reverse shown above that I had cropped and processed digitally using Photogene.

Shot on plain white copier paper; less detail and less focus, no?

Same as the shot above, except I "cooled" the temperature a bit in an attempt to get the nickel more "nickel", and less golden, and the paper less beige.  I think it worked, but the focus is still less than when shot on the napkin, in my opinion.

This is the shot on a slab of raw pork rump roast; not much better than the plain white paper.  (And don't even think about asking why I have a slab of raw pork rump roast in my cubicle - did your mother teach you no manners?!)

Music

Boy with a Coin by Iron & Wine is a wonderful song off the 2007 album The Shepherd's Dog. Iron & Wine is really just one guy - a folkie singer-songwriter named Sam Beam, who got his start in film making rather than music. His music is released on none other than SubPop. What a diverse and epic label!  His music is compared to two of my favorite musicians of all time, Nick Drake and Elliott Smith, so it was a no-brainer that I'd migrate toward him.

His vocal delivery is usually whisper quiet, and I like how he features some hand-clapping in this track which reminds me of sunny afternoons in the Plaza Mayor of Salamanca circa 1992.  This song is super-deep.  If you listen to it 20 or 30 times you might have 20 or 30 impressions of what he is referring to.  I've listened to it more than 100 times, perhaps 10 times just today in preparing this blog entry.  In my estimation it deals with the interconnectedness of everyone and everything, for better or for worse, and the ugliness of profiting from someone else's loss. 

The boy finds a coin in a weedy field littered with bullets and trade magazines where a car flipped over.  So he benefits from the tragedy of others.  I don't really want to write what I think the girl who finds a bird in the snow means... it makes me melancholy just thinking about it.  So these two supposedly innocent children have either benefited or been harmed by the actions of others though they didn't really ask for, or deserve, either event.  It just happened "when God left the ground to circle the earth".  In the final stanza, the boy throws away his coin into the sea, perhaps angrily (the coin was "crammed in his jeans"), and makes a wish before returning to the place "that all of us burn".  I think his wish is that he never found the coin after realizing the circumstances surrounding his finding it.

I'd love to get together with a group of people who have pondered this song and discuss it.  Which reminds me - why are there book clubs, but no music clubs?  I want a club where we meet weekly to discuss music and lyrics.  Can't you see it?  Everyone leaning back in leather couches with a beverage or food stuff of their choosing, lights on low, the music blowing?  I want that club... I need that club.  Afterall, I am the Boy with a Coin (though I have a clear conscience about my nickel).

Parting Comments

The buffalo nickel is actually just a nickname for the "Indian Head Nickel", which was created by the sculptor James Earle Fraser.  The nickel was circulated from 1913 to 1938.  Since nickel is such a soft metal, it is rare to find one with the date completely intact and legible.  So my coin from Bonaire is really quite exceptional.  The mint is always indicated just below the "FIVE CENTS" on the reverse, and since my coin doesn't show S (San Francisco) or D (Denver), that means it was minted in my old stomping grounds of Philadelphia (no P).  According to Wikipedia again, the Indian Head on the obverse is a composite of three different chiefs of the early 1900's - Sioux, Cheyenne and Kiowa.  The buffalo is believed to be modeled after a bison called Black Diamond who resided at the Central Park Zoo.  I looked up the value of my buffalo nickel and it's listed at $0.35US.  I scoff in the gener-al di-rection of anyone daring to offer me $0.35US for my nickel!  I wouldn't take 100 times that (but would strongly consider 1000 times that...)

Until tomorrow... thank you for looking, listening and reading.  CCE

Sleepytime

#28

01.28.10

*Note:  A far brighter mind than the one I possess has expertly suggested that I break up my blog in to separate divisions.  In this way, those individuals more interested in reading about how and why I chose a particular photo, but not the endless ramblings about music, and vice versa, can go to the preferred areas.  I'll break it up in to two or three divisions depending on the day; Photo, Music, and Loosely Applicable Thoughts.  Thanks for the suggestion!

