random reflections

End of Summer Get-away

Sarah and her family spent a week with us in Rochester, and then the six of us took off for Intermediate Lake in Michigan where we had rented a cottage for a week. The weather was much cooler than we anticipated, but it didn't keep the kids out of the water, and by the end of the week it had warmed up. It was, gratefully, sunny every day.

The cottage was set back from the lake. The only disadvantage to that was the view from the cottage was more limited than it might have been.

We rented a boat for the week, and got out on the lake every day. Caleb (as you will see) loves tubing, and wished for a faster boat. Hannah wasn't interested in tubing this year, but loves driving with Grandpa. 

Hannah did like kayaking. The cottage had several we could use, and Sarah tied Hannah's kayak to hers. Hannah paddled continuously so I don't thing the rope did much except keep her with Sarah.

We think we may put this photo on a tee shirt for Caleb on his birthday!

The kids talked Adam into tubing. The rest of us passed on it. 

And that's the way we spent most of the days--on the water. I don't have any photos of Hannah in the water, but the water was shallow enough that she could easily play in the water which she loved. We also played board games, read, and napped. A pretty fine way to spend one of the last weeks of the summer.

After Sarah and her family left for Wisconsin, we stayed on for a couple of days to meet up with a couple we met on our tour of Spain and Portugal. Candy and Ralph live in northern Indiana so we had met them for lunch earlier in the year on our way home from Wisconsin. This time Ralph got us rooms at one of the wineries near Traverse City. It was gorgeous, and so relaxing. We had lovely rooms, but also had the use of a very large living area and patio. Traverse City is one of their favorite get-aways. 

One morning they took us to Fish Town--an old fishing village that now offers boat rentals, fishing excursions, and shops. 

I was excited to finally see a Wood Duck. There was a whole flock of them.

This is a view from one of the wineries we visited. The grounds were beautiful, as were the ones where we stayed.

All in all it was a wonderful trip. We returned to a very busy schedule which is finally winding down this week. Two weeks from Saturday we'll be off again. I don't expect to do more than try to keep up with email during that trip, so I hope to get a lot of crafting and posting done in the next week or two.

 

 

Tanzania Adventure

Odysseys' Tanzania Adventure tour was accurately titled. It met every one of our expectations and then some. There was additional "excitement" for me because my passport disappeared the very night we arrived. It's a long story, but we do know I had it in my hand when I got on the van at the Killimanjaro Airport (thanks to the CCTV cameras at the airport,) but that was the last time anyone saw it. Needless to say, I got home, and Tracy and I had a couple adventures the rest of the group missed. Actually, they were wonderful adventures, and the biggest take-away I have from the trip is the kindness, coooperation, and empathy we received from everyone we encountered. The wonderful manager of Leopard Tours in Arusha who facilitated my trip to the American Embassy in Dar es Salaam said it all one day. "Karen, as long as you are in Tanzania, you are family." And that's how we were treated everywhere!

I'm posting a few of our favorite images from the trip here, but at the end of the post you'll find a link to my SmugMug album from the trip. There were many, many more photos but we tried to organize the SmugMug album with some of the most interesting. Once thing you'll see is the variety of landscapes in Tanzania. When I thought about a safari my vision was of the savannah or open plains. In Serengetti, that was true, but it was very different in the other three parks. If you view the SmugMug album you'll see captions for many of the photos, as well as all the photos I'm sharing here. 

You have to look closely but you'll see several beautiful black and white Colobus monkeys in the Arusha National Park-the largest monkeys we saw.

One of the first of many lions we saw. His full belly tells you he has recently eaten, is very sleepy, and won't need another meal for several days.

Mt. Kilimanjaro was only visible in the Arusha National Park. On the day we were there, just the tip of the mountain was showing.

This was not the only time we waited for elephants to cross the road.

I didn't know a group of giraffes is called a tower, but it makes a lot of sense, and I won't forget it. We counted over 20 in this spot.

