Leaf-diving (pause the music first ->)

Orangeness

Sugar Hill Stake had a service project in Flowery Branch, GA. My job was to help gather trash from along the railroad tracks. Rail road tracks bring to mind creosote-soaked ties with rust-colored rails spiked to them, laying on a bed of gravel. All of this is pretty stale, so the contrast when I came across a vine with these flowers was refreshing.

Thank you, Yoshiaki & Naoko

In Tokyo Bay, there's a man-made island with a replica of the Statue of Liberty on it. It also has several other American style monuments: two huge malls, and a gigantic ferris wheel and a television station housed in a architectually facinating building. Naoko took Michelle and I there in June of 2004. I captured this picture in the landscaping near the statue. Thanks, Naoko and Yoshiaki!
What I like about this picture is... well, there are several things that endear this picture to me. Besides the fact that I like being in Japan, I really like the colors in this image: hues of blues blend with pink purples on a dark green background. Next, I love how the focus on the far left stamen is perfect and the blur on the petals blends the colors. You have to click on the picture for it to be displayed full size. Take a guess at what kind of flower this blossom belongs to. Today this hydrangea is my favorite. OK, otro dia otro foto.

Las seis sirenas

The title of this image, "The six sirens" sounds better in Spanish. Unfortunately the name is wrong because the six stamen are the male part of the flower. Can you suggest another name?
This image was captured while walking from our house to the Blakes where they were holding an open house for Stuart's return from his mission. Thanks to Stuart for serving a mission. Picture him doused with blessings for his service. Those associated with him also got splashed a little. I consider this image as one of those tender little mercies that fell like sprinkles around E. Blake.

The things you come across on the Appalachian Trail

This Turks-cap lily was a real eye-catcher along the AT. It was blooming between the summit of Blood Mountain and Slaughter Gap. (These names come from a big battle between the Cherokee and the Creek Indians.) This is about 34°44'9.15"N and 83°57'1.10"W.
This picture was taken six years ago last week (10 Aug 2002). Historically it's important because it's one of the pictures that made me realize I liked doing this. The camera was the first digital camera we've owned: Nikon Coolpix 995. Up until then, all of our pictures were taken with a Yashica that my brother Clark bought while working as a missionary in Spain in 1976-1977 (before the days of digital).
This image is a favorite of at least 50% of my customers (i.e. Tamara M. liked this one).

Getting back on track

The original intent of this blog was to share a little of the history of the more popular flower pictures I've taken. 100% of my customers liked this one. (By "customer" I mean both the people who have made prints of my pictures.)
I owe this picture to my brother Conal and his wife, Monique. In 2003 they organized a memorable family reunion near Capitol Reef, a National Park in Utah. We all stayed at the 1000 Lakes Campground (which is a real ironic name for a place in the desert.) This flower was part of the landscaping at the campground. The coordinates for the campground are: 38°18'5.81"N, 111°26'41.46"W.

Milano - final day.

Our last day in Italy was filled to the brim. First we had to wrap up some shopping, so it was a great convenience to be right next to the mall. Then Arben and the boys picked us up and we drove to downtown Milano. Mimosa could not come. She was wrapping up a project at work.
We toured the Duomo, Milan's cathedral built in gothic style.

This church is very photogenic. I could spend hours there, but I'll just post a few of my favorites shots here.



More are available for your perusal at my Picasa site.
After touring the Duomo, we walked back to the car through the shopping district of Milano that caters to those who can afford $300 shoes and such. Fancy to the max; the absolute max. I didn't see anything I particularly liked, so we didn't spend much time there. The park was nicer.

We were tired from so much walking, so it was good to get back to the hotel. Darcy had enough energy to shop for another hour before Arben, Mimosa and the boys picked us up again for dinner.
Dinner was in Bergamo, a city about an hour East of Milano. The 'upper' city is on a hill surrounded by a tall stone wall. After a long search we found a parking spot and walked along the cobblestone streets to the restaurant. It was late, but the place is popular and it was still very busy. Nevertheless, we were able to get a table and then a delicious dinner. In this picture we are waiting on a park bench that overlooks the city, while Arben retrieves the car.

