Travel Penguin Home Tour

A few weeks ago John Gray did a quick video tour of his home in Wales, more recently Sixpence Notthewiser offered to show us his, if we would show him ours. The Mistress and Mitchell are periodically showing us glimpses of their domestic bliss. I mentioned recently that I am trying to learn to edit video, and now audio, so this made the perfect simple project, complete with mostly voice over audio.  Not quite like MTV Cribs, but then no one on there ever had penguins and sheep in their living room.  

Will you show us yours? 

My Music Monday - Come Monday - Jimmy Buffett

This song is about being back home, being burned out by being on the road.  I have been there, 2017 and 2018 were a bit much.  It was nice to be home.  2019 I did less travel, it looks like this year is going to be just one or two trips.  That will bring back the desire to travel again.  It is nice to be back home, for a while.  

Have you ever become burned out from too much travel?

Sunday Five - Moving on Down the Line

It is June already, my how the year flies by. Time just keeps moving on down the line, oh, there is this weeks Sunday five. 

1. What is the best thing that has happened in your world so far this year? 
2. What are you hoping to do in the remainder of the year? 
3. What have learned to do this year? 
4. What holiday are you looking forward to in the remainder of this year? 
5. Is there anyone you are hoping to see later this year? 

My answers:

1. What is the best thing that has happened in your world so far this year? The trip it Ireland was a real treat.  
2. What are you hoping to do in the remainder of the year? Stay safe, venture out into the world. 
3. What have learned to do this year? I am learning to edit video files. 
4. What holiday are you looking forward to in the remainder of this year? July 4th, US Independence Day. 
5. Is there anyone you are hoping to see later this year? My sister and my dear friend Jen. 

Please share your answers in the comments. 

Good Morning

Time for the muses to wake up and inspire me.  wakey-wakey inspiration! When all else fails, I dig deep into the collection of photos, when that fails I pull out an image of a rude t-shirt, sign, or coffee mug.  That gets me talking. 

A search of YouTube failed to turn up a good, and properly accredited video of Robin Williams incredible opening scene in Good Morning Vietnam. 

I have to be a morning person, I drift off to sleep at 9:00 PM, I can't be a night person.  With the shift to working at home, I find myself being very productive in the morning, some mornings starting as early as 7:00 AM.  There is always a flurry of incoming emails late in the day, between 4:00 and 6:00 PM, I am learning to ignore them until the next day.  

I was starting to get fussed about working remotely, and then I talked with a friend, who is legal counsel for a health care facility. She was classified as essential and required to be her office.  Concerned about the safety of her family, she went 36 days without seeing her children.  With the schools closed, and her children's father being asked to return to his office, she is now trying to figure out child care.  Our call was delayed by a few minutes, while she went for her mandatory weekly nasal swab. The good news is her facility has the ability to test all staff weekly, the bad news is she needs to be tested weekly.  She said the worst part, was the endless stream of emails notifying her of deaths in the facility.  

My life is not so bad.  Rise and Shine, another day is upon us, Good Morning World! 

How is life with you this morning?    

Blogger and Other Ramblings

So yes, you may have read it elsewhere, Blogger has a new drafting interface.  I have yet to figure out how to make the image larger. (If you have figured this out, please share how.) The text sizes seem less precise, but a with wider variety typefaces.  Beyond that I seem to be able to do whatever I want it to do.  Change is a pain, but it is also good.  I had read some concerns online that Google had not updated Blogger in several years, and that might be a sign that Google might abandon the platform.  I see the update as a sign that Google is committed to keeping Blogger alive.  For me that is a good thing. It is a simple platform, it is free of cost, it is where I have been for nearly 15 years. 

The sign above is in a parking lot, near where I live.  I doubt, that is "that CIA," in this town one never knows what is hiding in what unmarked office building.  A world capital, can be a strange place, there a lot of people who really can't tell you what they really do for a living.  I avoid talking about my work on my blog, because if I do, my employer claims ownership of the content on my blog.  And this is mine.  