Photo

If reincarnation were real, I'd love to be reincarnated as one of T's cats.  Perhaps I can illustrate her devotion to these cats by pointing out that I am allergic to cats, yet still have three of them sharing space under my roof.  The issue is clear: I will enter a shelter or be adopted out long before any one of our cats suffer the indignity of it all.

I took this photo of Benson, our second oldest Himalayan cat, resting in front of the fireplace just his morning around 9 a.m.  I just love that blue light reflecting through the fireplace glass.  I love his ever-gentle globes for eyes.  True, he doesn't care for me at all... but I like him anyway.  What can I say?  Cats are different than dogs, and this one happened to pick T as his Assigned Human.

I like Jack Byrnes' position statement when he questions his soon-to-be son-in-law Gaylord Focker about why he likes dogs more than cats.  "You prefer an emotionally shallow animal? ... The dog is very easy to break, but cats make you work for their affection.  They don't sell out the way dogs do."

Bonus photo Overbaked sepia-tone of los trés gatos in front of the fireplace (I was trying to antique it... but was unsuccessful):

Music

Wynton Marsalis is a polarizing figure within Jazz.  Some experts opine that he talks better than he plays, while others believe him to be a virtuoso on the trumpet.  He is the current Artistic Director for the Lincoln Center, and in my novice opinion, I happen to be on the "he's a virtuoso" side of the fence in regards to his talent.  I love this track, When It's Sleepytime Down South, and think it matches the blue light bathing my Gentle Ben in today's photo quite expertly.  The song was written in the 1930's, and Louis Armstrong popularized it with dozens of different recordings.

Loosely Applicable Thoughts

The average Alaskan might be categorized as outdoorsy, whether they be Alaska Native or an Alaska Transplant (people like me).  Obviously some Alaska Natives take outdoorsy to a whole different level with subsistence lifestyles that have been practiced beautifully for thousands of years.

It is widely assumed that you must have a regular winter activity to stay sane in Alaska, so I am often asked what my winter sport is.  My response, "Relaxing", usually spawns the most piteous expressions.  You might think I've just told them my name is Tod Lubich.

Don't get me wrong... I truly enjoy those long summer days that stretch nearly 20 hours.  We hike the Byron Glacier trail, or go on long drives.  I watch college baseball summer league play at Mulcahy Stadium, or play with my Q at the nearby elementary schoolyard.  While I admittedly tend to avoid activities that might induce sweating, I remain active in my own way.  

So I build up a sleep deficit during the summer, and I get off track with my real passions - reading, writing, music collecting, etc.  In other words, I prefer intracranial exercise to the eco-sports or physical exercise.  Society would have me be ashamed to admit this, but luckily I don't hold Society and it's mandates in too high esteem.  It is for these reasons that I begin to anticipate winter around August, when fortunately it starts to turn cooler anyway.

There must be something medical in the blue winter light I look forward to most mornings and evenings.  It quiets  my mind, soothes my headaches and lowers my pulse.  On any given day I will listen to one or two full albums, do crossword puzzles, read chapters from a book (the latest on is a brilliant exploration of the battle between Faith and Reason called Descartes' Bones by Russell Shorto - a gift from my good friend / professional and book club colleague K.A.B.), etc.  None of which is allowed to conflict with my main passion and priority, namely, being a present father for my boy Q.

Until tomorrow... thank you for looking, listening and reading.   CCE

Sun Comes Up, It's Tuesday Morning

#27

01.27.10

I was driving home this morning after dropping Q off at school, when I saw a pretty cloud pattern over the Chugach Mountains.  I stopped off at Carr's Grocery for a warm beverage and cream cheese danish, then drove to the parking lot of an east Anchorage movie theater.  I took quite a few photos, but liked this one the best.  