We visited a Maasai village on the trip and were introduced to their culture. The Maasai are one of the few tribes that have managed to retain their traditional way of life.
We had a chance later in the trip to talk to a Maasai doctor who trained in the United States. He spent 10 years working in Denmark, but has now returned to his village
and is working with a small group to improve their health card and develop some ways to make their lives easier without impinging on the culture.
Two of the men who who conducted our tour of the village had B.A. degrees from universities but have returned to their village.

Our first view of the The Ngorongoro Crater. It was the area I was most excited to see, and it did not disappoint!
We spent one day in the crater and part of a second day in the Nogorongoro Conservation Area.

Sunrise over the Ngorongoro Crater. 

Getting up early to see the sunrise also meant that the light in the crater was perfect for taking photos.

One of many, many Wildebeast 

Both the zebras and the wildebeasts are part of the huge migration that takes place annually. A million wildebeasts and over 800,000
zebras migrate from Kenya to Tanzania and back in search of food during the dry season.

A

Cape Buffalo with Cattle Egrets

A final view of the crater at the end of the day, taken from our lodge which sat on the edge of the crater. 

It didn't happen often, but if word got out to the various driver/guides that there was an excellent viewing, a traffic jam
ensued. Our driver was exceptional, and we never left without a good photo. See below.

Our last two days were spent on Zanzabar, the Spice Island. This is a traditional boat called a Dhow.

We visited a spice plantation. The red is nutmeg, and the surrounding yellow is mace. 

There was just one photo I wanted from this trip, and luckily I got it. A dhow with the sun setting in the background over the Indian Ocean. Tracy and I left one night ahead of the rest of the tour so I could get to the American Embassy to get my emergency passport. Thanks to one of the women in our group, we did not miss the farewell dinner because she asked to have it a night early before we left. It turned out to be a very lovely event, and we are so appreciative of being able to attend. Like the Tanzanian people, our tour group was wonderful, as was our tour guide, our driver/guide, and the two men we traveled with on each of the game drives. We had so much fun!

Thanks for sticking with me through the photo tour. If you still have an interest here is a link to the SmugMug album. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Five in Five: September

Today's photos were taken yesterday---on the 5th---always my intention, for Sandie's Five in Five monthly meme. We are on vacation in the north woods of Wisconsin with Sarah and her family and the internet connection has been shaky at best. It's taken awhile to get the photos to download. We spent most of the fifth on the road, arriving late afternoon for a week on Catfish Lake, near Eagle River. We're closer to Lake Superior than to Lake Michigan which is only a mile or so from Sarah's house in Racine. The weather forecast is not been great for the week, but instead of cold and rain today, we've had sunny skies and warm temperatures. Here's hoping the good luck lasts. We were up this morning in time to see the sunrise right out our bedroom window. There will be photos of that later. 

The five photos in five minutes were taken yesterday when we arrived, a glorious warm day. Adam, Hannah, and Caleb all were in the lake before dinner last night, and again today. I don't think there's much chance my swimsuit will leave the suitcase this week. The lake water is way too cold for me!

The property here is beautiful. The owners have 950 ft. of lake frontage. Here's a look:

The view from the patio in front of the house.

The house is quite spacious, four bedrooms, a large living room, a "lounge" as  Caleb has dubbed it the round room on the left side of the photos with windows on three sides,) and a large, eat-in kitchen. There's also a bunk house out back. If we had teenagers with us, they'd love it.

The boat house and dock, three kayaks, and a rowboat. There's also a shuffle board and all kinds of water equipment. If the weather holds, we're planning to rent a boat the end of the week. Catfish Lake flows into Cranberry Lake and there's lots of shoreline to explore. 

The fire pit. Looking forward to a fire and making S'Mores.

The lake front. We've all spent a good amount of time outside today reading, fishing, and just enjoying the views. 

Linking up with Sandie. I have a few posts ready to go if the internet allows, so I may be back again soon.