Are there things you won't talk about on your blog?

   

Downhill from There

I have owned a mountain bike once, it was not terribly practical for around town riding and I parted with it. These are serious downhill machines, full hydraulically dampened suspension, reinforced frames, heavy duty disk brakes, these machines are build for riding down a mountain side. In this case trails and slopes at a ski resort.  They go to the top in a ski lift, and ride back down.  I think I could do that, I'd have to take it slow, ride the brakes, pick the less bumpy trail.  Then do it again and again.  The bike school provides tips on how to lesson the chance of dying on the way down.  I'd want to go to school. And you have to sign a waiver that starts out in bold print YOU MAY DIE!  

Would you try it once? 

The Way We Were Wednesday - New York City

I have a handful of slides from a trip my parents took to New York in the mid 1950's.  This is one.  I suspect the colors have shifted over the decades,  but to some extent this captures the essence of New York in the industrial heyday of the post war era. Smoky, golden, vast.  Slightly before my time.  

I was in my 50's before I went to New York for the first time. I had to be there to understand the essence and attraction of the place.  

Have you been there? 

Pies!

My mother returned to work outside the home, when I was about 9 or 10.  She enjoyed working, it also meant that my slightly older sister and I were home unsupervised for the summer. One day we picked apples from the tree behind the honey house, and made an Apple Pie.  The pie was good, making the pastry was well shall I say messy.  Rather than being pleased with the pie, my mother was furious about the mess that the pastry left behind in the kitchen, flour on the floor.  I have to say, I was emotionally scared by the experience.  I had an irrational fear of making pastry, that I have worked diligently over the past few years to overcome.  I have gotten pretty good at it. 

I like pie. Fruit pies, cream pies, custard pies, savory pies, and tarts.  I don't often make them, with the two of us, and some responsibility to watch our diets (we try to limit carbs) pastry, like anything is okay in moderation.  It is hard to practice moderation when a whole pie is in the house with just two people. We wouldn't want it to go to waste.  

I seldom order dessert in a restaurant, then I will see something like the chocolate cream pie above,  and order it instead of lunch.  I don't know how the pickle ended up on the side, but it looks yummy.  

What is your favorite pie? 

Happy Birthday To You - Chipmunks | Birthday Song

Happy Birthday John, 58 isn't old for an Oak Tree. 

Sunday Five - Last Minute Change of Plans

When we were in Washington state last summer, we had plans to take a ferry across the strait to British Columbia, a short day trip, over in the morning, wander around, have lunch and back in the afternoon.  The night before J had trouble sleeping.  It happens sometimes. It well into the wee hours of the morning before he was solidly asleep.  I got up the next morning, leaving him to sleep and went for a walk, watched the morning ferry come and go, and made reservations for an afternoon whale watching tour. It turned out to be a spectacular afternoon.  

This weeks Sunday five: 
1: Do you sometimes change plans and sleep late? 
2: Have you ever cancelled a trip at the last minute? 
3: Have you ever left home on a trip, and not known where you were going? 
4: What do you do if you find a museum or attraction is unexpectedly closed? 
5: As you get older, are you more flexible, or more likely to be upset when things change at the last minute? 

My answers: 
1: Do you sometimes change plans and sleep late? Obviously, I have been known to declare a day off in the middle of a trip. 
2: Have you ever cancelled a trip at the last minute? Only a few times, a couple of times because of work issues, once because of health, and a couple of trips this year because of  - well you know. 
3: Have you ever left home on a trip, and not known where you were going? I have written about this once before. Back in the summer of 1990 I was living in Florida, I bought a new Honda Accord, I took a week off and started driving north uncertain if I was going to the mountains of western North Carolina or up the east coast.  Someplace in Georgia I stayed on I-95 and ended up in Washington DC. 
4: What do you do if you find a museum or attraction is unexpectedly closed? Walk around the corner to see what we would have missed if the museum had been open. 
5: As you get older, are you more flexible, or more likely to be upset when things change at the last minute? I have mellowed, I am more flexible than I was before - I must have been a real pain when I was younger.  