I chose Sun Comes Up, It's Tuesday Morning by the Cowboy Junkies as today's song for four reasons:  1) you already know I love the Cowboy Junkies, having featured them once to date, 2) the song's title and mood fit my photo wonderfully, 3) this photo of a sunrise was taken on a Tuesday morning, and 4) I won't have to belabor the minutia of the Junkies since I've already done that.  That itself is nice for two reasons:  1)  alas - I am no young man brimming with energy, nor was I ever (still jet-lagged), and 2) I have heard from several readers who would prefer less banter about the songs I select.  

I'm nothing if not democratic - so I'll strip it down to the photo and song for a few days and see if that makes the blog more palatable.

Speaking of palatable... here is that cream cheese danish which may have been created by an ostracized relative of Jackson Pollock:

Until tomorrow... thank you for looking, listening and reading.  CCE 

 

Eagle

#26

01.26.10

When we decided to move to Alaska in 2003, I remember being more excited about seeing wild eagles than anything else.  It didn't take long before we had seen literally hundreds of them, yet I still never tire of seeing one in nature.  These are powerful, powerful birds.  I know many people here in Alaska without known history of illicit street drug or alcohol abuse who insist they have seen eagles swoop down from the sky and pick up small dogs and cats on the fly.  

I remember fishing for king salmon on the Kenai River with my father in 2005 or 2006 and we saw an eagle take about one dozen passes at a small family of ducks.  Every time the eagle approached, the mother duck would beat her wings against the water and the ducklings would dive in unison.  Around the twelfth pass, the eagle finally got a duckling, flew to the top of a nearby tree, and that was that.  I was pretty upset and sniffly over the event, so my father had to put his arm around me and tell me about the Circle of Life.  I admired him so much for being so knowledgeable and comforting at a time like that... but only right up until I saw the Lion King at the Anchorage Performing Arts Center last Summer, when I realized he ripped the whole speech off of Disney's Mufasa.

So, eagles are cool alright.  Never mind Ben Franklin voting for the Turkey as our National Bird; this is one area where he was just wrong!  He told his daughter the eagle "is of bad moral character".  Yet Ben is also known to have suggested the Rattle Snake as our National symbol.  I am unaware of any official debates as to the 'moral character' of rattlers; but I suppose History Detectives on P.B.S. will search that out if I ask them nicely, someday. 

The featured photo is obviously grainy due to poor lighting and distance; but I still like that it captured the fleeting moment as desired.  I'm not sure why there is so much yellow and green in the clouds.  I tried zooming in for a closer shot with both Camera Genius and Camera Zoom apps, but the images got progressively worse as expected:

Nevertheless, my expectations going in to the photo were low, so I suppose these photos ended up exceeding my expectations.  I'm not ashamed to post them in the slightest, for better or worse.  However, since I was carrying my Canon Xsi at the time, I shot a couple more photos.  Though they are clearly superior images, I was amazed at how "less fun" it felt to use that camera after these last few weeks of concentrating on the iPhone's camera.  Here are the Canon shots taken on the same day as above:

 

Here are two photos I got in Homer a few years ago with my Nikon 8800:

 

 

Hmmm... now what to choose for the soundtrack.  Certainly not the Steve Miller Band fave; I'm focusing on Jazz / Folk / Alt-Country / Indie rock / and Psychedelic for this blog.  'Why?', you ask?  Uh... I don't know.  I just am.  Maybe because the Classic Rock genre is so 'known', and I'm trying to support lesser known groups / songs so the artists can properly feed their many children strung out near concert halls like so many cheap bracelet charms across the land.  I'm really thoughtful like that.

Well, here I go again with Leonard Cohen.  Even still, again I go with a cover version rather than his own original.  He has such a unique voice and delivery, I don't expect most to find it attractive on first listen.  Just like Modest Mouse was a gradual or acquired taste for me, and I used Sun Kil Moon to "smooth out the rough edges" in this blog on Grey Ice Water; I suppose I'm covering a titch for my man Leonard here.  But I hope in time you will give his original tunes  try.  I really do consider him an absolute genius as a lyricist in particular.