 

 

 

Photowalk #27: Bloedel Reserve

Our first stop after Seattle was Bainbridge Island. We caught a morning ferry and arrived in Winslow, a charming town, just as the stores opened. I didn't take any photos in Winslow, but I did do some shopping. I bought a lovely necklace which I wore to the wedding in Portland later in our trip, and a fabulous sling bag which I used nearly every day of our trip. It functioned as a purse and a camera bag with room for a lightweight fleece or rain jacket. Winslow has one of the nicest travel shops I've every encountered. 

After a nice lunch at a diner in Poulsbo, we drove to the Bloedel Reserve which we had read about in our preparation for the trip. The pamphlet that accompanies the map describes the reserve as "a living work of art, a museum in nature." It was quiet the day we were there, and we had the walking trails mostly to ourselves. It is indeed, a "tranquil" experience and would be perfect as a spot for "meditation and reflection." We enjoyed it as a chance to stretch our legs before heading to the Olympic Peninsula and a lovely spot for some photographs. I originally intended this as a post for "5 in 5" for September, but had difficulty uploading photos to my computer on this trip.

This photo was originally planned for the Summer Scavenger Hunt: #9- a bridge, as well as #7- a curving path (of sorts.)

The Bloedel Reserve was originally owned by Virginia and Prentice Bloedel who owned the property for nearly 30 years, after purchasing it in 1951. This home, built in 1931 served as their residence fro 1951- 1986. Mr. Bloedel believed in the "restorative power of nature" and interestingly, was color-blind so was more interested in creating a scenery of textures rather than colorful flowers. The home is now used for concerts and other gatherings.

One of our favorites on the reserve was the Japanese Garden. This shows the sand and stone garden.

All along the paths were benches for sitting and reflection. I thought the tree roots that "framed the bench" were fascinating.

I liked this plant, but have no idea exactly what it is. I would have enjoyed having some signage that told the names of some of the more unusual plants. (Although, truthfully, they may only have been unusual to me!)

And a closer look.

The next stop on our road trip was the Olympic Peninsula-coming soon!

 

Seattle: Photowalk #26

Our September road trip through Washington and Oregon started and ended in Seattle. We had a day and a half at the beginning of the trip and two and a half days at the end. Knowing from a previous trip that the Seattle traffic is difficult, at best, we chose a hotel in the Capital District, and walked everywhere. The weather at the beginning of the trip was perfect, but it rained most of the last two days we were there. The first of these photos are from a tour we took the first day we were in Seattle. We made several stops and had time to walk about and explore.

Our first stop was Pioneer Square. Our tour guide made some suggestions, but we had about half an hour to explore on our own. A delightful discovery was the Waterfall Garden Park tucked away at the corner of a busy intersection.

Pioneer Square was the site of the first settlement in Seattle. Originally all the buildings were made of wood, and nearly all were destroyed in the Great Seattle Fire of 1889. Very quickly they were replaced with brick structures that remain today. It's become a trendy area with lovely shops and restaurants. We returned the last day we were in Seattle, and had a wonderful dinner at Taylor's Shellfish Farms, a restaurant recommended by our tour guide.

Although the sign says "Flower Shop," it's also a bakery and I had one of the best pastries of my life there. When we went back at the end of the trip, I was disappointed to discover the pastries were all sold out. 

We also had a brief stop in the Freemont Neighborhood and got to see the famous troll under one of the bridges. 

The next stop on the tour was the Ballard Lock and Salmon Ladder at Lake Washington.

Here are the salmon. There were none in the fish ladder while we were here.

The last stop on the tour was Kerry Park, primarily for a photo op of downtown Seattle. Luckily, we took the tour on one of the nicest days we had in Seattle, so we had a great view.

After the tour we visited the Chihuly Museum and Gardens. We've seen two fabulous exhibitions of Chihuly's glass work. The first was at the Atlanta Botanic Gardens and then several years later at The de Young Museum in the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. The last exhibition we saw was in St. Petersburg, and we were so disappointed in it. This museum and garden, however, were not a disappointment, although several of my favorite pieces had also been featured in the exhibit at the de Young.

The museum is located right next to the Seattle Space Needle. I loved the reflection of the Space Needle in this glass ball in the gardens.

And of course, a shot of the Space Needle itself.

We walked from the Space Needle down to the waterfront.