Please share your answers in the comments. 

It is here!

About a month ago John over at Going Gently posted that the T-Shirts supporting his local hospice program were now available with worldwide shipping.  The shirts feature the world famous goats that have come down out of the surrounding hills into the somewhat empty city streets, even confronting him in the parking lot.  The goats have garnered world attention.  I couldn't resist buying a piece of this history, and supporting a good cause. https://disasterfilm.blogspot.com/2020/05/thank-you.html And here it is, it arrived today, a little less than a month, considering international shipping in a time of much reduced air traffic, not bad.  

Now where should I wear it to first? 

Rocks

I lived in Florida, in the semi-tropics, semi-paradise, semi-swamp for the better part of 20 years.  The longer I was there, the more I missed something, not snow, not being dry, not sanity, I missed rocks.  The simple truth is most of Florida is either a swamp or a sandbar.  There are a handful of limestone formations, but most of those are well below the surface.  There are a few cocina shell formations on the beaches of the east coast, but those really just sea shells stuck together by limestone, give them another million years and they will be real rocks.  

The picture above is what a real rocky beach looks like, the stones are smoothed and polished by being tossed in the surf.  

Have you been to wonderful rocky beach? 

Reminders

I love it when I run into a random reminder - to be good to myself. 

• You are good
• You are capable
• You are beautiful 
• You are the best You, You can be
• You have talents and abilities 
• You have potential 
• You have accomplished a lot in your life
• You can be happy
• You can live with discomfort 
• You can change what you can, ignore the rest
• You have something to contribute 
• You have a seat at the table, when you find the right table
• You have many adventures left to experience 
• You don't have to be a part of others traumas and dramas 

What have I missed? 

The Way We Were Wednesday - Bumper Crop

Those are 55-gallon enamel lined steel barrels, filled with honey, there is another 100 of them in the closed garage to the right.  Each barrel holds around 650 pounds of honey (honey is heavier than water.) This was the summer of 1966 as I recall. It was the largest honey crop my father and grandfather ever harvested. The packing houses ran out of warehouse space. The following year, we produced about 60 barrels total, a crop failure.  That is farming.  Even funny farming.  

The red 1965 Ford pickup truck in the background, hung around for a while.  When I got my driver's license, my father handed me the keys and a key to the gas pump on the farm.  It was very basic, a bit of a handful on a rough road, but it was freedom to leave the farm.  The spring after my sister left home, my father sold it to a friend, and handed me keys to his Crysler, the Dodge pickup truck with a 440 engine (oh my that was a real screamer) and an older Chevy flatbed that was often around and said, drive whatever is available. I was 19 before I owned my first car.  

Ever seen that much honey in one place? 

Rethinking Commuting

I have not ridden the subway train since March 17th, the only day I have been in the office since the end of February. It is my normal way of commuting to work.  The nearest station is a 10 minute walk from home, my desk is 6 floors directly above a station in the city. If I drove, it would take about the same amount of time, and I would have to deal with major city traffic and pay $15 a day for parking. I like my subway commute.  

I am starting to question if I will ever go back to commuting 5 days a week, 250 days a year. In my work I do research, writing and training.  I have been doing this for 11.5 years.  My commute takes between 45 minutes and 60 minutes each way, say an average of 1.75 hour per day round trip- I have spent something like 5,000 hours commuting since  I moved here. The equivalent of 2.5 years of work. 