Here I play his Bird on a Wire, which has been covered by a host of musicians over the years (I own versions by Cohen, Ian McCulloch, the Neville Brothers, Johnny Cash, Joe Cocker and k.d. lang).  I'm playing the k.d. lang version, because I think she did a wonderful job and it best fits my photos of eagles.  

I'm not an overt fan of k.d. lang, because I think her to be rather broadwayish or theatrical even though she is classified as a singer-songwriter or country musician.  Or at least I think I'm not a fan... but I'll be chuck-darned if I don't keep buying her tunes, usually song-by-song, over the years.  One exception is her immaculate "Hymns of the 49th Parallel" which I consider a "must have" album.  It is an amazing collection of music which covers songs from her fellow Canadian musicians like Neil Young, Jane Siberry, and in this track, Leonard Cohen.  You already know that I'm in to latitudes if you've read my blog to date; and the 49th parallel, or 49th latitude, is a major dividing line between Canada and the U.S.A.  

She just doesn't miss any notes, this one... I hope you enjoy the song.

Until tomorrow... thank you for looking, listening and reading.  CCE

Home

#25

01.25.10

 

Our flight from San Juan to Anchorage went off as scheduled; a real treat after the 36+ hour death-march on the way from Alaska to Puerto Rico just over a week ago.  Coming home through Chicago took a mere 21 hours from door-to-door.

We really appreciated the opportunity to travel with T's entire family in the Caribbean.  Never has tempus fugit been more real or ominous as these past 6 months.  Her mother is battling a terrible disease, and we are fortunate to have spent a week at sea with her and the family.



The cruise on Princess was amazing; T and I were discussing this yesterday, and cannot think of a way they might improve upon their services.  I hereby offer them a One Time Limited Offer* to hire me on as a full-time Princess blogger.  I'll simply move from ship to ship with my family and cruise the world indefinitely, shooting photos with a camera of their choosing.  Perhaps they'll go in "dutch" with Apple and I'll keep up the iPhone camera thing?

*One Time Limited Offer mandates Princess and/or Apple must offer me the position while I am amongst the living; though I'd consider the offer after death if, and as, able.


As much fun as the cruise was, it is always nice to come home... right?  Right.  


So this photo is of our home, nicknamed "Candle House" by T because she customized every window with electric candles that plug directly in to the windowsills.  In Philly we had a candle in every window too... but we only had about 4 windows, and there were cords running from the walls to the windowsills.  

The photo is very grainy due to the darkness and the fact that I shot it through a semi-dirty windshield.  You can see the headlights on the snowbank to the left.  Notice how much light we're now getting at around 9:15 a.m.!  What a difference from just a month ago, when it still would have been pitch black.  Our sunrise today was 9:36 a.m., and sunset will be 4:48 p.m., with a net gain of 4 minutes, 57 seconds daylight from just yesterday.



You can see there has not been much snow in Anchorage this year.  I believe we've only had around 36 inches so far this season.  When our airplane landed in Anchorage late last night Q looked out the window and said "Dad, look!  There's white sand in Alaska, too!"  I don't know if he was being sarcastic, or if one week on the likes of St. Thomas, Aruba and Bonaire in the Atlantic Standard Time Zone flipped his lid.


Home by the Engineers is a nice shoegazer of a song.  I quite like their album "Engineers", and first heard them on good ol' SomaFM's Indie Pop Rocks back around 2005.  The song seems like a comfortable fit for this blog entry.


I'm also posting the song Three Little Birds by Bob Marley.  I'm not featuring that song since it is widely known, and I'm trying to only post songs that might be "new" to readers.  I love nothing more than when someone introduces new songs / bands to me, and want to pay that forward.  

I've always loved this Marley track, and I think probably 99% of humanity having heard it would agree.  But I'll be chucky-darned if it doesn't just make more "sense" after having just floated el mar caribe...  there really is a different vibe there that I had never experienced before.  Definitely unique from the Hawaiian vibe I've also loved, but had thought would be identical.  

