The Saturday Morning Post - I am worried about us

I am worried about us, about how we interact with one another. Especially after 17 months of being apart, many of us are craving being together and at the same time we need to work on our togetherness skills.  Let's face it, it has not been an easy 17 months, it is not like we were all on a dream vacation, a slow luxury cruise around the world.  We were home, trying to stay safe, and healthy, and employed, and sane. Trying to find toilet paper, and flour, and yeast (I always have yeast in the freezer.) We had to learn new survival skills, how to wash our hands, how to not get too close to others, how to sign up for a waiting list for vaccines, how to work remotely, how to navigate Zoom, and Teams, and other mysterious platforms.  Some of us might need some time to return to socialization.  Time for kindergarten or preschool for all of us.  

The subway has decided now, just as we are starting to return to the office, it is time to fix a 40 year old ventilation problem on the line that runs under my office, so they will be single tracking for 6 weeks.  To avoid the chaos, I am riding an alternate line to station 10 minutes walk from my desk.  I need to get exercise so in the morning I am getting off one station farther away and walking.  It is a nice 15-20 minute walk, a good start on my 30-60 minutes each day. That is a long way around to get to someone I am seeing often. There is a man at the corner of 15th Street Northwest and K-Street Northwest, right in the heart of lobbyist land, who comes out every morning, sits on a folding chair on the corner in front of a coffee shop and wishes everyone a "GOOD MORNING!"  He shouts, he blows a whistle to get people's attention so he can shout at them. People avoid him like the plague, I can just imagine the lawyers in the office tower trying to find a way to move him from that sidewalk. Maybe he is homeless, maybe is mentally challenged, or mentally ill, maybe he is lottery winner who has devoted his life to wishing the world a good morning.  I don't know but people are avoiding him, and that worries me. 

The first morning I kept my distance, he looks - well not entirely normal - whatever normal would look like.  But then he is sitting on a busy street corner in the heart of a major world capital bellowing out GOOD MORNING to passers by, what can I expect him to look like.  The second morning, I went closer, close enough to make eye contact and I said, "GOOD MORNING TO YOU, You have a great day!" And he said, "thank you, you too." 

I am worried about us, worried that we would avoid a dear soul who only wants to wish us a Good Morning, a good day!  Maybe I will join him when I retire, wishing the world a GOOD MORNING!  Everyone needs something to do, some purpose in life, his is to wish the world a good morning.  

At the end of our department meeting, the boss asked if anyone had done anything interesting, or heard a good joke. A colleague said she could certainly use a good laugh. Then the Zoom call ended.  I thought about it for a minute, and went to YouTube and looked at clips from some of my favorite feeds.  Everyone of them was potentially offensive to some sensitive person.  I thought about the mandatory training on workplace harassment, and hostile workplace and couldn't find a roll on the floor laughing clip that wasn't potentially offensive to someone.  

I am worried that we have lost our sense of humor in the workplace.  Too many things offend someone.  I recently was asked to take the word "vulnerable" as in "vulnerable adult" out of a PowerPoint because someone was offended by the term (it is used in many state adult abuse statutes to describe a person covered under the statute.) To quote a line from a Jimmy Buffet song, "if we can't all laugh, we  all go insane."  Oh sorry, that might offend someone.  Laughter is great medicine.  Certainly the ethnic and blond jokes of the past are no longer appropriate, but there has to something funnier than Seinfeld that we can share. I never understood the humor in Seinfeld. 

Foodie Friday - Flashback Chilli Sauce

 The experts tell us that a normal impact of aging is a change in taste, often resulting in desiring for or tolerating more spice.  When I was in high school my grandparents started looking to spice up their lives, their food at least, and my grandmother decided to make chilli sauce a couple of summers.  