And of course, made a stop at the Pike Place Market. The flowers there are extraordinary and very inexpensive. The fish, although fresh and plentiful, can be a bit more expensive. The last day we were in Seattle we took a food tour of the Pike Place Market. It was lots of fun. We learned a lot about the history of the market and Seattle itself, and had some wonderful food as well. It was raining pretty hard that day, so there aren't any decent photos. 

On our last rainy days in Seattle we went to Wings Over Seattle. It's a very touristy attraction, but turned out to be a lot of fun. You feel as though you are flying through the air, swooping down cliffs and over Elliot Bay, the Cascade Mountains, as well as the other major geographic features of Washington State. 

We also enjoyed the Seattle Aquarium.

Sarah and her family had been in Seattle in July, and told us not to miss the amazing Seattle Public Library. I would love to be able to spend more time there.

A view from one of the upper floors of the library.

I'll end with one of my favorite shots of the waterfront at sunset on our first evening in Seattle. The ferry in the photo is off to Bainbridge Island, which was our next stop on the trip.

 

 

 

 

Photowalk #25

My goal this year was to complete 52 photowalks. Although I have eight more to post, I'll not make 52. Realistically, averaging one every two weeks seems in retrospect to be much more doable, and that I will reach. The advantage of the intention was that I consciously set out to create a collection of photos for various events instead of just snapping photos for the memory books. 

Today's photowalk was my most recent one. When we were in Wisconsin a week ago we went to the Racine Zoo for their Chinese Lantern Festival. None of us expected the extravaganza we discovered. It was cold, but magical. All the photos were taken with my iPhone and are in the order I took them that night as we walked through the zoo. You're seeing  a little more than half of the lanterns that were displayed.

The sign said these were pigeons. Certainly the most beautiful pigeons I've ever seen!

Both kids loved  the displays.

There had been a lot of rain, and I loved the reflection in this very large puddle.

This might be my favorite of all the exhibits. I have a video as well showing how the colors of the peacock's tail change. It was truly gorgeous.

Another of the peacocks in the display.

The pagoda was huge. In the background of this photo and in many others you can see the "dripping" lights that were strung from the trees. They blinked on and off and
created a magical effect.

My favorite photo from the night.

And finally, my favorite "people picture" of the night:

 

 

October 5 in 5: Milwaukee Art Museum

Like last month, I'm cutting it close to get my 5 photos in 5 minutes posted for Sandie's monthly meme: 5 in 5. And like last month, I have had several opportunities to create a post, but didn't get to it. Today, however, I had another opportunity. It's a gorgeous fall day in Wisconsin, and our grandson, Caleb, had a day off from school so we went to Milwaukee for the day. One of  our stops was the fabulous Milwaukee Art Museum. In addition to a stunning building and wonderful collections, they also have the "Kohl's Art Generation Studio." It a hands-on studio that provides art activities for families. Today's activity was print making. After creating his etching, the volunteer helped Caleb create a print. It took less than 5 minutes. 

After the art museum, we found a great pizza place that was within walking distance to Boswell Book Company. It's a great independent book store. I've been getting their emails for a while now, and thanks to them, Sarah and I spent a delightful evening last night listening to Ann Patchett who is on a book tour for her new novel The Dutch House. I'd never been to the book store so it was a perfect opportunity. I managed to restrain myself but Caleb came home with a new book as well as one for Hannah.

 

September Five in Five: Hoh Rain Forest

On the fifth, I intentionally took a group of photos for this post at The Bledsoe Reserve on Bainbridge Island. My ability to connect my external hard drive to my laptop has been a pain in the neck on this trip. I'm quite annoyed that Apple decided not to include a USB port on the MacAir, and I haven't had much luck using my USB adaptor. The process of uploading photos is incredibly slow, and trying to access them with Lightroom is equally problematic. A trip to the Apple store when we return is on the books! So . . . in order to get this posted, I needed to look through my iPhone photos for photos taken within the five minute time frame. Fortunately, I found some interesting ones I took on the Olympic Peninsula at the Hoh Rain Forest. 