I am finding working at home to be just as productive.  The biggest thing that I miss is being able to barge into my bosses office to ask for his wisdom or bounce ideas off of him (most of them bounce.) We are starting to read potential guidelines for returning to the office, and those are stagger telecommutes and in-office schedules so that no more than half of the staff are in on any given day.  That takes the wind out of my sails on the remaining reason for me returning to the office.  The research and writing part of my work I can do more efficiently from home.  The training part is either virtual, that I can do from home, or when travel becomes safe, on the road - days I am not in the office (in good times I travel up to 45 days a year - mostly on training and consulting projects.)

Now I know my work is different.  I don't directly interact with the public or customers.  There is not a physical product that I create or handle (we print some things, but those are done remotely and shipped by someone else.) Many people have to be there in person to be productive, but for those of us that don't need to be there to be productive, why do we spend hundreds of hours a year going back and forth to work.   

Have you rethought commuting this year?  

My Music Monday - Memorial Day in the USA - Copland: Fanfare for the Common Man - BBC Proms 2012

It is Memorial Day in the United States. I was overcome by emotion when I visited the American Military Cemetery in Normandy. I have written about this before.  We need to learn from the past, or we are doomed to repeat the agony of those who have gone before us.  Nationalism, isolationism, and racism are the antipathy of a peaceful and civilized world. 

  

Sunday Five - Getting into Your Head

1. The photo above, is it inspiring or freaky? 
2. The photo above, would you buy one, buy the box, or not touch them with a ten foot pole? 
3. Are babies cute, or do they all look like little aliens to you? 
4. Cuter, ceramic baby dolls or cabbage patch kids? 
5. If a three year old hands you her doll, what do you do? 

My Answers:

1. The photo above, inspiring or freaky? I find it inspiring. 
2. The photo above, would you buy one, buy the box, or not touch them with a ten foot pole? I didn't buy one, we were traveling with limited space for fragile items, but I would buy one. 
3. Are babies cute, or do they all look like little aliens to you? Little aliens. 
4. Ceramic baby dolls or cabbage patch kids? Ceramic. 
5. If a three year old hands you her doll, what do you do? Smile hand it back, then go disinfect my hands.  

Please share your answers in the comments. 

The Perfect Church Window

There is an episode of the Vicar of Dibley about a stained glass window being destroyed by a storm.  There is the expected comedic episode with five different remembrances of what the scene was in the window, an epic fundraiser, and a tragedy someplace in the world.  In the closing scene, the window is revealed in clear glass showing the beautiful English countryside, the Vicar has sent the money that was raised to the disaster relief fund and let the window show the beauty they are surrounded by.  For some reason stumbling across this image taken in the ruins of an English Abbey brought back memories of that episode, and the beauty framed in our windows.  

What beauty is framed in your window today? 



The Vicar of Dibley, Series 1 Episode 4, The Window and the Weather, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00777tk

Transit Cards

I am a big fan of using local public transit when I travel.  Especially in major cities with congested streets.  The first place I encountered reloadable transit cards was the Oyster Card in London.  I purchased one nearly 20 years ago.  Guess what, it still works.  It had been a dozen years since we had been in London.  The cash we had on hand from 12 years ago was "out of date" "out of circulation."  We were told the pound coins were basically useless, banks and post offices would exchange the banknotes, after confirmation that they were genuine and approval from a supervisor.  Amazingly the value stored on my Oyster Card was still there, the money may come and go, but the transit card lived on.  I have similar cards for three American cities.  A lot of cities place an expiration date on transit cards.  This has to do with accounting rules, they can't count the money on the card as income and spend it, until the value is used for a ride, or until the card expires.  I have several expired cards from Chicago with a few dollars left on them.  Mementoes, souvenirs, of adventures.  

Do you have a transit card for a city you don't live in? 

Spikey

I never really learned to skateboard.  Both of my brothers did to some extent, they were naturally graceful and fearless.  I enjoy watching talented skateboarders.  Cities have struggled with stopping skateboarders and trick riders from riding down railings, steps and banisters.  I thought this was a rather creative solution, the spikes look like they belong there.  

Have you ever mastered skateboarding?