Chilli sauce has lots of tomatoes, onions, and peppers in it.  She used mostly bell peppers so not to much spice, but there were a few hot peppers included.  Those were the summers when I was helping her care for my grandfather who had dementia, so I was around a lot, and I was recruited to help making the chilli sauce.  We started by prepping the veggies, washing, trimming, and cutting them into chunks.  Then the whole lot went through a grinder set up for a coarse grind.  The grinder was a classic cast metal contraption that clamped to the counter top.  I turned the wood handle for an hour, feeding through the chopped veggies, spewing out into plastic dish tubs.  She must have made two or three gallons.  She cooked it down on the stove top, we packed it in pint jars and she ran it through a pressure canner.  She would can 50-100 quarts of green beans every summer, and 50 or so pints of applesauce. 

I keep commercial chilli sauce on hand.  The other night I was making a classic Cleveland Salad, Iceberg lettuce, tomato, a little onion, and  thousand island dressing.  Except, I didn't have thousand island dressing on hand.  No problem, a couple of heaping spoons full of mayonaise, a spoon of sweet pickle relish, and a generous couple of spoons of chili sauce, stir it up, adjust to taste, and there you have it. 

Once in a while, I get the nesting urge, to follow in my grandmother's footsteps and start canning.  A long nap often helps ease those urges.   

Thursday Rambles - Mid Summer Edition

The Tour de France finished in Paris last Sunday.  Finishing three wonderful weeks of watching the beautiful French countryside. My ex worked for a road construction company, that was bought by a French company. The first time I was in Paris, in the dying year of that relationship, we went to visit the company headquarters in Paris.  

The Olympics, delayed a year, will be starting in Japan this week.  Lots of things to see and enjoy.  Japan is still on the list of places I want to visit.  

I ran across the Simon Says above in a toy shop.  When I was in my teens, someone - I think it was my sister - bought me one of those for Christmas one year.  As I recall the lights and beeps vary in pattern, and the goal is to repeat the pattern, sort of a test of short term memory.  It is interesting the toys that persist or are brought back into production.  

I have been going to the pool often.  I started during my week off earlier this month.  I limit myself to 30-45 minutes, some swimming, some just floating mindlessly.  I was laying there recently watching the clouds roll by, and realized it has been decades since I have laid back and watched the clouds roll by on a warm summer afternoon.  We should do that more often.  My father use to love flying through the edges and tops of the clouds.  He called it poking holes in the sky.

I am settling into going to the office three days a week, working from home two days a week.  I have become spoiled working at home, and having two computers running side by side.  One for the video call, the second one to take notes, or edit documents, or do a quick search for resources.  I am seriously thinking about buying a second computer for my office (the office won't issue two computers, I have asked.) 

The person who won some kind of a bidding war, to get a seat next to Jeff Bazos on the Origin Blue flight into near space, had to cancel because of a schedule conflict.  What kind of a scheduled conflict would justify cancelling the opportunity to travel to 330,000 feet at several times the speed of sound? The seat was snapped up for an 18 year old from the Netherlands, whose father reportedly paid the bill. It must have been some really hard to get doctors appointment for me to cancel an adventure like that.   

Time flies, how can it be late July already?

 

The Way We Were Wednesday - Wisdom of Age

I read this one on Facebook, edited it a little tiny bit, and felt the need to share.  No reason to wait until we are older to learn these simple lessons. 

I asked a friend who has crossed 70 & is heading towards 80 what

sort of changes he is feeling in himself?  He sent me the following:

1.  After loving my parents, my siblings, my spouse, my children

and my friends, I have now started loving myself.

2.  I have realized that I am not “Atlas”. The world does not rest

on my shoulders.

3.  I have stopped bargaining with vegetable & fruit vendors. A few

pennies more is not going to break me, but it might help the

fellow save for his daughter’s school fees.

4.  I leave my waitress a big tip. The extra money might bring a

smile to her face. She is toiling much harder for a living than I am.

5.  I stopped telling the older person that they've already told me

that story many times. The story makes them walk down

memory lane & relive their past.

6.  I have learned not to correct people even when I know they are

wrong. The onus of making everyone perfect is not on me. Peace

is more precious than perfection.

7.  I give compliments freely & generously. Compliments are a

mood enhancer not only for the recipient, but also for me.  And a

small tip for the recipient of a compliment, never, NEVER turn it

down, just say "Thank You.”

8.  I have learned not to bother about a crease or a spot on my

shirt. Personality speaks louder than appearances.