Now all the music from the Caribbean region makes even more sense to me.  In my  teen years I thought reggae in all it's forms was too simple and repetitive; and that ignorance persisted even after my folks returned from Barbados bearing the fine gifts of Marley and Gregory Isaac.  

While I was living in Guatemala I met a guy named Tyler H. who was an enormous influence on how I would listen to, and enjoy, music henceforth.  Sadly, I've lost touch with him more than 15 years ago (I think he went to Physical Therapy school at the University of Utah?), but his influence lingers still.  One band he introduced to me around 1990 was Steel Pulse, and Steppin' Out off "Earth Crisis" in particular.  Ever since then, I love a good reggae sound when the mood calls for it.  One of my favorite reggae albums of all time was made by a musician that might surprise the socks off you... I'll play one or two of her (big clue, there... did you catch it?) reggae songs in blogs to come, I have no doubts.


Anyhow, I thought posting Three Little Birds after Home would set the tone for those readers choosing to continue viewing the previous photos from the cruise that I had to post just today.  By choice I was "off the grid" while on the cruise ship... Princess offered WiFi for a fee.  


Until tomorrow... thank you for looking, listening and reading.  CCE

Chicago O'Hare Globe

#24

01.24.10

Yes, I know I have posted this from my iPhone... but it came out smallish; and I'm quite taken by the image.  So I decided to make it the official image of Day 24, with all associated rites, privileges, and honors.  {Whatever that means...}

I wonder if this isn't my favorite iPhone photo in this blog to date?

Leaving San Juan

{Sigh.}

Pretty Water

A simple photo of water alongside the ship as we cruised.

Quarter Moon

#23
01.23.10

Just a photo I took the last day of the cruise between Aruba and San
Juan. The ship was fascinating; many good subjects to photograph.

I only took about 40 iPhone photos on the trip, and more than a
thousand with the Canon... So I'm limited when it comes to posting
photos for this blog.

Formal Dining Room

I tried almost everything the ship offered, which was quite all-
encompassing. Rabbit, duck, pheasant, sea bass - things I'd never
tried before. The last night I tried a beef steak - and wished I had
stuck with the more exotic fare. One area I don't get too experimental
is exotic sea food; which for me means no oysters, clams, mussels,
squid, ceviche, etc. The bass was good, the lobster and prawns good
too. Our waiter, Mariusz from Poland, was World Class.

The Palms Beach, Aruba

#22
01.22.10

Amazing Island!

Sorobon Beach, Bonaire

#21
01.21.10
Definitely my favorite of the islands we visited. The Dutch sure know
how to add beauty to already gorgeous islands.
The light colored foreground is clear water on white sand. The
midground is green sea grass (it was roped off for conservation). The
background shows the many windsurfers (this beach was very windy).
Interestingly, Sorobon is advertised as a "naturists resort", (read: nude beach)
but the kind fellow from the Tourists Information booth in Kralendijk
failed to mention that when he highly recommended it.  {Was he grinning
when he made the recommendation?  I think he just may have been...}
 
*Note to self: send compliments and guilders to said tourist info booth.

Carribbean Princess

#20
01.20.10

I didn't really take iPhone photos in Grenada except this one of the
cruise ship. Check out that sail boat in the background!

Port, Dominica Island

#19
01.19.10

I really liked the visual of these concrete "things" in the port next
to our docked cruise ship. I have no idea what their purpose is... But
they look like a pile of discarded cement anchors. We went to the
lovely Mero Beach featuring black volcanic sand while in Dominica.

Sand Castle

Q and I had a great time making this on Emerald Beach, St. Thomas.

Emerald Beach Palms

#18
01.18.10

St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

Chicago O'Hare

The floating globe is a real nice piece.

I wish I could stay in Chicago another day or seven to visit MCD and
his family.