We got back to the hotel after midnight. Arben was up early the next morning and waiting for us at 7:00 a.m. to take us to the airport.
Darcy flew Lufthansa through Frankfurt to Atlanta. I flew standby on a direct Delta flight from Milan to Atlanta. Michelle and Matt were waiting at the top of the escalators when I got there. We had some snacks waiting for Darcy, then we all loaded up in the red car and Michelle drove us home.
The end.

Milano - day 1.

On the 6th, we took the train through Genova to Milan. We were met by our friend Arben and his boys. Here we are in front of the central station in Milan.

Arben and I met when I worked for Intergraph, in Alabama. He took us to a nice, modern hotel where he had rooms reserved for us. The hotel was next to a shopping mall that Darcy and I visited several times. I specially liked the anchor to the mall, Carrefour, which is a huge store with more variety than Walmart and higher quality than Target. After we got settled in the hotel, Arben came back with his wife and the boys and we went to see their new house. They are moving in this week. The view from their place is more beautiful than ours was in Alabama. They are next to fields of rice and corn that are protected from industrial development by zoning laws.

After touring their house we went to dinner. I ordered fish for the first time on this trip. Yes, the bones were a problem, but other than that, it tasted great.
This is Darcy with the youngest of Arben's boys:

Last day in Vernazza

Today Darcy and I hiked along the coast through three of the five towns that make up Cinque Terre: Corniglia immediatly to the south followed by Manarola and then Riomaggiore. The first part of the trail had a lot of up and down, but the last part was quite flat which made for a nice way to end the hike. Then we took the ferry back to Vernazza. This is a national part and there is a fee to hike the trail, but it was well worth it. There were some great views... many more great views per mile than the AT. We were also considering renting an open kayak for two, but by the time we got back we were beat. So we took showers and just chilled. Again, I regret it takes so long to post pictures and I'll have to add them later or point you to a Picasa sight. Last night, and again this night we sat on the rocks and watched the moon set in the west, listening to the waves crash against the break-water. Very nice. We decided some family members would love it here and others would not. This is definatly a place that Lizde, Jacquie and Jeana would fit right in.
Tomorrow we head to Milano, and then Friday we're off to Atlanta, sweet home.

Cliff diving in the Med

I mentioned that Cinque Terre is a group of 5 villages set in the cliffs. Vernazza actually has a beach that's about 70 yards long. The waves are non-existant. So instead of catching waves, the exciting thing to do is cliff diving. You remember the cliff divers at Acapulco, right? Well, keep that in mind as you envision me climbing high up a cliff, perching on a small little ledge, timing my dive to coincide with the right wave and then launching myself off into space. Ok, if you haven't been to Acapulco, think of Nacho Libre. Actually the cliff was not that high and I jumped instead of diving... but it was still thrilling. Darcy got the picture which will be added to the postings later. The bad part about climbing around the rocks are the barnacles. I got scraped up enough to bleed a little. Maybe I'll try it again tomorrow after the hike. I'm hoping to get up early and hike to the next couple of villages to the south and then take a ferry back here. This hike & ferry ride comes highly recommended by new friends we met a few hours ago while we were watching the crescent moon set in the sea. I'll let you know how it turns out.

...and then we...

Saturday Darcy and I took a day trip from Firenze (Florence) to Siena, a picturesque town with a center square made famous by the horse race they have twice a year.