9.  I walk away from people who don't value me. They might not

know my worth, but I do.

10.  I remain cool when someone plays dirty to outrun me in the

rat race. I am not a rat & I am not in a race.

11.  I am learning not to be embarrassed by my emotions. It’s my

emotions that make me human.

12.  I have learned that it's better to drop the ego than to break

a relationship. My ego will keep me aloof, whereas with relationships,

I will never be alone.

13.  I have learned to live each day as if it's the last. After all, it might

be the last.

14.  I am doing what makes me happy. I am responsible for my

happiness, and I owe it to myself. Happiness is a choice.

You can be happy at any time, just choose to be!

 

Travel Tuesday - Old San Juan

Until we start traveling again, I will fall back on random photos from past travels.  Before moving to DC, I had a consulting contract with a national membership organization for retired persons, to do training for them.  Yes, that organization, membership starts at 50, and they have dropped retired from their official name.  

Over 7 years, I did about 30 programs for them, most of them in routine places, a few places I am glad I went to, but hope I never have to go back to.  But there were a few really spectacular venues.  Alaska, California, Montana, and Old San Juan Puerto Rico.  

The training in San Juan was held at the Hilton on the water.  My room had a view of the waves crashing on the rocks.  The hosts were warm and welcoming.  The audience were bilingual,  I am not, so the program was in English.  We used simultaneous translation for question and answer time (an amazing experience.) 

I was only there a couple of nights.  I barely left the hotel. But everything I saw, and everyone I met, makes me want to go back.   

My Music Monday : The Doors Light My Fire Ed Sullivan Show 1967

This one got stuck in my head recently, I just needed to share it.  The Video stops moving a minute or so in, it is not your computer, but the sound continues. 

The Sunday Five - Dog Days of Summer

 I wrote a couple of deep thinking Sunday posts, too much thinking for the hot dog days of summer. So I will move one on down the calendar.  And try something easier today. 

1: Do you have a dog? 

2: Did you grow up with dogs?

3: Have you ever been bitten by a dog? 

4: Given the choice of a large dog or a tiny dog, which for you? 

5: Are there bad dogs, or just untrained owners? 

My answers:

1: Do you have a dog? No, I can't see either of us following a dog around with a plastic bag on our hand. 

2: Did you grow up with dogs?  Outdoor hunting dogs. 

3: Have you ever been bitten by a dog? No. 

4: Given the choice of a large dog or a tiny dog, which for you? Tiny, something older and mello. 

5: Are there bad dogs, or just untrained owners? I think the owners are usually the problem for ill behaved dogs. 

Please share your answers in the comments. 

The Saturday Morning Post - Keep Rowing Your Boat

There are several college and High School rowing programs that practice on the Potomac River.  Young, fit, rowers.  I recently saw this boat, take a closer look, the crew are older, the guy in the front (in the red shirt - the crew faces the stern of the boat) is kinda round.  I was so pleased to see a boat full of adults, rowing and having fun.  

I was a non-traditional undergrad student, I worked full time, went to school half time, I spent the better part of 10 years earning and paying for my four year college degree.  I was easily 10 years older than the average undergrad student.  A group of us were sitting around talking one evening before class, and someone suggested that we put together a crew team of older students.  This was at my peak gym bunny days, I was on that idea in a flash.  It took a few calls around town, the college coaches declined our idea, but sent us to an independent coach across town.  We ranged in age from 25 to about 50, in weight from about 100 pounds, to one woman who was slightly over 200 pounds - there was a 200 pound limit on the boat - we fudged a little on her weight, she so wanted to be there. (I was about 170 at the time.) We practiced a couple of mornings a week, at sunrise, on a small lake.  It was great fun.  I learned the technique.  I learned about working together as a team.  I loved gliding across the water as the sunrose.  

We stopped after three months, the coach who turned out to be a bit of a jerk, wanted us to get rid of one of the rowers, but he wouldn't tell us who he thought the problem was, or really what the problem was.  He didn't like someone and thought that person was holding us all back.  Our thought was let's identify what we can work on to do better, but he was - well he was too much of a jerk who didn't understand a group of adults who were getting more out of being together gliding across the water than being the fastest boat on the water. In a stalemate of him demanding that we cut the weakness, and the crew saying no we are having fun, we parted ways. Without the coach, we didn't have access to the boats. 