I handed Tracy my phone for this one of me among the trees. It gives you a good sense of the size of the trees. There's nothing like this on the east coast!

The moss hanging from these trees is typical of many of the forested areas where we've hiked on this trip. We saw them in the Rainier National Park as well as The Trail of Cedars in the North Cascades National Park.

I'm linking this up with Sandie who kindly hosts this monthly meme.

Chautauqua Institute: Photowalk #24

We received a lovely invitation to spend a few days at the Chautauqua Institute last week. We had been there several times, but it had been 11 years since our last visit. We remembered it as a magical place, and this visit confirmed it again. The Institute hosts nine weeks of lectures and entertainment. Each week is theme-based and we were lucky enough to be there for Week 7:

"Grace: A Celebration of Extraordinary Gifts — A Week in Partnership with Krista Tippett and “On Being”

Be it emotional, physical or spiritual, grace takes many forms. It exists in the way we treat one another, the way in which we move through the world, and the way in which we use our gifts, our grace, to lift up others.

• Grace, as defined by religious terms, is the means by which we receive an unearned gift, one we’re not worthy of. Beyond religion, what does grace look like in the secular world?
• When is grace difficult? In talking across differences? In compromise? In the face of adversity? We look at the moments in which grace is most needed.
• How can we go out into the world, actively moving with more grace throughout our own lives?

Interfaith Lecture Theme :: Grace: A Celebration of Extraordinary Gifts

There are many ways of defining or explaining the idea of Grace. Grace is thought to be something we receive, something we give, something we are, and something we do. In this week we will hear stories from four traditions – Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Humanism – exploring how each tradition perceives, interprets, and lives Grace."

I've read two of Krista Tippet's books, Speaking of Faith: Why Religion Matters and How to Talk About It, and Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living.  I loved both of them, and reread the first one when my interfaith book group picked it for one of our group discussions. All her conversations last week will be recorded for her On Being podcast which I can also heartily recommend. My two favorite interviews last week were with Richard Blanco and Serene Jones. I'm not familiar with a lot of poets, but it feels like I should have known about Richard Blanco since he was the inaugural poet at Barack O'Bama's second inauguration. He read from his most recent book of poetry, How to Love a Country. Tracy reads even less poetry than I do, but he downloaded the Audible version of the book right after the lecture. I had already read Serene Jones memoir, Call It Grace: Finding Meaning in a Fractured World, and was delighted to have an opportunity to hear her speak.

The morning lectures take place in the Amphitheater which just had a huge renovation. They maintained the historic look of it, but upgraded all the seating and the sound system among other improvements. There is an evening arts presentation each night as well.

Our favorite evening presentation was the renowned Paul Taylor dance company. Thanks to our hostess, we also saw a charming production of The Fantasticks. Since JoAnn lives at the Institute all summer she's able to be a sponsor to one of the many students who study music, dance, and theater in the summer program. The student she sponsored this summer had the lead in the production, and I know we probably would have missed it if not for JoAnn. I saw the musical at least once growing up and maybe twice. I've always loved the music, and all the lyrics came right back to me.

At 2:00 Monday-Thursday there is a lecture at the Hall of Philosophy.

Last week each of the speakers talked on the topic of grace from different perspectives: Monday's speaker was Rabbi Rami Shapiro, Tuesday was Barbara Brown Taylor, Wednesday was Dr. Abdullah Daar, and Thursday was Katherine Ozment---representing the Jewish faith, the Christian faith, the Muslim faith, and a humanist, secular perspective. I've read many of Barbara Brown Taylor's books. Her most recent one, Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others was probably the most popular book my interfaith book group has read, and our church recently completed a three-part Sunday Seminar on the book. Before we went to Chautauqua, I read Katherine Ozment's book, Grace Without God: The Search for Meaning, Purpose, and Belonging in a Secular Age, and liked it very much. 

The grounds of Chautauqua are lovely. There are many old homes, almost all with wonderful porches.