The 17 different neighborhoods vie to win the race called "Palio". Apparently there's a lot of community pride that goes into that race. On our way back to the station, we came across Anziano (Elder) White and Anziano Welsh. They were on there way to the branch "Dessert Night". They invited us to join them, and we were tempted... but decided to stick with our original plan. Said plan was to attend another concert in another cathedral. This time, the concert was in a full-size cathedral (Stake Center length and 5-6 stories high inside. The performance was by a Dutch Youth Symphony. They started out with Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet. It was a great experience. Afterwards Darcy had some comments about a bassoon being out of tune, but overall she enjoyed it too. At the same time, we missed a Flamenco concert in another part of town and a third classical music performance in one of the museums. Hearing Romeo and Juliet in the cathedral will bring a whole new feeling when I hear it again at home.
Sunday morning we checked out from the convent and found our way to Church by means of a Taxi with a GPS navigator. It so happened that the study-abroud group from BYU Marriot School of Business group was there too. One of the girls recognized Darcy from when they worked together at the MTC cafeteria. So far, Darcy has met somebody she knows from BYU every Sunday I've been here.
At Church I enjoyed speaking in Spanish with the people who are here from Peru. There are a lot. There must be some connection for Peruvians to easily come and work in Italy.
After Church, we took the train to Pisa. We've got pictures of the leaning tower that will be posted later, since time on the computer here is very expensive. We had an interesting experience getting back on the train in Pisa. We had checked our bags into the luggage storage area. When we got back from the tower, we found our track and were relaxing on a bench feeling lucky that we had timed it just right, since the train was only a few minutes away. After sitting there awhile we realized we had left our luggage in storage. Luckily the train was about 5 minutes late. Had we gotten there just before the train left, we would have left our luggage. It would not have been the end of the world since trains go both directions every hour, but it would have been a pain.
Now we are in Vernazza. The train from La Speczia to Vernazza goes right along the cost. The mountains drop so sharply to the sea that much of the train tracks between towns is through tunnels. Here is what our room looks like: http://www.acasa5terre.it/patrizia4.html
The sea does not have the same smell as Veracruz, San Diego or Savannah. I think it's because there's not much of a beach (no seaweed, etc.). It's another warm night, and unlike the convent, we don't have a fan. Hopefully a cool sea breeze will help make the night more tolerable.

The BEST of Italy... so far

I've mentioned that we've been to St. Peters Basilica, through the Vatican Museum, seen the Colisseum and ancient Rome; yesterday we were guided through the Ufizzi and the Academia museums by a kind friend of Darcy's; but this evening we had the experience that beats them all. Here's what happened:
We were walking back to our room to relax a little before going out to dinner, when we passed this small church with a poster out front promoting a concert tonight. Yes, for me, if it was a great experience, there was probably music involved. (That's part of the reason I sing when I play soccer. You should hear me on the trail...) Anyway, the performance was by a soprano accompanied by the piano. The venue was a small church where they had moved all the pews to the sides and filled the space with about 60 cushioned chairs (like you find in the RS room). In the front was nothing but a black grand piano. We bought tickets, went to our room, relaxed a while (I finished my book), we went out to dinner at a nice open air restaurant in the corner of the piazza where we're staying and then walked a block or so back to the church for the concert. It has been hot and muggy, and the church had a very high, arching ceiling, but no air movement. There were about 32 others in the Church. At about 9:30 out onto the performance area walks a lady who carries herself much like Pam Gates, and her accompanist who looked to be about 23. The program has 9 pieces. The soprano starts out with Schubert's "Ave Maria". It was supreme. The acoustics, the perfect voice, the matching piano... it was tremendous experience. She could sing very softly and take that same note to a huge volume without changing the intensity of the note. I was amazed. It was like hearing the King Singers. The three last pieces were from Puccini operas. Thanks to Gunnar Andersen, I had learn to appreciate his favorite number from Gianni Schicchi, "O mio babbino caro". She sang that. Have you ever cried during an opera? She finished by singing a piece from Madame Butterfly. We all cheered madly. She came back and sang another "Ave Maria" that ended so reverently that there we were all silent for a few moments before bursting into applause again.

That was my best experience in Italy so far. Next to that was the trip to the island right outside the bay at Naples, called Procida. There we finally got to see the Italy of the postcards. The village was set on a hill, with tiny cobblestone streets, multi-colores stucco walls, etc. It takes too long to download a picture. I'll have to add one later.

Rome

Darcy and I toured the Colliseum this morning; in the afternoon we were at St. Peters Cathedral and then the Vatican Museum. Tomorrow we head to Florence. We'll be dining with an Italian friend of Darcy's from BYU.

Naples

Thanks to Cedric, I had a great flight over from Atlanta to Rome. At the airport in Rome, I asked and found where the train tickets were sold; and I was able to buy a ticket to Naples, with a change of trains in Rome. The layover in Rome was about an hour, and that gave me time to find the hostel where we will be staying Saturday night (B-B Turin or something like that) The following photo is the train I took from Rome to Naples. It was a very comfortable ride - there were no breaks in the tracks so you did not hear or feel the clickety clack of older trains. It reminded me of the bullet train (Shinkansen) in Japan.