I am glad I did it, my only regret is that it didn't continue.  I wonder if the coach ever figured out that he was being a jerk. 

Foodie Friday - Last Friday Fussy Foods in Georgetown

As I mentioned last Saturday, I took last week off.  I didn't look at my office email for a week, I did take two calls, one scheduled, one unscheduled.  The scheduled call was the only time available in the calendar of a highly placed government official, the unscheduled call - well I never should have given a couple of people my home number.  

Sweetie bear suggested that while I was off we should do something different, he suggested a boat ride on the Potomac River.  There are several boats that start or stop at the end of King Street in the nearby old town Alexandria.  We picked one that went to and from Georgetown.  When he showed me the schedule, I picked one that left here at 11:30, arrived in Georgetown before 12:30, with a 2:15-2:30 return.  Just enough time for a nice lunch. And oh what a lunch it was. 

The restaurant had a three course pre-fix lunch menu available. The smoke in the second photo is liquid nitrogen freeze drying the herbs for the appetizer course. Somehow I missed taking pictures of the first course, I had a salad, Jay had a cheese and fruit plate topped with the freeze dried herbs.  It was tasty, in addition to being a bit of tableside theater. For the mains Jay had a fish dish, I had papadeli in a heavenly bolognese sauce.  Dessert, I had the chocolate tiramisu,  he had freshly made doughnut balls, with a strawberry cream sauce that was to die for. The food was great, nice fussy, creative.  The service was relaxed, entertaining, and knowledgeable.  It was not cheap, I may have set a new personal record on spending for lunch, but very worth every penny. Not something I would do everyday, but when you have a chance why not?  

When was the last time you had fussy foods? 

Thursday - Random Rambles Again

I love the photo.  I try not to publish photos of people I don't know, if you can identify who the person is.  No idea who the kid is, and you really can't tell from the photo.  That is the Lincoln Memorial in the distance he is looking at.

On my way home from the farmer's market last Saturday, I was thinking, a year from now, I will only have a year to go until retirement.  Having taken a week off, I have to say I am about ready.  There are a few things I need to write, and say, in my last couple of years on the national stage, then I want to encourage new ideas and new voices.  A few years ago I volunteered to continue a national conference, and being in charge I have tried to bring new voices to the stage each year, sometimes over the objection of experienced voices. 

Several times recently I have overheard bits of conversations that remind me that I am surrounded by people who think about radiation exposure and nerve gas. I went by a building the other day that had an anti-aircraft missile battery along the side, no idea what is in that building, but someone wants to keep it secure.  Lots of people doing interesting things, that they can't really tell you about. 

The Tour de France will finish in Paris this weekend.  I have so enjoyed watching again this year.  Someday I will be there.  Our current board chair is in Paris, she and 11 friends bought an apartment in Paris, she owns July.  They agreed no rentals, no guests other than family.  Maybe she will watch the finale for me on Sunday.  

I have been in the pool several times recently.  It had been 2 or 3 years since I last went to the pool.  The condo has indoor and outdoor pools.  The indoor pool I have only used a couple of times.  The outdoor pool is only open for three months in the summer.  It is large, nice, fun.  I should use it more.  The indoor pool will be closed until after New Years, the community center in undergoing a total renovation.  It needed it, it had all of the charm of a 1980's nursing home inside.  

I was reading and missed my change of trains on the subway coming home on Monday afternoon.  Logically, I knew where to go to backtrack, but instinctively I found myself disoriented.  On my regular route, I know the feel of what direction to go, what is north, south, east and west, all while being underground.  I followed the logic, only by overcoming the urge urge to go up to street level to reorient myself.  Strange feeling that. 

 

The Way We Were Wednesday - The First Dance

 I was the little ring bearer at Edith and Dick's wedding, I have very few memories of it.  The tradition of the first dance.  Immortalized in one of my father's slides. I was walking in old town Alexandria, and there was a young couple practicing in the park for their first dance.  As Anne Marie reminded us, Dance Like No One is Watching! 