This is the back of the Anthenaeum, the old and quite expensive hotel on the grounds. There are many kinds of accommodations. We stayed at the Ministers Union (now renamed) the first time we came. The rooms were spare, you brought your own linens, and cooked in a communal kitchen. When we returned later we stayed at a lovely hotel with a large porch. Each room had a microwave and a tiny refrigerator so we always prepared breakfast and lunch in our rooms.

There are beautiful flowers everywhere:

And then there is the location of the Institute---right on Chautauqua Lake:

The Miller Bell Tower

The first two times we went to Chautauqua was in the mid-1990's and our kids were in elementary and middle school. One of my favorite activities with them was playing shuffle board. When we first returned in the early 2000's I missed them terrible every time we walked by the Sports Club which also sits right on the lake.

Our hostess owns a lovely home on the north end of the Institute. We'd never been out there, but it was an easy 15 minute walk back and forth. In addition to spending time with JoAnn, we had several other friends who were there for the week as well, and were lucky enough to meet up with them twice for conversation at the apartment of one of our mutual friends. It couldn't have been a much more enjoyable week. The only drawback (and not one the diminished any of our pleasures) were intermittent thunderstorms every day except Monday. On Tuesday the wind blew the rain through the Hall of Philosophy so even if you were seated inside (we were), you got wet. Barbara Brown Taylor just carried on through it all although she had to hold on tightly to her papers, and I'm quite sure she got wet as well.

I have a few more photos to share when the final link for the Summer Photography Scavenger Hunt gets posted, and you'll see a couple of these again. 

Anniversary Weekend: NOTL & Photowalk #23

We had a lovely weekend in Niagara-on-the-Lake. The weather was hot and humid, but not so oppressive that you couldn't enjoy being outside. We visited a couple of our favorite wineries, saw two terrific shows at the Shaw Festival, and enjoyed some excellent food. A good way to celebrate our 46th anniversary! On Saturday afternoon we saw The Lady Killers, an hilarious farce about five musicians who plot a robbery using a little old lady as a foil. Needless to say, the little old lady is the winner at the end. On Sunday afternoon we enjoyed an excellent production of the musical, Brigadoon. Everything about it was first rate---the voices, the dancers, the set, the costumes---just delightful!

While we were there I set off to do another photowalk. Most of the photos were taken on Saturday. I found three more items for the Summer Photography Scavenger Hunt, but you'll have to wait for the upcoming link-up for those. For the most part, I stayed away from photographs of flowers since my last two Photowalks from Nantucket were exclusively florals.

This photo of Old Fort Niagara on the United States side of the Niagara River was taken on Friday evening after we'd eaten too much for dinner and needed to walk it off! As was this photo:

Saturday morning we strolled through town, visited a winery, and had lunch at one of my new favorites: The Farmhouse Restaurant at Caroline Cellars. I had my favorite meal there, a seasonal salad of spinach, feta cheese, fresh sliced peaches, candied pecans, and red onion slices with a honey balsamic dressing. I'm hoping to replicate it when two friends come to lunch next month.

It will be awhile before the grapes are ready to harvest, but the peaches were ripe and featured in nearly every farm stand. Sadly, we're not allowed to transport produce or any living plant across the border. (One of my first stops this morning was to our local farmstand to buy some peaches.)

Here are some shots that caught my eye as we walked through town:

I couldn't totally resist taking a few photos of the gorgeous flowers that are everywhere in town.

Saturday night we had dinner at Strewn Winery. We hadn't eaten there in many years, but it was lovely. We had a coupon for a free dessert which we shared. It tasted as good as it looks:

After dinner, we went to Ryerson Park to watch the sunset.

The last photo is technically not part of the photowalk. Sunday morning after we checked out of our B&B we went for a drive. We happened upon a large freighter going through a lock on the Welland Canal. The fact that these huge ships can get from the Atlantic Ocean and through the Great Lakes via a series of canals is always mind-boggling to me.

We're only home for a week before we head off again on another adventure. When the summer began, the weekend in NOTL was the only trip planned. Both the trip to Nantucket and the upcoming trip to The Chautauqua Institute were surprise gifts---in more ways than one.