As is evidenced by the photo, I have met up with Darcy in Naples. This picture is at the rooftop of her hotel (Hotel Executive). We will have breakfast there tomorrow at 8:00 in the morning.
On the train ride down from Rome, I had time to read through the guide book and find a hostel. I am at the Hotel Duomo, Napoli. The address is Via Duomo 228. It is just down the street from an important cathedral called Il Duomo. Maybe we will visit it tomorrow. I walked past it on my way to the hairstylist. Yes, I got an Italian haircut. Now I look even more like those guys on the covers of Il Divo CDs.
It is quite warm and humid, but the breeze really helps... when you out doors. We have not decided what is going to happen tomorrow. One interesting ideas is to rent a boat and cruise out to a couple of small islands just off the cost. Adventure!!

Wildflowers, cont. in blue

We've meandered a little bit away from Relia's Garden in North Carolina. Now we are in the North Georgia mountains at B.S.A. Camp Woodruff. The year this picture was taken, we were assigned to one of the most remote campsites. This little gem was helping to make the long walk from our campsite a little more pleasant.

Wildflower theme continued...

I'm facinated by the shape of the petals on this flower: straight, parallel sides with saw-toothed ends. Is there anything else like this in nature?

Let there be music!

Inspired by my cousin Elaine and her husband Gordon, I've decided to add music to my blog. If it bothers you, simply click on the "pause" above the name of the tune that's playing.

Saturday

Following Craig & Jaclyn's lead, I've posted a photo history of what we did on Saturday. I think the best way to view these pictures is to click on the image (not the arrow), in the new window, find the icon to view the album (upper left corner), and then select "slide show" (in the same area). That way you can pause if necessary to read the longer captions.

Pink Explosion

This one is also from Relia's Garden. It's interesting to see the transition from closed in the middle to open on the outside. This next image is not from the same photo session, put it's an interesting perspective of the same kind of blossom.

Yellow Detail of Relia's Garden

Not everything is as it seems from a distance. It's not until you click on the image to enlarge it, that you notice the insect on the flower.

Welcome Mamallama

I've just added a link to BlogLor, home of the Mamallama. While the site is sparse today, soon I hope there will be plenty of llamita images and thoughtful commentary from La Mama.

Details of Relia's Garden

Please read more about Relia's Garden further down. This picture is a detail from the garden mosaic. The BOLD color that you see here is incomplete. These electronic devices cannot give the color its due. This dilemma helps illustrate the point that many things in life are not enjoyed to their fullest extent. It's possible, perhaps even likely that there are more colors to this flower than what we can see; and more scents than we can smell. What if this flower makes music that we can't hear? What do you think it would sound like?

Relia's Garden

This picture was taken at my favorite restaurant in the world, Relia's Garden, nestled in the pine trees between an Appalachian mountain and the Nantahala river. It's a very peaceful ambiance and the food is as good as I've ever had. Bob Kassow introduced me to this place after my first hike with him up Mt. LeConte. This picture was taken on the occasion of our 21st anniversary. This photo session was my introduction to what has grown into a wonderful passtime.

Opportunist

While waiting for the 11-year old Scouts to congregate and get ready to hike Stone Mountain, I noticed this flower growing on a mailbox across the street. I'm amazed at the size of these blossoms, and how pristine they are.

Otro verde

I've been thinking about Willow's comment regarding "...a spectrum of images curated by color." I hope to talk with her more about the idea. I've added the image below for the contrast of the lines. There are long lines in this picture, as in the lilies further below; but here the lines curved and more jumbled.

Before ending the green sequence, I needed to add this landscape. For me, this picture has the feel of a forest on a mountain side. There's topography and variety in plant growth.
This moss picture was taken along the trail up Mt. LeConte in the Great Smokey Mountains National Forest, Saturday, March 20th, 2002. Mt. LeConte was Bob Kassow's favorite hike in the Smokey Mountains. Bob is gone now, but he was probably with me when I took this picture. Well, no, not really. He was probably 1/4 mile further up the trail.

A continuation of the green sequence, this is the base of some lilies taken the morning of March 27th, 2005.

Green Ice

Big, little, obtuse, acute, dark, light... I had to add this picture to the previous two, just for the contrast.