Travel Tuesday - Travel Photos

A few years ago a colleague and her husband went to Argentina one summer on a ski trip.  We had a group lunch shortly after she returned and she was passing around her Ipad with the photos from the trip.  Every photo, was either her, or him, or the two of them.  There were no photos of the place they had been, all photos of the two of them.

Travel photos should document something about where you have been, what you have seen.  I love sweeping landscapes or close ups of wildlife, birds, bugs, critters, and flowers.  In urban areas streetscapes, grand buildings, details of buildings, shop windows, and people.  Museums offer a plethora of photo ops.  I have to remind myself to include the occasional selfie, photo of my sweet bear, and pictures of the two of us to document where we have been, what we have seen, what we have done.  Jay has a wonderful collection of photos of me walking away, I have longer legs and move faster, he slows to study the details and I don't realize he is behind until I hear the camera.  

There is a balance here.  

Travel photos can be taken with any camera. The only camera I took to Hawaii was a Samsung Galaxy phone (the night before leaving I discovered I had broken my Lumix camera with a Leica lens.) Today I take one DLSR, and at least two lenses, giving me a range from wide angle to moderate telephoto.  For grand landscapes I will add a super wide angle lens to the bag.  All of that weighs less than the 35mm SLRs I carried in the past.  

I have been watching YouTube videos from photographers. There is a wide array of young photographers who have rediscovered film cameras.  I do have one comment for them - well two. Clean your gear, in the photos of their cameras the cameras are of filthy, dusty, nasty.  Dust is the enemy of photographer, a grain of sand in the wrong place will dominate an image.  The only defense is to clean your gear.  Second, put a clear or UV filter on your lenses to protect them.  One of the YouTubers comments that a filter would somehow change the image quality of a lens, BS, a good filter is optically neutral.  What a filter does is protect the front element of your lens from dust, dirt, and spray. A filter gives you a smooth clean surface to clean, and if it gets messed up, you screw it off and replace it.  If the front element of your lenses gets scratched, you buy another lens.  This ties into keeping your gear clean, a filter makes it easier to clean.  And because you are dealing with $10 worth of glass on the front, you can be a lot more careless in cleaning.  

An old joke, Why did children's portrait photographers always carry a bottle of vodka their camera bags.  The Paul Lynde answer, "have you met the kids?" Real answer, alcohol makes a good lens cleaning solvent, and dries quickly.  

Music Monday : Hyundai x Boston Dynamics | Welcome to the Family with BTS

I love Spot, the robot dog from Boston Dynamics, not  big fan of K-Pop or BTS, but I thought it was cute.  Could you imaging the dude above, with two Spots, he would have to lose the crocks, I don't think Spot hangs out with guys wearing crocks. 

Sunday Five : Panic - Am I Losing You

My Sunday Five post has been up for 12 hours, and only three responses, and two of those were clear expressions that I went to deep - asked questions that were to weird.  

Sorry, I don't want to lose you. 

Simpler Five:

1: Is the image above better in color or black & white?

2: Are you are gardener? 

3: Do you know anyone who is colorblind? 

4: Are there any plants that sort of freak you out if you touch them, or is that only me? 

5: What was the last thing you took a photo of? 

The Sunday Five - What Will You Do This Week

1. What will you do this week to create beauty in the world?
2. What will you do this week to learn something new? 
3. What will you do this week to be reach out to another person? 
4. What will you do this week to help another person?
5. What will you do this week to add value to the world? 

My answers:

1. What will you do this week to create beauty in the world? Capture photos to share online.
2. What will you do this week to learn something new?  Read. 
3. What will you do this week to be reach out to another person? I will write a letter to someone. 
4. What will you do this week to help another person? Be randomly kind to people.
5. What will you do this week to add value to the world? Write something for work, that helps others understand the issues and challenges of older adults, and the role we all play in creating change. 

Please share your answers in the comments.

The Saturday Morning Post - What Have I Been Up To?

