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.