On the green theme

I like this image because of the many hues between yellow and green. You might find something different that appeals to you... or maybe nothing at all, and you'll go on. If you stay and study it, notice how each leaf has 5 veins on each side, maybe 6. Notice how the smallest leaves are symmetrical to each other, and the next larger set are symmetrical, but at 90 degrees to the newest leaves. I wonder what makes some leaves yellow and others green.
This picture was taken at the U.S. Botanic Garden, on the Mall in Washington D.C., while Matt patiently waited, November 2006.

A Bank of Ladies: Lady Ferns

Camp Woodruff, in the North Georgia Mountains, is a treasure for the Boy Scouts of America. Situated in a large bowl, the property line is the ridge line of the perimeter, for the most part. In the "cool" shady areas near a stream, you'll find banks of Christmas ferns or Lady ferns like these. If you're interested in this picture with higher resolution, let me know.

Wooden Flames

Lake Lanier is far below normal level, and it has exposed things like this base of a tree trunk.

A different look

Lake Lanier, the only source of drinking water for Gwinnett County, where we live, is more than 10 feet below normal level. Along the barren shore, new plants are starting to grow, like this flower. The "different look" of this image is due to the lack of foliage in the back ground. This photo was taken at the end of the first of two Wood Badge sessions I attended at Scoutland, along the shore of Lake Lanier.

Welcome Home and Good-bye

In February, Michelle went to see the King's Singers, with both of her sisters, twice. They had two performances in Rexburg, ID. Michelle went to both. She experienced something that generally we are only vaguely aware of: the crowd makes a difference. The audience made the first concert more fun than the second one.

When she got home, Matt and I had picked out these flowers for her. It turns out they were "welcome home" flowers and "Good-bye" flowers too. A few days after she came back, I left for a two week trip to Taiwan. You can read more about that in the entries below. The two weeks in Taiwan led into a week in Malaysia, and then that grew into two weeks in Malaysia.

Buga-what?

Bougainvillea.- Having first learned the name in Spanish, this official spelling was more complicated than I anticpated. Click on the word, and you can learn from Wickipedia that the name comes from an admiral in the French Navy who first came across it in Brazil. (Wickipedia uses the word "discovered", but that's too Euro-centric for me. Others had known about it long before then.) This image is an intent to capture the flower within the flower.

The more common perspective below is more recognizable.

These pictures were taken at the Equatorial Hotel in Penang, Malaysia near the end of March, 2008.

A "Colonies" connection clear over here.

Today I found that you can meet people with roots in the Colonies all over the world. I'm pictured below with Alan and Sonia Call. Alan is the son of Dean, the son of Charles Helaman. This picture was taken today, at the Georgetown chapel on Penang Island in Malaysia. Alan and his wife are here for a year. He works with Intel. We reminisced about our vacation visits to the colonies. He knows Dana Call. He remembers Uncle Mac having a strange sense of humor. Mom, I know you would have been proud of me, if I had made the connection. But I must confess that even though I knew he was a Call before he knew I was a Whetten, he was the first one to bring up the Colonies.

Jump to the beat:

This next series of photos were taken at Tze En Tower, which was part of the WuChuan 2nd Branch's trip to Sun Moon Lake in Taiwan. One person had the interesting idea of getting a picture striking the drum. It looked like such a fun pose that a bunch of us followed. I wish I knew everybody's names. I'm missing the names of the girls in the first and fourth photos. :( Sorry.

Wu Chuan 2nd Branch: Trip to Sun Moon Lake

Today I joined the Wu Chuan 2nd Branch's excursion to Sun Moon Lake. We rode in a tour bus from the church. There were 38 of us on a bus with 40 seats. I felt lucky to get on board.

Our first stop was Chang Tai Chen Buddhist Monastery, which has some very impressive architecture and artwork. Here is the happy Budda.

From there we went to Wen Wu Temple on a mountain side over looking Sun Moon Lake. I'm sure that on a clear day the view is beautiful. The pictures I took can't do justice to the view.

Opposite this view is the temple entrance.
From there, the tour bus took us along a winding road, up the mountain to the Tzen En Tower which "was constructed as the late Chiang Kai Check was in memory of his mother".

This is the view from the top of the tower, with Sun Moon Lake in the background.