 I took a week off, actually 10 days in a row off.  The motivation is complicated.  My office is changing the policy on accumulating vacation time, reducing the number of hours I can accumulate, and changing from a carry over cap to an accrual cap. Meaning I not only needed to use up hours to get below the lowered limited before the end of the accounting year, I need to take enough time off to stay below the limit, or I don't earn additional hours until I have used hours to get below the limit.  I need to schedule a couple of days off in September and October or I will stop accruing time.  

What did I do?  I bought another camera.  There are still a few things I would like to have.  You can never have too many. I have been diving deeper into the menus and settings on the cameras.  They really are computers that capture images, and can do amazing things.  I am continuing to play with the large format photo printer.  I am thinking about covering a wall in my office with 11 by 17 inch photo prints from the 15 months away from the office.   

I have finished a year of morning walks in the Dyke Marsh National Wildlife Refuge.  I started fourth of July weekend of 2020.  It has become a habit, something I feel incomplete if I don't do it.  My pre-covid office clothes fit, it has to be the 45 minutes to an hour of walking almost every day that explains why the clothes still fit.  I have a ton of photos, and about 20 pages of text written for a personal book about a year of mornings in the marsh.  Now that I have completed the year, I may mix it up with walks at Huntley Meadows, and long walks in the District when I am coming and going from the office.  The longer I have lived here, the less I see of the city that I love.  I can change that.  

I have been cooking, I love to cook, and being off gives me time.  I just need to find inspiration.  I have been sleeping, long nights, and afternoon naps.  I have been watching the Tour de France.  The live coverage is on early morning here. When I am in the office, if I am lucky I catch parts of the replay later in the day.  Being off, has allowed me to watch live.  Something to look forward in retirement is three weeks each summer of watching the live coverage of the Tour. Someday, I am going to France to watch the peloton thunder by.  

I have finished travel plans for Nevada in October.  I am speaking at a conference in Reno, then we are staying at the south end of Lake Tahoe for a few days - just across the state line in California.  

We did a little shopping, took a run to the electronics recycling place  to get rid of a couple of old printers.  

I have been reading, I will likely have finished book number 31 for 2021 by the time this posts on Saturday.  I had finally figured out how to fit reading into my daily routine, and bringing back my subway commute adds at least an hour of reading time to each day I go to the office. My plan is to return to the office three days a week starting next week.  

Well that is kind of the most of it.  What have you been up to? 

Foodie Friday - Carrot Gazpacho

 

In keeping with cool summer soups, how about cold carrot gazpacho? I was at the farmers market recently and saw these amazing carrots and fresh ginger, I thought of cold carrot soup. 

2 - oversized carrots about 1 pound

1 small Onion

2 stalks of celery 

1 medium tomato 

cucumber - about 1 cup chopped

Fresh Ginger - about 1 inch chunk 

splash of white wine vinegar 

splash of maple syrup 

salt and pepper 

dash of hot sauce 

1/2 cup water

Peel and chunk the carrots, and steam until tender, about 20-minutes.  Chill. 

Chop veggies into medium chunks, liquify with a stick blender, blender of food processor.  Adjust spice to taste.  Chill, serve cold.  It is a little sweet, the hot sauce added some depth of flavor. My first attempt turned out a bit thick, you can thin with water to a more soup like consistency.  Again, filled with flavor and fresh veggies, and cool on a hot summer day. 

Thursday Rambles - Perspective

How we see or understand things, so changes what we see or understand.  

A couple of recent news items.  

Bill Cosby was released from prison.  The prosecutor, broke an agreement, resulting in the admission of evidence in the criminal trial, that the prosecutors office had previously agreed they would not use.  The outcome is painful, but I think the judge did the right thing. The conviction was the result of using evidence that should not have been used by the state. It is hard to say if that evidence made a difference, but the state has to stand by it's word, or face the consequences.  I still wouldn't let my loved one's party with him in a hotel room.  

A high rise condo in Florida collapsed, killing what will likely be 100 people by the time they are finished searching through the rubble.  I live in a reinforced concrete high rise.  There are tens of thousands, probably hundreds of thousands of building like this around the world, and collapses are rare, but they can happen.  Usually a result of defective construction, and or lack of maintenance.  The lack of maintenance was obvious in Florida. The board had been fighting for several years over the need to repair deterioration of the structure, no one wants to pay, but high rise buildings are expensive to maintain or repair.  When I was condo shopping here in Northern Virginia, I looked at a couple of places that had much lower monthly maintenance fees - and it showed.  I stepped out on the the terrace on one, and felt that it was going to fall off, I looked over and the brick was seperating from the wall ten stories up.  My condo fee is high, higher than the mortgage payment on my first house - but the buildings are meticulously maintained.  As I see it, you get what you pay for.  If you don't pay for it, it falls down.  

I bought another camera.  I had been thinking for sometime now that I wanted a second one, at times it will be handy to be able to change lenses without changing lenses, just grab the second camera, and I wanted a back up, in event of a mechanical failure.  Cameras are pretty reliable, but they are machines and they can break.  A few weeks ago I looked and the salesmen kept showing me the latest and greatest, trying to convince me that I would be happier with the newest.  What I really wanted was a second one of what I have.  I went back last Friday, and was helped by a different salesmen, who understood what I have, what I wanted and why.  He had taken in trade a slightly updated version of the Nikon D5500 DSLR I have been using. I can tell that it has been out of the box, but it looks like new. It works like new, and less than half the price of new.  And it came with a updated version of one of the lenses I already owned.  Again a little back up against future failure, the auto focus mechanism is in the lens, and those will fail in time. Oh, and I can't help myself when looking at a used anything, I simply asked "what is your best price on that?" and he took 6% off the price marked on the box. 

The four images above, are the same scene.  With different effect filters.  Really changes the perspective, depending on how you look at it.     
 

The Way We Were Wednesday - Early Memories

 My family visited the south rim of the Grand Canyon in March of 1964, we stayed at the Bright Angel Lodge, one of the grand old National Park Lodges. It is still there. We were there on my sisters birthday, March 18th.  I remember arriving, standing at the railing, and looking in awe at the Canyon.  I have very vague memories of the hotel room, a big roll top bathtub.  I have vague memories of the dinning room, astronauts were staying at the hotel, training with geologists for the moon missions that were being planned,  they were at the table next to us at breakfast one morning. Is that an original memory, or one formed from being told the story?  I was just a wee lad. 

Travel Tuesday -Roseate Spoonbill

I have seen them before, at their home range in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, just north the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, not as a long distant traveler. The Roseate Spoonbill has a remarkable pink coloration and a spool shaped bill. They normally don't come father north than Central Florida, yet here one is, about 800 miles from home. Likely driven north by recent tropical storms this one landed recently here in northern Virginia at Huntley Meadows a county park about 3 miles from the condo. 

This traveler from the south east is drawing a crowd, the drive into the park was lined with parked cars last Saturday morning when I ventured out for a look.  Like other pink wading birds, the pink color is largely a result of diet, hopefully this bird finds it way home to shellfish, before it's color fades into memory.  In the meantime, I was the local watching the tourist, rather than the tourist being watched by the locals.  

 

My Music Monday: Find What you are Good at : the Aidan Bryant: EPIC AUDITION

I wouldn't try this at home.  I am pretty sure if I tried this I would break something, like my head.  But listening to his story, he chased his passion, developed his talent.  Do the best you can, with what you have to work with, and you will wow the world. 

The Sunday Five - In Honor of the 4th of July

Happy United States of America Independence Day! 

1: Have you ever wondered, if the British would welcome us back? 

2: Have you seen the White House? 

3: Have you been inside the White House? 

4: Do you have a tradition for celebrating July 4th? 

5: Do you like or dread fireworks? 

My answers: 

1: Have you ever wondered, if the British would welcome us back?  Yes, during the last presidential administration. 

2: Have you seen the White House? Yes, obviously, you can once again get down to the edge of Pennsylvania Ave, a massive improvement over the fortress that was in place during the last administration.  

3: Have you been inside the White House? A long time ago, when the first Bush was in residence and public tours were still first come first served. 

4: Do you have a tradition for celebrating July 4th? Burgers and potato salad. 

5: Do you like or dread fireworks? They are pretty, but the noise is annoying - and we don't have a dog.

Please share your answers in the comments.   

 

The Saturday Morning Post - Details Around Us

 I was out walking one morning recently, the weather was hot and muggy, the birds were either perched in the shade, or hunting, the light was flat. The kind of a morning, when there isn't much to photograph.  Then I noticed the textures in the bark on the trees.  This is just two of probably twenty trees that caught my eye that morning.  The details around me caught my eye that morning. 

A few days later, I was walking across DC, a little over a mile from Gallery Place to my office.  I needed to get in my daily walk, and I hadn't seen much of the city in well over a year.  Details large and small caught my eye. 

These are places I have walked hundreds of times, and missed seeing what was there in plain sight. We become so accustomed to our surroundings that we miss seeing them. See the world with fresh eyes, often beauty is in the details right in front of us. 

Foodie Friday - Beet Gazpacho

 

I went to the Old Town Alexandria Farmers Market one Saturday morning recently, the cute young organic farmer had the most amazing looking beets, a little larger than a golf ball and with a nice deep color. Beets can be a love or hate root vegetable. Jay happens to love such things.  And it is nice to support the local farmer - he is about 30, tall, thin, tanned, balding, and as pleasant as he could be, he has about an acre of land, here in the local area.  He has a younger apprentice with him this year.

I thought about what to do with them, one bundle, probably 3/4 of a pound (about 400 grams.) I had a cold beet gazpacho at Jaleo recently when I met a colleague for lunch, I decide to try that.  

I peeled them, and steamed them for about 20 minutes until tender, put them in the refrigerator to cool.  I also chilled the liquid in the bottom of the steamer, probably about a cup, it was deeply colored and had a nice beet flavor.  To make the soup, I chopped two green onions, tops and all, half a stalk of celery, about 1/2 cup of chopped cucumber, one medium tomato- cubed, and roughly chopped the beets.  I blended all of that with a stick blender (a regular blender or food processor would work,) with a drizzen of apple cider vinegar until nearly smooth.  I served over a round of Russian Farmer's Cheese, a creamy, soft cheese about the same texture as goat cheese but milder in flavor (goat cheese or sour cream would work well,) sprinkled a little chopped cucumber over the top, a little salt and pepper, be careful salt would overpower it easily. Serve cold (I chilled it for 10 minutes in the freezer.) It made two oversized servings, probably four servings as a first course.  

Simple, cold, and absolutely packed with fresh seasonal vegetables. The cucumber,  celery and vinegar balance the woody or root taste of the beets. I bet I can do the same thing with carrots. 

Thursday - Back to The Office

 

My office reopened a couple of weeks ago.  Officially we have been open for about a year, but the process to get permission to get in was painfully complicated, I went in a couple of times, visits limited to a couple of hours by official policy.  I can now go in whenever I want, and spend as much time as I wish.  I am going in a couple of times a week.  While working at home was productive, I was growing tired of sleeping in my office, and working in my bedroom. It was time for me to on pants (trousers) and go back to the real office. 

These pictures were taken on my first day going back.  I have to admit, I had trouble sleeping the night before, kinda like the first day of school.  My commute is by subway, platforms at that time of the morning 16 months ago were packed, today the platforms are relatively empty.  Metro has completed some work while we were at home, replacing escalators at my home station, gates on the station under my office.  My office was still there.  The cleaning staff must have grown bored, everything had been moved and my desk dusted, I don't think that had ever been done before.  Some of the local shops have closed, the deli on the lower lobby has not reopened.  Not many people are back in the office, maybe 10 or 20 people out of 250 in our DC office.  Rumor has it that we will all be asked to come back at least a day or two a week in early September.  I look forward to seeing colleagues in person again.  

I am not much for "once in a lifetime" experiences.  When people say that was a once in a lifetime trip, I think, it must have been really terrible if you only want to do it once.  I really hope that the past 18 months, was a once in a lifetime experience.  It will be a part of our memories, a part of our lives, hopefully a once in a lifetime experience.  But if we ever face a threat like this again, we will know how to survive, we will know that we can survive, maybe even prosper.